STA Debit Cards - another flop

offshore
Issued through Banco Promerica of Costa Rica. Okay, it is offshore, not a big surprise with Kim, he seems to like to do things out of the way of any US authorities. Lets take a look at it.

Fees
First thing...WOW, look at all those fees. That would turn me off right there, but I know some of you die hard fans of Kim will think it is ok. Simple thing is though, if it were a legitimate business they would be able to get better rates. High risk, high cost, just like any other financial transaction.

no deposit insurance
The issuer of the debit card is Banco Promerica which is one of the smaller private banks of Costa Rica. According to what I read there are 19 private banks in Costa Rica and they are relatively a new thing. The greatest disadvantage of the private bank is the lack of deposit insurance.

record keeping
Private banks have been undergoing a consolidation, with the total number of banks declining. Further consolidation is expected, as the size of the Costa Rican market is inadequate to sustain the number of banks that remain. Were they to get absorbed I would wonder if my debit card account was going to get transferred correctly and still be usable. No problem though if it doesn't, just call a bank rep to straighten it out. Long distance...brush up on your spanish.

bad neighborhood?
Promerica has branches in: Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

Gee, some of those places sound familiar. Oh yeah, they seem to have a have had a lot of political strife over the last 20 years, but I hear it is much better now.

posted by steve_o @ 2/27/2006 06:44:00 AM