Opening a Bank Account in Haiti

We had two final tasks to accomplish before returning to the hotel for our last night. The first was to get some souvenirs at the tourist market, and the second was to open a bank account.

Opening a bank account in Haiti is odd, and would have been impossible without Bernard. UMCOR and Providence Methodist have an existing relationship with a Haitian bank that allows them to do international wire transfers for a low cost, so I opened an account with them. It's a personal account for me, not a UNC Charlotte account.

We started out by going to get photos taken. An international account needs two people to be opened, so both Bernard and I had to get our picture taken. When I saw it, I realized how haggard I look. There was an adorable little girl (maybe two?) who would peek at me, smile, and then hide; we played this game while Bernard and I waited for the photos to be printed.

An odd realization occurred to me when I saw Bernard pay for the photos (I paid him back); we (SLC folks) came to Haiti with precisely the wrong cash. The amounts were correct, but the bills were terrible. We think of a twenty dollar bill as an effective balance between high value and spendability, but that's not true in Haiti. Almost no one can make change; even the hotel gives us a hard time. What we should have done is changed money regularly into small bills (25, 50, and 100 goud, equivalent to thirty cents, sixty cents, and $1.20) would have upped our bargaining power, made transactions easier, and cost us significantly less. If you pay in US bills, you pay tourist prices; if you pay in goud, you pay less. This isn't true at the hotel or the Digicel store, but everywhere else it's true.

After the photos, we went to the bank. There is no line; people come in and sit down to wait for the next teller. Bernard put on his best BMOC attitude and got us started on the forms. Rather than fill out the entire form, we passed the form back and forth, filling out one section at a time. I couldn't even remotely follow the Creole involved. I deposited $20, filled out a signature card, and voila, I had a bank account. Eddie from Milot came in to do a transaction with Bernard, and it was nice to see him again. The Haitians we have worked with have been more than hospitable, they've been friendly.

Back to the hotel, and we saw Sanchez (our translator) off after a couple of drinks and exchanging email and other contact information. He's our last goodbye until Bernard sees us off. I might write again tonight, but for now adieu.