Episode Summary
In this episode of The Expat Files, Johnny Mueller provides a comprehensive overview of financial strategies for expats living in Latin America. He begins by promoting his upcoming expat insider seminar in Guatemala, highlighting the benefits of living there, such as the climate, affordability, and relatively lenient residency requirements. He also emphasizes the importance of having a local bank account and recommends consulting a local lawyer for banking advice.
Johnny then delves into the process of finding a reliable bank in Latin America for US retirees and government employees. He explains that the US Social Security Department has vetted banks in each Latin country to ensure they can receive direct deposits. These vetted banks are often local banks, not major international banks like Citibank, and are more stable. He notes that most Latin banks require residency for expats to open an account, though some exceptions exist. Johnny advises expats to use the vetted banks for direct deposits to avoid fees and complications, and he mentions that many expats use their US bank accounts and plastic cards to manage their finances, though this can be risky.
Next, Johnny discusses financial strategies for expats and gringos living in Latin America, emphasizing the importance of avoiding costly fees when accessing local currency. He highlights the benefits of setting up direct deposits in local banks, which allow for seamless currency conversion without extra charges. He warns against using US dollar accounts at ATMs in Latin countries, as this can result in additional fees. Johnny recommends using local currency accounts and local bank ATMs to avoid these costs. He also mentions the availability of dedicated ATM machines in major banks like BAC Credito Matic, which are widely available throughout Latin America.
Johnny then discusses the availability of ATMs in Latin America, emphasizing the presence of BAC Bank machines with their distinctive red lion logo. He explains that these machines allow users to withdraw local currency without fees, unlike generic ATMs which often charge additional fees. He also highlights the importance of having a bank account with a local bank, especially for expats receiving direct deposits, and mentions the recent development of ATMs supporting multiple languages. However, he warns about the challenges of navigating bank websites, which are primarily in Spanish, and the potential for hidden fees or high interest rates on credit cards. Finally, he advises expats to be cautious about credit card offers and to manage their accounts carefully.
In the final segment, Johnny discusses the challenges expats face with online banking in Latin America, particularly the requirement to change passwords every six months. He explains that banks use pop-up windows in Spanish to prompt users to update their passwords, which many expats may not understand. If they fail to update, they risk being locked out of their accounts and needing to use the initial passwords provided during account setup. Johnny shares his personal experience with this issue, highlighting the frustration of dealing with language barriers and the importance of taking control of one's financial affairs. He also warns against relying on romantic partners for banking tasks, citing examples of expats who have faced problems due to such reliance.
He concludes the episode by encouraging listeners to reach out for personalized help with their own Plan B, offering a one-on-one consultation. He also promotes his website where listeners can access three videos about moving forward with their own Plan B.
Topics
Expat Life in Latin America, Residency and Banking in Latin America, Guatemala as an Expat Destination, Choosing a Reliable Bank in Latin America, Banking in Latin America, Direct deposits for US retirees, Expatriate financial management, US government-approved banks, Residency requirements for bank accounts, Financial strategies for expats, Avoiding ATM fees in Latin America, Currency conversion and banking in Latin America
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:14 Introduction to The Expat Files and Johnny Mueller 00:00:30 Announcement of the Expat Insider Seminar 00:01:24 Why Johnny Chooses Guatemala for His Seminar 00:03:15 Banking Challenges for Expats in Latin America 00:05:42 Challenges with Finding a Reliable Bank in Latin America 00:05:46 A Surefire Way to Find a Solid Bank in Your Own Country 00:05:52 How to Find the Authorized Bank for Direct Deposits 00:05:56 Steps to Identify the Bank Authorized by the US Social Security Department 00:06:03 The US Government Has Vetted Banks for Direct Deposits 00:06:09 Only One Bank in Each Latin Country Is Authorized for Direct Deposits 00:06:11 The Authorized Bank Is Often Not a Major International Bank 00:06:17 Johnny's Skepticism Toward the US Government's Role 00:11:14 Avoiding Bank Fees and Systemic Risks 00:11:20 The Risk of Systemic Failures and ATM Outages 00:11:25 The Impact of ATM Outages on Expats 00:11:28 Examples of Systemic Failures in Latin America 00:11:33 The Financial Challenges for Expats in Latin America 00:11:39 The Cost of Using US Dollar Accounts at ATMs 00:11:46 The Hidden Costs of Currency Conversion 00:11:51 The Impact of Currency Conversion Fees 00:16:46 ATM Availability in Latin America 00:17:37 Benefits of Using BAC Bank Machines 00:18:28 Recent Developments in ATM Language Support 00:19:30 High Interest Rates on Credit Cards 00:20:30 Challenges of Managing Bank Accounts Online 00:22:14 Setting Up Your Account and Passwords 00:22:36 Password Changes and the Pop-Up Windows 00:24:28 The Importance of Knowing Your Initial Passwords 00:24:53 Challenges of Online Banking in Latin America 00:25:40 Relying on Romantic Partners for Banking 00:27:38 Invitation for Personalized Help with Plan B 00:27:40 How to Schedule a Consultation 00:27:45 Promotion of Website for Plan B Resources 00:27:51 Casual Sign-Off
