Banking/Money Chisme

[billbudsocket]

There seems to be some weird money stuff going on right now.

I have a bunch of wet in-laws working in the USA that found a farm in Leon department they wanted to buy. I was going to do the money transfer and have the farm put in the wife's name since she is Nicaraguan and in country. The well known english speaking lawyer from MGA that I've used in the past to transfer funds for property purchases was "hesitant" then finally said his bank would no longer allow third party transfers. Ok no problem we'll just use a cheap local lawyer to draft a compromiso de venta (buy/sell agreement) to take to the sellers bank to get permission to wire money from USA to their local account. Then we found out the local lawyers had a totally new fee structure, instead of $1500 cordobas to write up the documents they were now asking $1500 dollars. Three local lawyers were consulted and all had similar stories saying there is a new law and one now has to go to a court in Managua and get a judge's permission to send incoming money wires. Sounds like the letter of no objection stuff for titles but for wiring money. So we gave up on the idea of helping them with the farm purchase.

Then this week sister in law went to pickup money from Western union and was refused as she didn't have a bank account locally, which doesn't make any sense.

Today the wife was talking to the local Western Union lady who was in tears saying all dollar bank accounts are being turned into corboba only accounts.

[bill_bly_ca]

Interesting - I sent a sub $2K amount by Xoom today for material (THe finish coat on walls) I'll let you know if it went through - Xoom said it did but BIL does not have cash in hand yet.

There was the bank account number change last week maybe somehow tied to that. There was also a notification by the "What ever is the same as consumer protection agency" that dollar price advertising was to be outlawed, or the existing laws enforced, can't recall which

[el duende grande]

While Americans ate twinkies and cheered on "NATO" in Ukraine, the world started to move away from the usd. You can only sanction so many Hundreds of millions of people before somebody reacts. Russia, China, Iran, BRICS, da Saudis are all doing their part to create a multi-polar world. Not everybody want to go down the inflationary rathole so the US can pay its debts in cheap dollars.

[KeyWestPirate]

There seems to be some weird money stuff going on right now.

I have a bunch of wet in-laws working in the USA that found a farm in Leon department they wanted to buy. I was going to do the money transfer and have the farm put in the wife's name since she is Nicaraguan and in country. The well known english speaking lawyer from MGA that I've used in the past to transfer funds for property purchases was "hesitant" then finally said his bank would no longer allow third party transfers. Ok no problem we'll just use a cheap local lawyer to draft a compromiso de venta (buy/sell agreement) to take to the sellers bank to get permission to wire money from USA to their local account. Then we found out the local lawyers had a totally new fee structure, instead of $1500 cordobas to write up the documents they were now asking $1500 dollars. Three local lawyers were consulted and all had similar stories saying there is a new law and one now has to go to a court in Managua and get a judge's permission to send incoming money wires. Sounds like the letter of no objection stuff for titles but for wiring money. So we gave up on the idea of helping them with the farm purchase.

Then this week sister in law went to pickup money from Western union and was refused as she didn't have a bank account locally, which doesn't make any sense.

Today the wife was talking to the local Western Union lady who was in tears saying all dollar bank accounts are being turned into corboba only accounts.

Shelley had some odd experiences with her PayPal card about a month ago in Nicaragua.
She is unfortunately ,, gullible.
She called one of the generators of bogus charges on her card,, which promptly answered,, and asked her for her credit card number,, expiration date, and CCV, which she gave them.


No big deal here,, just cancel the card and wait a week for a new one. After I said WTF are you doing ?
In Nicaragua,,, very different situation.

I know that she got clipped twice in Miami "this card doesn't work,, do you have another ??"
But she won't admit it.

We didn't really lose anything but time and effort.
The banks reversed all the charges immediately.


When I bought my farm I wandered around for two weeks with $25K+ in hundred dollar bills strapped to my belly.
The lawyer who researched the title discovered a $5K gravamen on the title that the seller conveniently neglected to mention.
I fronted the $5K to the lawyer who paid the lien holder,, and we had to get what I think was the "constancia" registered,, and then re-do the paperwork to adjust the selling price.
People at the Registro in Somoto were very nice and helpful.

The seller palmed a $100 bill during the counting,, I saw him do it out of the corner of my eye, but decided to let it go.
Search site for key words Nicaraguan and aprovechando.




