Since most of you have followed my stories since I arrived here, you by now understand that things work a little bit different down here (that may be the world's greatest understatement). I am currently in the middle of another one of my epic little "experiences." BTW, for those of you Brazilians who read this, again, I'm not complaining. I love Brazil, the people, the culture, everything. It's just that us Americans get a kick out of these stories, and I wouldn't be doing anybody any favors if I didn't mention these little stories. With that out of the way, as I mentioned in my last entry, the exchange rate has moved considerably in favor of the dollar over the past two months. For us gringos, this is a great relief on our lifestyle expenses down here. In an effort to lock in the favorable exchange rate (I think we'll see a bit of a pullback soon), I decided to wire some money down here. Of course, that's not as easy as it sounds. The banks still do not allow me to open a personal account even though I live here, I have a Brazilian social security number, etc., etc. What blows my mind about that is the pure lack of business sense that it makes. If you can give me one good reason why a bank wouldn't want a new customer who can clearly prove that they are in good standing, I'm all ears. Since I don't have a personal account, I have to wire the money into my business account. This requires filing several documents as well as waiting three days for the documents to process before my lawyer can enter the bank to receive the funds (sounds fun right?). When my lawyer told me all of this, I just accepted it for what it is. I've been here long enough for this stuff not to shock me any more. Anyway, to make a long story short, I wired the money late last week when the exchange rate was at 2.31 (it's currently 2.15) and after the three day waiting period. The kicker was that I received an email on Friday saying that the bank is on strike and no one is allowed to do ANYTHING. This was last Friday. Today my money is still sitting only God knows where and I can't lock into any rate until everyone decides to go back to work. When that happens, I'll be a happy man. Every day the currencies are moving 5-10% in either direction, and I'm pretty tired of staring at it. I just pray that when the dedicated employees of Banco do Brasil make their way back to work that the exchange rate ends up landing on Park Place instead of Baltic Avenue....
3 comments:
You should just use Western Union and pick up your money at Banco do Brasil or Money Gram and pick up your money at any Itau!
You can even go online from either one of these companies and send the money to yourself via credit or debit card...
You would see your money in minutes, not days...and no need for lawyers...
Unless you are wiring millions...WU and MG will have certain limits but they are pretty good, you can just wire yourself money progressively, as you need...
Ray
Hey Chris, My husband (German/Brazilian) and I (American)are moving to Floripa in mid November and were wondering if you have your business set up already and what kind of a business you have. Once we get there we'll be looking for work... wouldn't you be interested in hiring a punctual German and hard working American? At the very least, we could maybe hook up for some drinks sometime. Email address: shanghaisally02@yahoo.de Take care and maybe we'll be seeing each other soon!
Chris Hello, Friend in the states put me onto your Blog link and I looked around for your email and could not find, so name here is Bob Ritchie living in Santa Catarina two locations but not same time, Aguas Mornas, and Floripa south of the island. Would like to tell you more and maybe help out with bank prob you got so if you could make contact I can tell you what I do here for now a little over 6 years bob.ifloripa@gmail.com skype add bob_usa_brazil windows live messenger robertritchie@brturbo.com.br Hope to hear from you Chris
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