Monthly Archives: October 2006

As someone who, up until now, has only dealt with American banks, I was somewhat excited about the prospect of a completely different banking experiance. Confusion is part of dealing with any new bank, especially in a new country, so I wasn’t expecting everything to be smooth sailing. What I got, though, was a hurricane.

After registering with my school, they gave me two letters. I was told to give one to the Foreign Police, which proved that I was registered at the school and which would allow me to receive a Residence Permit. The other was to ABN Amro, a large Dutch bank. This was a major plus, since every time I take money out of the ATM I get 3 different fees, one of which is for a percentage of the money which I take out (yikes!). I also need to transfer money into my landlord’s ABN Amro account, and the easiest way to do it is from my own.

After dealing with the Foreign Police, a process which takes two weeks, I got a flashy stamp in my passport and could use it to open an account. The delay was annoying but understandable, and I headed down to a nearby branch office to get things rolling.
Whoops, first mistake. Apparantly here in Holland there are special “New Account” days, and that day was not one of them. I came back early in the morning the next day, but there was a shortage of employees who were authorized to open accounts. I made an appointment to come back the next Monday.
Finally, I was able to open an account. I was told I’d receive an ATM card in the mail in about 5 business days, and could then use it to deposit money and make purchases.

… Two weeks later, I still had no card, and biked over to my local office. A teller informed me that his collegue forgot to click the button which would process my request for a card. Oops. I was given the same old story, and was told I could use my passport to conduct business at the branch offices untill I received my card. Because I’ve had SUCH good experiance with those visits…
At this point I needed to pay my landlord badly. I got some money together at my U.S. Bank and made yet another visit to (a different, and hopefully better) ABN Amro branch. I figured I’d write myself a check, deposit it, and all would be well.

Ooops, my mistake again. Apparantly the fees for depositing a check are high, and it can take up to five weeks for it to clear. I’m not quite sure why (or how) either of those things are necessary, as ABN Amro is a very large bank with U.S. offices, and we have moved on from the steam-ship shipping method several decades ago.

While I worked out my money transfer options with my U.S. bank, my ATM card finally arrived. Woo. Now I just have to activate it at … my local ABN Amro branch. Something tells me that this wasn’t going to work out well. After waiting in the branch for about 15 minutes (nobody else was there), a teller walked over and said she had bad news.

“Today isn’t a card-activation day?” I asked. Turns out it was not, because their pin activation machines were down for the day. I should have known.

Anyhow, I was able to figure out how to get money into my account. I can do an electronic transfer (which costs me $50 US) and it will be there in a few days. Sigh. Anyhow, tonight I’m going to try that “simple process”, and maybe get my ATM card activated tomorrow.

You know it’s bad when you’re longing for the pleasantries of U.S. banking back home…