As far as I know you can still travel with large sums as long as you declare it ??

[el duende grande]

Endemic thievery and lying does get old, doesn't it ?

Anyway, so far I get my direct bank to bank Western Union deposits for $1.99 up to $1500. Hope they don't jack around greenbacks because my US bank charges 3% for conversion to cords. Add that to the 6.5 % Biden inflation and living like a King on a 1000 a month is getting tougher all the time. Seems Nic benefits from greenbacks coming in but who knows. Footshooting is allowed in this world.

Going for a walk at the waterfall today with a friend. Hope I don't get murdered for my 10 year old $300 Professional camera.

Bill- I have used plug in desiccators here for years. Camera and desiccator goes in plastic bag and it works for weeks even during hurricane season. I like Eze brand, but also have Ruggard from b & H. Old skool types also are available in civilization but you have to dry them in an oven or microwave.

Banking here is bipolar--some stuff is easy like paying utility bills online, other stuff is anal retentive, like busting into a CD early to pay unexpected medical bills.

[bill_bly_ca]

Going for a walk at the waterfall today with a friend. Hope I don't get murdered for my 10 year old $300 Professional camera.

Ain't that the truth - My a7 was bought Jan 2014 - It was $1400 cdn as a kit with the Fantabulous 55mm 1.8 Zeiss - The camera is staying here and if confronted it is like "Here take the camera" . I did not bring the Zeiss here just some cheap Korean lenses that are staying. As well some 30 year old Minolta lenses and and a film body

Next trip I have another A body camera (Takes the old Minolta lenses) that will stay here as well. (The rice, not the box :-)

Bill- I have used plug in desiccators here for years. Camera and desiccator goes in plastic bag and it works for weeks even during hurricane season. I like Eze brand, but also have Ruggard from b & H. Old skool types also are available in civilization but you have to dry them in an oven or microwave.

Yep - If I can not find real desiccant I will just look for a box of Uncle Ben's instant rice and put that in as a desiccant.

[el duende grande]

The dslr bargains are out there in the US. If I were living somewhere safe and convenient I would pick up some used real professional cameras and lenses for a song. The move to mirrorless, etc. has people dumping good stuff for peanuts that still has half or more of its useful life left. Went for a hike, had a great time, but got a little dehydrated. the yo-yo weather here bounced to fry in hell mode for a day then bounced back to comfortable. Ran AC and ceiling fan for first time this year.
The salto has sprouted a watering hole at the entrance. Good news there is somebody to open the gate. Bad news is that it will attract undesirables to the location. The salto itself was great-- enough water running to be pretty but the trails were dry.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'll stick to my beginner cameras and intermediate lenses as they do what I need to do. As things evolve, I am pretty much a 2 lens sort of person-- a mid range telephoto and a fast fixed for indoors or low light. IS is mandatory in my advancing middle age. The ultrawide is like rain boots, when you need it you need it but most of the time it sits idle.

As far as greenbacks, la Presa had an article yesterday that seems to say it is all rumors. The greenback is here to stay at least for the immediate future. Hopefully the US will not run out of weather balloons and seagulls to shoot down and dump more sanctions on us.

[KeyWestPirate]

Endemic thievery and lying does get old, doesn't it ?


They have been playing these games at the border as long as I can remember.

Nicaragua was easy for quite a while,,, Bienvenidos!
Now they are a PIA. Of the northern borders, Guasaule is the most relaxed.
They still like Gringos there.


Last couple of trips,, Honduras didn't want even to look at my load.
Guatemala accepted the list "these are the major items" that I gave to the Mexicans.

Big smiles,, something special to hand out, and practice those dance moves.

If you like it cut and dried,,
>>>>>> WTF are you doing in Nicaragua ??

The word "rara" would be more appropriate than "unica"

[KeyWestPirate]

We made two small WU transfers yesterday without problem.

Both were right at $250

It's hard to imagine Daniel shutting down that river of cash from remesas, and a lot come via Western Union

[el duende grande]

Article in the press yesterday was misinterpreted by some button pushers online. they published the data on the long standing 1% cordova slide for the rest of the year. Same stuff as every year. As I remember the cord is 36.2 : 1 on March 1 and goes down in value to 36.6 on Dec 31.