RECOMMENDED : ATM card in the DR - Washington Mutual

[rubio_higuey]

I strongly recommend Washington Mutual for people with US Social Security Number.
Wamu.com, home of WaMu Free Checking

You can open account online. Just need to use an EPS address. You need to send opening deposit (even $1) within 30 days. If you have friends stateside, they can deposit money on your behalf. Once completed, they send you a checkbook and Debit MasterCard.

Now comes the best deal:
- No monthly fees for account maintenance
- You can maintain 0 balance
- No ATM withdrawal fees worldwide. NONE. EVER.

And the sweetener:
Exchange rate is very comparable to Caribe Express exchange rate.

Because there are no ATM fees, you can withdraw 500 pesos. 100 pesos. 2000 pesos. Whatever you want. And the money gets debited to your account no withdrawal fees. This way you can withdraw in small amounts in case the ATM wants to play games on you (as we have heard before) - so your immediate loss/inconvenience is no more than couple of dollars.

For example, I withdrew 3000 pesos today.
The exchange rate was:
3000 RD pesos - US$ 86.01
Foreign conversion fee 1% - US$0.86 (all banks charge this, up to 4%)
Total for transaction: US$ 86.87

So 300 pesos was 86.87 dollars which comes to - 34.53 exchange rate. Considering Caribe Express today is 34.50 and most banks are around 34.20 it's a real good deal.

For people that do not have US SSN but can go to the USA they can open a WAMU free checking in any WAMU branch in the USA (e.g. Florida, NYC, etc.)

It's really a good deal.

AND final good thing - you can maintain a checking and savings account (both free of charge, savings account is free if you open it online) or have 2 checking accounts opened in the branch if you cannot open account online - WHY, you ask? Because that way you can maintain money in your savings/second checking account, and move money to your checking account with ATM Mastercard before you go to withdraw money. After you withdraw money, what is left, you move it back to the second account.
All of this done from the comfort of your home in Wamu online banking.
This way you prevent unauthorized charges if somebody copies your Mastercard details somehow.

[boca chica dave]

Originally Posted by rubio_higuey

I strongly recommend Washington Mutual for people with US Social Security Number.
Wamu.com, home of WaMu Free Checking

You can open account online. Just need to use an EPS address. You need to send opening deposit (even $1) within 30 days. If you have friends stateside, they can deposit money on your behalf. Once completed, they send you a checkbook and Debit MasterCard.

Now comes the best deal:
- No monthly fees for account maintenance
- You can maintain 0 balance
- No ATM withdrawal fees worldwide. NONE. EVER.

And the sweetener:
Exchange rate is very comparable to Caribe Express exchange rate.

Because there are no ATM fees, you can withdraw 500 pesos. 100 pesos. 2000 pesos. Whatever you want. And the money gets debited to your account no withdrawal fees. This way you can withdraw in small amounts in case the ATM wants to play games on you (as we have heard before) - so your immediate loss/inconvenience is no more than couple of dollars.

For example, I withdrew 3000 pesos today.
The exchange rate was:
3000 RD pesos - US$ 86.01
Foreign conversion fee 1% - US$0.86 (all banks charge this, up to 4%)
Total for transaction: US$ 86.87

So 300 pesos was 86.87 dollars which comes to - 34.53 exchange rate. Considering Caribe Express today is 34.50 and most banks are around 34.20 it's a real good deal.

For people that do not have US SSN but can go to the USA they can open a WAMU free checking in any WAMU branch in the USA (e.g. Florida, NYC, etc.)

It's really a good deal.

AND final good thing - you can maintain a checking and savings account (both free of charge, savings account is free if you open it online) or have 2 checking accounts opened in the branch if you cannot open account online - WHY, you ask? Because that way you can maintain money in your savings/second checking account, and move money to your checking account with ATM Mastercard before you go to withdraw money. After you withdraw money, what is left, you move it back to the second account.
All of this done from the comfort of your home in Wamu online banking.
This way you prevent unauthorized charges if somebody copies your Mastercard details somehow.

its good deal. i will continue with Bank of America and free atm at Scotia even though the exchange sucks. Wamu has some serious cap problems right now. Not sure how long they will be able to maintain all their free stuff. If they do stay alive the fees could be coming for various things.

[Stodgord]

Are you sure about the free ATM? Because every time I use another bank's ATM in the US, I get charged the usage fee from that bank. Granted Wamu does not charge me for using an out of network ATM, but the other bank does.

[rubio_higuey]

At least in the DR you don't get charged ATM fee by the other (withdrawing) bank's ATM. I am not blind and I see my online statement.

[boca chica dave]

Originally Posted by Stodgord

Are you sure about the free ATM? Because every time I use another bank's ATM in the US, I get charged the usage fee from that bank. Granted Wamu does not charge me for using an out of network ATM, but the other bank does.

you may be getting refunded at the end of the month.

[riravaga]

The only ATM fee you get is if you use the ATM of another bank. and the mothly charge that they do of RD$20.00

[badpiece33]

just opened my account,will give it a try in 3 weeks when im back in POP

[socuban]

Government seizes WaMu, sells some assets - U.S. business - MSNBC.com

[rubio_higuey]

also from the same article

"For all depositors and other customers of Washington Mutual Bank, this is simply a combination of two banks," Bair said in a statement. "For bank customers, it will be a seamless transition. There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual come Friday morning."


Maybe free ATM withdrawals will come to an end, but not today nor next week.

[FernieBee]

Originally Posted by rubio_higuey

also from the same article

"For all depositors and other customers of Washington Mutual Bank, this is simply a combination of two banks," Bair said in a statement. "For bank customers, it will be a seamless transition. There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual come Friday morning."


Maybe free ATM withdrawals will come to an end, but not today nor next week.

If those free withdrawals do end, then I'll consider closing my WaMu account. For now, it's also business as usual for me.