Travelling with cash

[quote=”Scott”]… and if you are caught leaving the U.S. on your way to Costa Rica carrying more than $10K in cash which you have not declared, the Homeland Security Gestapo will confiscate it. Or is the word steal? I always get those two mixed up…

… and if you declare the fact that you are bringing $XXX,000 into Costa Rica you don’t think that the United Police States of America will hold you for hours for questioning?

“For your protection” of course…

… and don’t forget that to change money in Costa Rica you’ll have to explain the “source of funds” to the bank where you change your money and again, if it’s over $10,000 the bank in Costa Rica will be asking you a lot of questions and your account will probably be frozen until they are satisfied.

We must remember that the U.S. is trying to completely control, and keep track of all U.S. dollars moved in and out of the country by their citizens.

You have no financial privacy – nada – and in case you were not aware of it, you can NOT hide from the U.S. taxation authorities… They are in bed with every financial authority in Costa Rica and they’re on top!

Scott

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Scott, is it possible (although a bit of hassle) to open a HSBC account in the specified denomination you prefer, then the extraction of the funds is not an issue?

[quote=”Scott”]Of course, but you will still have to go through hoops with the Costa Rican banks to show the “source of funds.”

For more on that, please see this article [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/3954.cfm]U.S. Laws Causing Huge Delays For North Americans Investing in Costa Rica Real Estate With US Dollars.[/url]

And funny you should mention HSBC (although HSBC Costa Rica has been acquired and is now known as [url=http://www.davivienda.cr/]Banco Davivienda[/url] because …

If you bring more than $10,000 into Costa Rica without reporting it, you’ll have serious problems but in speaking about HSBC in the words of Matt Taibi:

“Here we have [url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33313.htm]a bank that laundered $800 million of drug money[/url], and they can’t find a way to put anybody in jail for that. That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard, where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail.”

It’s a wonderful world…

Scott

Money makes the world go ’round.

But if the $ is set up in the US (Miami) in Costa Rica denominations, the withdraws in CR should not be an issue. My father in law did that with the Panama Dollar (Balboa) and did not have an issue?

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[quote=”kwhite1″][quote=”Scott”]Of course, but you will still have to go through hoops with the Costa Rican banks to show the “source of funds.”

For more on that, please see this article [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/3954.cfm]U.S. Laws Causing Huge Delays For North Americans Investing in Costa Rica Real Estate With US Dollars.[/url]

And funny you should mention HSBC (although HSBC Costa Rica has been acquired and is now known as [url=http://www.davivienda.cr/]Banco Davivienda[/url] because …

If you bring more than $10,000 into Costa Rica without reporting it, you’ll have serious problems but in speaking about HSBC in the words of Matt Taibi:

“Here we have [url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33313.htm]a bank that laundered $800 million of drug money[/url], and they can’t find a way to put anybody in jail for that. That sends an incredible message, not just to the financial sector but to everybody. It’s an obvious, clear double standard, where one set of people gets to break the rules as much as they want and another set of people can’t break any rules at all without going to jail.”

It’s a wonderful world…

Scott

Money makes the world go ’round.

But if the $ is set up in the US (Miami) in Costa Rica denominations, the withdraws in CR should not be an issue. My father in law did that with the Panama Dollar (Balboa) and did not have an issue?

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You will be hearing from others on this forum that bank with HSBC and will advise you that there is no “connection” between HSBC “US” and HSBC “CR”, so (as a non HSBC customer)I will not delve into that.

What I will tell you is that if you choose to convert your US dollars into colones in the states (wherever, bank, airport or whatever), be prepared to lose 15-20% on the exchange!

You’re pretty much free to handle the cash transaction any way that you’re comfortable with. I do wonder just what protections the parties might have if they do the real estate title transfer in one jurisdiction and the cash transaction in another.

The recommendation to consult Stewart Title Latin America, based here in Escazu, is a good one. I think they offer escrow services that may afford some protections. Stewart may be able to accept a wire transfer from the U.S. and escrow it here, but I’m not sure about that.

My understanding is that it’s neither illegal nor frowned upon to move amounts of more than $10kUS to Costa Rica but there are reporting requirements. If you have any foreign account with a balance of $10kUS at any time during any tax year, you (we Americans, that is) must report it to IRS. There’s no penalty or tax; it’s merely a reporting requirement. And it’s simple.

It’s true that Banco HSBC de Costa Rica’s operations were never integrated with those of HSBC Bank USA, so having an account at the latter would not have done you any good with the former. And now, Banco HSBC is Davivienda anyway.

[quote=”DavidCMurray”]The recommendation to consult Stewart Title Latin America, based here in Escazu, is a good one. I think they offer escrow services that may afford some protections. Stewart may be able to accept a wire transfer from the U.S. and escrow it here, but I’m not sure about that.
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It should be mentioned that Stewart Title does of course charge for this service which can add many thousands of dollars to the transaction costs in buying a property in Costa Rica.

If anyone does contact them, it would be good if you could please report back to us here in the Forum and let us know what sort of fees they do charge these days…

Scott

[quote=”DavidCMurray”]So are you saying that you don’t actually know if Stewart charges a lot for their escrow services, Scott?[/quote]

I don’t recall saying they charge “a lot…”

It’s been a few years since I last met with the people at Stewart David so I can not confirm what their current fees are however, even if it’s only 1% that would certainly “add many thousands of dollars to the transaction costs in buying a property in Costa Rica”, no?

Scott

[quote=”critterhill”]If I buy a home in Costa Rica from an American with a bank account here in the states, can we keep our money transfer here in the states and the paperwork in Costa Rica to complete the transaction?

Would this be allowed? Recommended?[/quote]

Yes, if you buy a house from someone that has an account in the States, the money can be transferred between the two of you in the States. Obviously, to make this happen, each of you (buyer and seller) must have competent attorneys here in CR.

I have been involved in a couple of sales transactions here in CR that were handled in that manner. At first, the attorney for the other side said that it could not be done, but we made it very clear that was the only way that the transaction could (would) go forward and he eventually “found a way”.

If/when we sell our home here I hope the buyer will be from the US and I will insist that the monies be deposited in my my US bank, otherwise I’m not sure how we could ever get the monies back to the States – – – except coming here and taking back $10,000 or less each trip, and/or ATM withdrawals every day at US-based ATMs.