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here So let's get started first. I'd like to mention since this show is going out on the 3rd of December 2017 We're just a little over a month away from the start of my January 2018 expat insider seminar starts on January 6th Reason why I'm bringing up now in the beginning of the show is to mention that if you're looking to kill two birds with one stone
[00:51] That is apply for your Guatemalan permanent or temporary residency at the very same time that you're at the seminar You'll need this month in advance of the seminar to gather up the paperwork that you're gonna need to apply for residency So to sign up and get started Just go to the new expat dot-com website click on Johnny's seminar link and when you do that You'll get a couple of downloads and a barrage of paperwork explaining the residency process to you exactly once again We'll be doing the seminar in and around Guatemala Central America Mostly way off the gringo tourist trail and a hundred percent of the time in the Alti Plano You've heard me say and many others too that it's the best climate in the world Why because you'll never need heating or air conditioning So it's more than comfortable and you save a lot of dough on utility bills, too
[01:36] People say why do you do your seminar in Guatemala Johnny? And I say it's the perfect example of how to live an excellent life Way off the gringo tourist trail where you have access to pretty much everything not only that It's very cheap and there's virtually no big brother So you've got all the freedoms in the world the ones you grew up with and got used to and now well They're mostly gone Another reason why we do it in and around Guatemala I've got some tremendous contacts a great network and some fantastic places that only my seminar attendees get to see an experience In the end people are always amazed and how about this? I've always got attendees that never end up leaving. They come down to the seminar. They like it so much They stay or make arrangements to stay permanently and since Guatemala is probably now the least expensive
[02:27] Most lenient country to get your residency in that's a major attraction to Especially as neighboring Latin countries tighten up their residency requirements and Guatemala is yet to do so But it'll come which is why you really should act now by the way Why do you think so many past attendees are repeat offenders? Well, you know, you have to come down and see why for yourself Oh, and by the way, as I've mentioned before at least a third that people will come into my seminar have taken my expat essentials course And everyone has told me it's been a huge help in getting their plan be organized So whether you're coming down to the seminar or not do check out my nine hour expat essentials course You can see my introductory video at expat plan be calm enough said about that
[03:15] Let's talk about the crazy world of banking here in Latin America And here's a question that always comes up if you're coming down to live work play and or do business How do you get your money transferred down to whatever Latin country you're in? What are the tricks? What are the hints and the stuff to look out for we all know you have to have a bank account or two Once you get down here to Latin America Why well, first of all, you're not gonna find your local branch bank down here unless you've got Citibank They've got branches all over down here, too You longtime listeners might remember how I mentioned that Citibank came down here to Latin America dug in and became Somewhat famous with the locals. Where do you think they spent all that bailout money? They got from Obama and his fed well They took taxpayer money and bought out bank chains with lots of little branches in small neighborhoods banks that were disorganized and
[04:07] There's a lot of those so they got them cheap. Why just for the real estate So in the end they got a huge chunk of the remeza business since most of the billions of dollars coming in to Latin America From the states ends up in those tiny poor neighborhoods So it's good to have a little bank on every corner Not only that Citibank had the gringo advantage going for it The only gringo bank in the hood and most locals have seen bank failures So it was an easy step it took no convincing at all for them to pull their Sentables out of their little corner banks and put their dough into the new corner bank that rocket Gibraltar good as gold malignant Fascist Citibank boy talk about dumb kluxa I'm being kind here because under educated Latins by Intel that first world propaganda
[04:54] So it's klux with a C not enough anyway as you've heard me mentioned before you have to have a local bank in your Latin country if you're gonna live or have a Business here and the fact that every Latin country has 10 20 or 30 banks to choose from it's confusing Even dangerous to your assets and finances if you were to select a bank on your own But you know there are two rock-solid ways to select the proper one you heard me mentioned before Ask your local Latin lawyer where he banks not only will he be the best Recommendation you could ever have if you bank at his bank He can hold your hand and take it down himself or someone from his office Well, and he'll cut through all that BS red tape that exists everywhere here in Latin America Why because he's a preferred customer and he's a great reference however if you one of those gringles and expats who hasn't selected a lawyer yet or are
