My husband and I will eventually be relocating to St. Croix and I was wondering if someone could shed some light as to which bank is preferred? My daughter who lives on St. Croix was home in the States over Thanksgiving she has an account at Banco Popular and was given a hard time when trying to pay by check finally resorting to using cash from an ATM for purchases. We will have most of our financial dealing done directly with auto-deposit so it shouldn't be much of a hassle but would like to hear some thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance.

I've used them all and only Firstbank (formerly chase) and Bank of St Croix have been accepted wherever I've travelled. The outstanding Customer Svc at BoSTX makes them my alltime fav.. Good luck.

I'm not surprised she couldn't write checks on a VI bank in the states for purchases. I would actually be surprised if she could. I haven't lived in the states for a long time, but used to be you almost never had an "out of state" check accepted. Maybe now with instant approval, or whatever it's called (telecheck??), it different, but maybe I'm not understanding your question. When you will be living here, are you concerned that you won't be able to pay for things in the states with a check? You can mail checks for any payments you make, like to a credit card or mortgage, and they are accepted just fine. If you order something and send a check (like from a catalog), they will wait a couple of weeks for the check to clear before sending the merchandise. I thinks that's standard anywhere though.

I use FirstBank, ScotiaBank and Bank of St. Croix. Happy with all of them. Hope this helps.

Juanita

I don't remember how many years ago, but there was a big problem on how long a period of time a Bank could put a hold on a check, before the funds would be made available to the depositors account. The amounts and the time frame were established by the fed clearing house and the member banks routing codes. Usually 100.00 dollars is available the next banking day after deposit, up to 4900. dollars 3 banking day's anything over 5000. dollars up to 10 banking day's. It's not the bank that accepts the check, it's the Feds that clear the checks recommended policy to the member banks. Some business establishments will not accept an out of state check because of this. Before the clearing time was established the banks would use the monies via a term called the "float" and collect interest on it.

Quote
Lizard
I don't remember how many years ago, but there was a big problem on how long a period of time a Bank could put a hold on a check, before the funds would be made available to the depositors account. The amounts and the time frame were established by the fed clearing house and the member banks routing codes. Usually 100.00 dollars is available the next banking day after deposit, up to 4900. dollars 3 banking day's anything over 5000. dollars up to 10 banking day's. It's not the bank that accepts the check, it's the Feds that clear the checks recommended policy to the member banks. Some business establishments will not accept an out of state check because of this. Before the clearing time was established the banks would use the monies via a term called the "float" and collect interest on it.

Right on Lizzard.
The banks are making mucho bucks on the float using someone elses $$!

Must be nice!

Oh, & one more thing,
I have many accounts @ Scotia, but I find them WAY to intrusive!
I know, I said it before:
They have my drivers licence, my passport, my 1099`s, my w-2s, my social security card...
Now they asked me for my2006, 2007 & 2008 1040!
I told them to schedule a appointment & bring a camera so they could take pictures of my full frontal & backside(as it is the ONLY thing they don`t have)!!!
This way, tey can know more than my wife about me!
There really is something wrong with this level of needing to know your customers!

Who knows, next year they`ll ask for DNA samples????

Scotia is rude too. I used to do business banking there. never NEVER again. I routinely used to get statements with penciled corrections on them, LOL! (yeah, well, at least they were corrected.) Most banks have bullet-proof glass to prevent robbery. For Scotia it serves in lieu of a suggestion box.

I use FirstBank VI on STX and am completely satisfied.

Both on STT, where I originally opened my checking and savings accounts, and on STX, where I now bank, I have been treated with the greatest respect and professional service.

As I travel around the world a great deal, I find their online banking service convenient and easy to use.

We have used Banco Popular for the 6+ years we have been here. Have had no problems.

I love Bank of St.Croix

I am ok with FirstBank, they have decent online banking and are professional for the most part. I prefer BOA in the states but when in paradise

My only issue with Firstbank is that they are RIDICULOUS sometimes with clearing checks. I had a check not clear once because the lady at the Sunny Isle branch couldn't "read my signature." My response was "does it match my signature card?" She agreed it did and then told me I had to come in and sign a new signature card! I told her that my signature was mine and that was ridiculous, if I come in it would be to close my account. She backed off. They were also quite ridiculous about depositing checks for our 6 month old into our account (gifts from relatives). The woman actually told us that our 6 month old had to sign. We had the birth certificate etc. ready and they simply wouldn't deposit the check. BOA in the states had absolutely no issue doing the deposit though.

Other than a few silly incident's that only add to the charm of living in the Caribbean I've been pretty happy with Firstbank for about 6 years.

Sean

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and insights on this matter. I will definitely consider Bank of St Croix and First Bank. I am still amazed at how service institutions can get away with treating their customers so poorly..my gosh as you all know in the States they have people on the floors of the bank just watching customer service and how the tellers and employees treat the customers..I guess it is once again the trickle down theory because if the people at the top don't set the example than why should the people below them?