Stone age banking

I am aghast. It’s so rare that I get to use that word.

In 2019 I deposited a small amount in a deposito plazo at the Banco Santandar. Of course they gave me a receipt and every month they would give me an email update of the amount in the deposito plaza Sometimes I would go into the bank and they would give me a printout. Once a year I’m able to withdraw it.

That date was today so I went to the Banco Santandar to withdraw the money. They would not let me have it.

There was no question of my identity. I had spoken to these same people over the last five years. The executive and the bank manager (who I know on a first name basis) said I needed the original deposit receipt from 2019. It was a bank rule they could not work around. Even though I had all my identification and past communication with them, I had printouts from their bank of the updated amount and the history of how it’d grown over the years they still would not let me have the money. Both the executivo and branch manager said the only way to get the money was to get some paperwork from either a lawyer or a notary.

Why do I feel like I’m in the Banana Republic?

Has anybody else experienced this dilemma?

Had a similar situation where I had to authorize myself to receive vale vistas issued in my name.
Go to a Notario, explain the situation. They will probably know how to generate the appropriate poder or certificate.

All this paperwork is necessary because of the amount of fraud in this country.

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Notary cannot do it, only a lawyer. And lawyers cost a lot more. Notary went to bank with me. Apparently this is an old system they no longer use. Everything is digital now. 2019 was just before Everything went digital. If I cannot find the original ( which is equvalent to currency) I have to get a lawyer to get my money back. They stopped using this stone age system shortly after I bought that deposito plazo. Will have to search through boxes in Canada to find original or pay a lawyer ( notary cannot do this) to petition the government to get my money back. I certainly didn’t choose Chile for its convenience,

More Chilean Mickey Mouse tramitación.
Now you got me worried. We have a few older depositos a plazo. Will check this out at some stage.
As they say los papeles hablan - still.

Now that I recall, when establishing one of these deposits, the banks offer the option of either issuing a certificate to the depositor, or leaving it in the bank’s custody. I guess you did the former…

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The one from 2019 has Custodia Cliente on it, lower right side of page on the electronic copy, the more recent one, which they assure me I will have no problem cashing has Custodia Electronica on it, lower right side of electronic copy. They showed me a copy of a Custodia Cliente, a page about the size of half a letter page, yellow and comprised of thicker paper… apparently fabricated in this manner to represent currency.

Ugh, now I have a banking issue too. My credit card was blocked. I tried to make a few, legitimate, purchases and they were declined. I contacted the bank and it was blocked supposedly due to fraud. They can’t unblock the card and I have to go in person into town to get a new one. They used to courier them to my house, but last year I had to go to the bank when my debit card expired. There’s no customer service window, so I had to wait forever for a teller.

Of course, a while back when someone fraudulently charged a plane ticket and rental car to my card, they didn’t block those transactions. It was eventually resolved in my favor, but it was stressful.

fraud is becoming so common it is advisable to check your cards and accounts weekly, not monthly

I never check only monthly. Before the fraud I did about once a week. After that happened, I log in 2-3 times a week to make sure nothing weird is going on.

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