[05:42] In-between lawyers or have bounced around between a few and none of them are to your satisfaction There is another surefire way to find a very solid bank in your own land country Here's how you do it. You go to the US Social Security website look up the Latin country You're interested in find out which bank in that country has been authorized by the US Social Security Department To receive direct deposits and generally you'll see in whatever Latin country. There's just one bank That's authorized to receive those monthly Social Security transfers and believe it or not in most Latin countries. It's not Citibank turns out It's almost always a different bank for each Latin country. Hey, I'm no fan of big brother in the US government You know that I disagree with almost everything they do Why do you think I'm down here? But I can tell you this when it comes to direct deposits for US retirees
[06:33] Including direct deposits for useless paper pushing government employees and contractors working at embassies and such You can be sure the US government did do diligence They vetted the banks out and selected one that was most rock-solid or at least solid as Latin American banks Go if you have Social Security or a disability check coming every month You want to pick the bank that the US has chosen for direct deposits If you don't you'll have to do what some expats do which is a kind of a workaround and a bit more complicated and expensive That is with transferring currency conversion fees It goes like this some people here in Latin America have their Social Security check or pension fund direct Deposited to their bank in the States then you in turn have your US bank Why are the funds to your Latin American Bank?
[07:19] And of course since all banks Latin banks to have debit and credit cards as well as checking accounts and such That's how you can spend your money in your given Latin country So the question is why would you have your money deposited in the US Bank then have them send it down to Latin America? You're humiliating extra fees and charges Why do that when the Latin Bank the US government has a deal with accepts your money directly without any fees? Well, some gringos green gringos Anyway ones that have just landed and don't know too much really don't know the ins and outs not for a while Anyway, and don't know what to do when they first get down here Eventually, they do find out they can do it that way directly and they get with the program Another thing and this through a big wrench in the works Turns out just lately in the last year or so
[08:06] Most Latin banks due to fat gun gatka won't allow a gringo expat to open a bank account Unless he's got permanent or temporary residency in that Latin country although there still are a few odd banks in every Latin country that will allow gringo us to open an account if their lawyers along with him and he can do some Recommendations and introductions and who knows how long that option is gonna be on the table But in the end you're going and need to have a Latin bank account or two otherwise You won't even be able to walk into any old bank like you used to and pull out a hundred bucks and ask them to Change it into the local funny money You can still do that on the gringo tourist trail because well a lot of stuff is priced in dollars But with banks off the gringo tourist trail Forget about it
[08:52] The first thing that tellers gonna ask you is if you have an account with that bank and if you don't They give you that nice genuine friendly smile and a look that says sorry gringo I would if I could now for gringos and expats who don't use direct deposit to a Latin bank What they often do is use their debit or credit card visa Whatever from their bank up in the states and pull local funny money cash out of ATMs as needed Usually you can take out the equivalent of two to three hundred US dollars a day Anyway, a lot of gringos with US bank accounts only they use their plastic get restaurants Walmart Costco big Supermarkets and stores in shopping malls. However, you'd be surprised not everyone takes plastic here in Latin America Not like up in the states most little neighborhood mom-and-pop tienes don't take it
[09:39] Why because they get nicked for a five or six percent extra charge by the bank if they do so they don't bother And of course people selling stuff in those big markets don't take plastic It's an underground kind of gray market economy all cash You know so no receipts my kind of place day in and day out Given the government the proverbial hook by the way throughout Latin America visa is accepted a lot more than MasterCard I'd say three to one that said I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of gringos and expats Financing their lifestyle using their plastic drawn on a US bank account Good idea. I don't think so. I've talked to a few and they always say they feel safer that way They're not so sure about these Latin banks and I say what you should not be so sure about is your own damn bank up
[10:27] In the states I tell them there are two or three big banks in every Latin country flush with cash They don't have derivatives in their portfolios. They've got massive reserves unlike banks in the states They're owned by huge cement companies mining outfits and families who've owned massive pineapple Sugar and coffee plantations for hundreds of years. Let's just say their financial statements and balance sheets are enviable But again, that's just with the top two or three banks in a Latin country The rest of them you never know till you read about or hear about how shaky they really are That's why you have to check these things out before you make your choices So anyway, you've got gringos and expats coming down, especially green newbies Afraid to put their dough in a Latin bank account to which I always say don't put a lot of dough in any bank account
