Banking In Ecuador: The Customer Is Always... :)

So we´re pretty much all packed up and ready to go :) Just some last minute things...


Since I got back from the states (I had a secret, quick trip to the states at the beginning of October, if you are surprised to hear this news... I was like Batman, I just appeared under the cover of darkness and left the same way :) about one week and a half ago... We´ve been basically doing the same routine (Lori´s been doing it since the beginning of October, she´s a saint!) Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the bank and wait in line to be attended, eat lunch, do some other little things to pass the time, stop by the bank one more time (just to say hi, maybe bring coffee, in case they missed us) go home, repeat.


Ecuador is an amazing country... amazing in beauty and... the processes you have to do to get anything official done. Especially in banks, because there´s so much fraud, that employees are extra careful (and sometimes just lazy... which doesn´t help)


I´m going to tell a bank story. That really sums things up. About two months ago, my job tells me Emergency! "Laura, we opened a second bank account for you by accident. You have to go down to the bank and close it." I go to the bank. Bank: "You can´t close it, your work opened the account, they need to close it" Ok. So I go to work. Work:"We tried to close it and they told us they need you to do it" I go to the bank. Bank:"Ok, you can close it but you need a letter from your work saying you have permission to close it" I go to work. Work:"We sent the letter, they have it somewhere" Bank:"We don´t have it, you have to bring a printed copy for us" Work:"But we sent it, it´s confirmed, they have the letter, we need special signatures. They have it!" So I go to the bank (Imagine each part of the dialogue is one full day) and I´m about to cry. The woman says (without looking or making any effort, maybe she lifted up her daily planner just to emphasize some sort of "looking" motion) "We don´t have the letter." I say, "Can´t you ask your co-workers, maybe it´s somewhere else?" Woman:"Lucy, do you have any letters?" Lucy (filing her nails, without lifting her head): "No" Woman: "Sorry, we don´t have it. You have to go back."


So, I move to an empty seat to call the secretary at my work. We talk, she says she doesn´t know what to do. Meanwhile, the employee, whose desk I´m sitting at, comes back from lunch and sits down. "Can I help you?" Me "Yes..." and explain my story. Woman:"I mean, it´s your account, you don´t need a letter to close it. It has your name on it, if you want to close it you can." Me (glaring at the first woman who did the crappiest job "looking" for the letter) "THANK YOU SOOO MUCH" i wanted to kiss her. I sign some papers. I leave. I celebrate.


So that is a short-ish synopsis of what happens when you have ANY sort of problem with the banks or any sort of office in this beautiful country. My motto here "The Customer Is Always Wrong" and that´s the truth.


To get out of here, Lori and I were waiting to get paid for September. I check my account before I leave for the states, no money. They didn´t pay me. I tell my boss, he´ll look into it. I leave for the states, still trying to pay me... no money. I get back from the states, still no money. I talk to the bank to see if i have any other secret accounts maybe where my job is depositing the money. Nada. So I talk to my boss. "Henry, are you sure they are depositing money into this account" and I give him my bank card. He runs down to some important person, they realize the bank was depositing my salary into the account that I closed two months ago (see above story) and that is why I wasn´t getting paid. Just take a breather.


The past Friday, I get paid. To get my money out of the ATM (the only way to get it out) I can only take out $200 a day. This is 3 more days we have to stay in Ecuador. Then, 1 more day to close my account, now we´re at Tuesday. Yesterday, Wednesday was my good friend Javier´s birthday (how can we leave one day before my best friend´s birthday! We´ve delayed this long!) and today we´re just waiting for Lori´s bank account to be finally closed (after transfering funds from her account here, to the states) Then... we leave :)


anyways, sorry... this was a big vent about banking in Ecuador. Don´t do it unless someone is holding a gun to your head (which could very well happen too! I´m just kidding... relax...)