[11:14] Have just enough in there to live a couple months, but don't put your mother load in a bank that would be stupid because you know inevitably the big reset button is gonna get pushed and Probably all the ATMs in the world are gonna go down Hey, just look at Puerto Rico, but you knew that already so we won't get into it Anyway for the hundreds of thousands if not millions of gringos and expats who are still making all their purchases and doing all their Transactions down here even pulling money sometimes daily out of ATMs using their first world bank account up in the states If you check the fees involved, especially if you're pulling cash out of an ATM Then you'll have the regular ATM fee plus the currency conversion fees You'll see you're getting nickeled and dimed to death on every transaction Alright, suppose you have set it up so that you get your social security or disability
[12:04] Directly deposited in your Latin bank account. First of all, that dough will land without any charges or commission And by the way when you set up such an account in a local bank You'll have both a US funny money account and a local funny money account That's the way the bank does it so the two different currencies don't get mixed up So your direct deposits will land in your US dollar account Then what people normally do is go online make an internal transfer Let's say it's a thousand bucks from your US dollar account to your peso account in the same bank Then you could take the peso debit card That's attached to that account and go spend the money or pull out pesos from the ATM And since you've converted from dollars to pesos within your own two bank accounts You'll get the best bank rate for the currency conversion without any extra charges. Wait a minute
[12:51] Let me explain that a bit when you set up a direct deposit account in Latin bank your money lands in dollars, right? And like I said, you'll have two accounts in that bank one dollar account one local peso or doubloon account Whatever and if you do the internal currency transfer from dollars to local money That would be an internal transaction between your two accounts. That's what the bank calls it You pay no extra conversion fees Years ago a lot of banks didn't offer dollar accounts And if you ship some money down or had a direct deposit, it would immediately go into a funny money account You'd pay all kinds of fees But nowadays you can hold your US dollars in a US dollar account until you want to convert to the local currency or not Now in the process your bank will also issue you two debit cards one for your dollar account one for your local
[13:40] Lempita or Colonial account whatever and you can use either one of them throughout the country wherever they accept visa and MasterCard and at the ATM machines, too Now here's where green gringles get nailed for charges They'll use for example the visa debit card from their dollar account to go to an ATM machine and pull out the local money Now you're gonna get nicked for a transaction fee. So how to eliminate that? Well leave the dollar visa card at home or deep in your wallet Just don't use it use the visa card that's attached to your local currency account pesos Lempitas whatever now remember I mentioned just a few minutes ago that when you get your direct deposit from the states thousand dollars Let's say you immediately or soon enough go to your local Latin bank online and convert it
[14:29] internally to the local funny money So now you've topped off your credit card that's in the local money again Let's say it's pesos and you can use that anywhere in the country So if you go to an ATM machine and pull out pesos are coming directly out of your account There's no currency conversion charge you get the direct posted bank rate So you want to do your own currency conversion between your two accounts and then use your funny money debit card from then on So bottom line you'll have the US dollar debit card from that bank too But don't ever use unless you're going out of the country on a trip or something or going to a Latin country that uses the US dollar like Ecuador Panama or El Salvador and Here's another important thing You'll want to use your own banks ATM machines if at all possible when you're pulling out dough
[15:18] Then there are no extra fees or charges at all Luckily those big banks the US has chosen for direct deposits have a lot of their own Dedicated ATM machines all over the country now You know when you're traveling anywhere in the world and you got to get money out whether it's dollars the local funny money You can go to any ATM if you got for example a Visa card and has the visa symbol on it And you also know you're gonna get hit up for some ATM charges that'll show up on your statement though a couple of financial service companies up in the States for example Schwab as Part of their service offer to reimburse you for ATM charges There are one or two other US banks and financial institutions up in the States that offer that too But you know that stuff and those offers are always changing so this month or this year
[16:03] They might absorb the charges and it might just be for a promotional time only too Alright, so you're getting direct deposits and now you're going to ATM machines to pull out the local funny money You can bet that the Latin banks that get direct deposits from the US government are pretty big and solid so big They've got virtually hundreds of dedicated ATM machines throughout the country. For example, let's talk about one of the biggest banks here in Latin America It's in a lot of different countries. It's called BAC credo matic It's a big bank that was started and guess where in Nicaragua But it's penetrated the four corners of Latin America now That means if you haven't been walking around the big city in Latin America or even out in the boonies every couple of blocks You'll stumble over a stable of ATM machines just like up in the States these days
[16:51] They're everywhere in Walmart's Costco's most big supermarkets and they come in pairs or triplets Well in that group, you'll often see a dedicated machine that says BAC on it with their famous abstract red lion logo You can spot them a mile away So you might see one of those along with a kind of generic ATM machine and then maybe another banks ATM And if you have a debit or credit card, you can use any one of them to pull out the local funny money even dollars Yes, most ATMs down here in Latin America allow you to pull out dollars, too But really why would you do that unless of course you're in a country like Panama or El Salvador where they use the dollar Anyway, suppose you had to get some local funny money pesos If you have a credit or debit card, you can go to any one of those for ATMs
[17:37] However, and this is the point if in your Latin country the US government direct deposits to BAC Bank And you have an account there. That means as mentioned you've been issued a debit card in dollars and one in the local peso So if you want pesos you take that peso card over to the ATM machine that has your own bank's logo on it BAC in this case You're always better off going to that machine when you see one of them around than any of the others You can pull out local pesos from your account with no fees or extra charges Whereas if you go to a generic ATM machine or another bank's ATM, you'll get your money out of course But there'll be a fee usually two or three bucks and there could be some other small hidden charges buried in there, too
[18:22] And you won't know that till you check your monthly statement So now you have a couple of good reasons to get an account at one of the bigger banks Oh, and here's a recent development and a pretty good thing most ATMs here in Latin America now Allow you to select your language whereas up to a year ago or so unless you were in a heavy tourist area They were all in Spanish. All right So once you get your permanent or temporary residency or even get started on them Your lawyer and your lawyer's staff will hold your hand through the process of opening a bank account alright, so far so good and it's gonna take a couple of hours at the bank and Possibly another trip back a day later even two But eventually you'll walk out of there with a checkbook in your hand and a couple of debit cards Most likely Visa cards and one will be in US dollars and the other in the local money
[19:11] Unless of course you're in a country that uses just the US dollar then you'll have one debit card Oh and look out for this after about six months You'll start getting emails trying to get you signed up for a regular credit card Yep, they'll try to get you out of the debit card and into a credit card. That's where they make their real dough You might remember in a past show I mentioned the interest rates on credit cards in Latin America can be from 50 to over a hundred percent a year So when those offers come you won't bite, you know better, right? So anyway now you've got a bank account You've got a checkbook and you got a couple of debit cards and for some of you who are retired or getting disability Payments or a trust or some kind of pension. You're getting direct deposit into your account Well, that's cool and over time it'll save you some dough But now you got to get your money from dollars to the local funny money
[20:01] So you go online to your bank's website put your password and code numbers in going to US dollar account Transfer some of that money directly into your peso or limpier account Whatever and you're all set now you've topped up your local funny money card. You can go out spending, right? Yep, absolutely. Except there's one big problem here and I mean big Almost all Latin bank websites are completely in Spanish and there's no little American flag on the top You can click where everything's in English That's just not gonna happen and I'll tell you if you don't know at least a little basic Spanish, you're pretty much screwed Let me give you a few examples here. Suppose you're online now and you put your account number and passwords in correctly Let me tell you when you look at that page, it just might be baffled
[20:46] There are at least 17 different categories to choose from as mentioned all in Spanish For example, you'll have one that says información de cuentas. That means account information that one you'll probably figure out But what about the other 15 choices one is called monetarios. That's your current account Then there's one called a oros, which is your savings account Then there's prestimos if you've taken out a loan, then there's one called tar hetas de pe pago That's debit cards tar hetas de credito credit cards and at least ten other tabs you can click on So if your Spanish sucks, well, it's more than confusing Haha, but when you were in the bank for those four hours setting everything up They did show you the few little things you need to do to get in and out of your account
[21:32] Check your balances and such you knew you'd only have to enter the website a couple times a month Quick on a few things and you'd be out What could be so tough about that? Well, that's true. But here's something they never tell you but you'll find out soon enough I found out it happened to me when I first got an online account, you know They've only been doing the banking online thing for a couple of years in the States You've been doing it what 20 30 years now? So you probably could maneuver your way through your own bank's website left-handed and with your eyes closed But it's in English up there, right? Anyway, here's what they don't tell you most Latin banks these days to make things more secure Will set you up with a couple different passwords and they'll do it at the bank, right? When you set up your account now, that's separate and apart from the password and code words
[22:18] You used to get into your account anytime you want to check it So the other one or two pass phrases that you got the day you opened your account. Well, you'll soon forget about those They'll be written down somewhere in the big pack of junk you get after you've signed all the documents and they hand you all the pamphlets But you know those secret phrases are passwords You never use the ones you forgot all about don't come into play till about six months after you've had your account Now, I don't know if they do this up in the States I don't have any bank accounts up there, but this is how a lot of banks do it down here Suddenly about six months after you've had your account Depending on the bank you'll be in your account and all sudden you'll get a pop-up window in Spanish Of course, and you really won't know what it means. So you'll probably click on the X to make it go away
[23:04] Then maybe a day or two later you go back in and check your account or do some kind of operation and that box I'll pop up again. No big deal. You'll click on the X and it'll go away Just like before then a few days later, you'll get on the net go into your account But it won't let you in your passwords and cold words won't work then that box will pop up again What it's asking or I should say telling you you have to do is change your password Because you know with all the banking and securities and hacking going around the world Latin banks are aware of this and putting in all Kinds of safeguards now, I don't know if they do this in the States But here's the drill every six months depending on the bank. Of course, you'll have to change your password That's just the way it is. If you don't it'll block you out of your account
[23:50] And if you get blocked out of your account That's when you'll have to go back into all the stuff They gave you on the first day and dig out those other passwords Then you'll have to follow some directions in a few other pop-up windows and they'll allow you to change your password and you're back in Now I'll tell you even for a guy like me who can read Spanish pretty well Though I write like a fourth grade Nino, which I guess is better than most green goes When that first happened to me a couple years ago now, I couldn't even work my way through it I forgot about that initial password and all that. I Saw the pop-up boxes. They were telling me to reset the password and I kept trying but it just wouldn't work And now I know why I was supposed to enter that other password first Well, I know that now but I didn't then so I gathered my bundles of paperwork and pamphlets and went down to one of the bank
[24:42] branches within an hour maybe to the customer service lady had worked it all out and fixed me up and got me on the Right track and of course we did that in Spanish because she spoke no English. So there you have it That's one of the problems you have with doing online banking here in Latin America Works fine if you got the details down and you can read a little Spanish Otherwise when you run into a problem You'll have to run to your lawyer's office and one of his helpers will probably fix it for you Or you'll go down to the bank with someone from his office and they'll fix it for you So you live and you learn? Now expat Eddie has a lot of interaction with his bank because he's got a pretty good business going multiple restaurants and such And I remember quite a few years ago when he was just getting started in it There were months back then where he was banging his head against a wall trying to get things done through his bank and not knowing
[25:31] Exactly what was going on because he didn't speak any Spanish So every time he had a problem or went down to the bank He'd bring his girlfriend Claudia with him and in a way He said that wasn't a very good idea because he came to depend on having her around way too much to do that kind of stuff After a while he felt he couldn't do those things without her So don't let that happen to you especially you guys and girls out there who get Latin boyfriends or girlfriends as Eddie says don't let them get involved in your banking and financial stuff You really have to learn and take control of it yourself because relationships romantic and otherwise who knows how long they're gonna last You heard me. Tell that story about my friend in Costa Rica who opened a bar with his Latina girlfriend who ended up owning Everything not good at all for him. Anyway, just a word of caution there bottom line
[26:20] You're going to get frustrated with the banking system here It's frustrating up in the states and like expat Eddie says how many of us haven't been so thoroughly frustrated with our bank up in Milwaukee or Cleveland that like expat Eddie says we didn't want to lay a little whoop ass on the manager And now imagine those same kind of problems happening to you at your Latin bank down here Then add the fact that all the documentations in Spanish everyone you talk to speaks Spanish, too Imagine standing there ready to blow your stack and you just can't get a simple point across I've been there plenty of times now Of course if you're just doing very basic stuff and you just have a simple account in a debit card There's very little that can go wrong and maybe you can figure most of it out yourself But don't count on it. In fact, I'd say every single gringo expat
[27:08] I know has spent way too much time screwing around in the customer service department at his bank You know, I quit counting the number of times I had run into a gringo or expat and I'd say hey, how's it going? Then he'd say something like well pretty good today Johnny But yesterday I spent half the day at the bank and I know I'm gonna have to go back because my statement still isn't right This is the expat files living in Latin America If you want me to help you out with your own plan B Just schedule a one-on-one consult send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to learn how to move forward with your own plan B from right up there in the states go to www.xpatplanb.com and check out my three videos. See ya nos vemos