Post: #1

I'm certainly not a financial guru, so I'll post this up to get a consensus.

It has been brought to my attention that the interests rates on U.S. dollars are high here.

http://www.ascotadvisory.com/OffshoreArticleINT.html

This website is claiming 7-8% on a 90 day CD. There has to be a catch. If not, I have enough in the bank to bring down here and start living off interest.

Thoughts?

Post: #2

http://www.dr1.com/forums/new-members-in...ngs-2.html

Here's a link to the DR1 forum with an interest chart from the local banks. Some are paying pretty high. Enough to live on a 20K investment. It sounds too good to be true.

Post: #3

Interested. Reminds me of:
/thread-13947.html

Post: #4

This is quite intriguing! Anyone in here has or is investing in these foreign accounts? I remember a few years ago, think in 2004-2007, Brasil was offering 12, 13 and even up to 15% rates per annum on their savings accounts. I'm definitely going to look into investing funds into overseas account in the near future on an on going basis. Much better than letting them rot here at abysmal rates...

If you do go ahead with this Ali, let us know how it goes. I'm going to be following this thread with great interest.

Post: #5

(07-18-2012 09:09 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  This is quite intriguing! Anyone in here has or is investing in these foreign accounts? I remember a few years ago, think in 2004-2007, Brasil was offering 12, 13 and even up to 15% rates per annum on their savings accounts. I'm definitely going to look into investing funds into overseas account in the near future on an on going basis. Much better than letting them rot here at abysmal rates...

If you do go ahead with this Ali, let us know how it goes. I'm going to be following this thread with great interest.

No way man. There's some financial minds on here that love to pick apart this shit. I want their input before putting ANYTHING down here. I invest all my money on pussy and beer. The returns so far are a sore dick, hangover, and a Plan B pill the other day.

This really isn't my forte. I need some objective input.

Post: #6

I got a few PMs on investing etc, I'm jammed all week but I'll try to take a look Sunday.

On a first look I'd say you're in a tough spot, if my very bad memory serves me, inflation there is high, 7%+, you've got to denominate in USD/dop? It's unclear. However, if you do plan to live there for the rest of your life in the future I see no reason in notgetting a bank account.

Finally unless you are dealing with very large sums of money you have no chance making money in currencies. I have said this 1000,0000 times here but people still keep "wondering" just not possible. Unless you have electronic trading capabilities in your home trading forex or being a day trader is a joke, you might get "lucky" but that's all it is.

I'd suggest people ping portofmaneu instead as he has a much better idea, using the rates to buy material goods if you have already left the country. That's much safer.

Post: #7

Be careful investing in other countries. Its a tricky racket. I have a small piece of land in Mexico. If I want to check on it, I have to fly there. I can't trust what the locals tell me. For all I know they have built a soccer field on it and threw away my ownership paperwork. I hope I don't get screwed and lose my money. I wish I would have just put that money in a cd at my local bank.

Post: #8

(07-18-2012 05:16 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  I'm certainly not a financial guru, so I'll post this up to get a consensus.

It has been brought to my attention that the interests rates on U.S. dollars are high here.

http://www.ascotadvisory.com/OffshoreArticleINT.html

This website is claiming 7-8% on a 90 day CD. There has to be a catch. If not, I have enough in the bank to bring down here and start living off interest.

Thoughts?

The catch is the exchange rate could change and then you could lose more than 7%.

So let's say now you get 39 pesos to $1. You have to deposit pesos to get the good rate, dollars don't pay shit.

You go down with $1000 and you exchange it and get 39000 RD, and put that in a 2yr cd paying 7%. But in that 2 years the exchange rate goes to 48, which is about 20% more. So when you take all those pesos out of the bank, and go to change back to dollars, you are actually getting less than $1000, you are not even making any interest because you lost more than 7% a year.
Or look at it this way, when you put the money in you could buy $1000 for 39000 pesos. But 2 years later you have to pay 48000 RD just to get back you initial $1000.

And BTW, 7-8% on a 90 day cd is not possible, it must be a scam.

Post: #9

The local compra-venta (pawnshop) loans money at 10% per month. Go to one and tell them that you will loan them money at 5% and invest more money each month.

Dominicans pay high interest to borrow money. My friend would loan money on property. He would give the owner 25% of the property and charge 3% a month. He ended up with lots of homes/property.

Post: #10

be careful doing it - especially as a foreigner......

Post: #11

You have to be realllllllly careful when making investments like that in countries that aren't really established or entirely financially stable. Like jdelisi said, if the exchange rate changes, you could lose a TON of your initial investment. In my opinion, not worth risking it.

Post: #12

How much are they really gonna change when you live there and can watch it every day. 90 day cd even at 2% that pays interest monthly. I was there 6 months ago and the exchange has stayed the same

Post: #13

What about banks, like Liberty Bank in the Republic of Georgia that I linked above, that give around 9% on 1 year CDs denominated in USD?

Post: #14

(07-25-2012 05:31 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  What about banks, like Liberty Bank in the Republic of Georgia that I linked above, that give around 9% on 1 year CDs denominated in USD?

I saw an ad in Dubai about the economic growth of Georgia. Interesting. Never researched it, but it was a good place to put the ad.

Post: #15

If the CD is denominated in dollars, then there's no exchange rate risk. You give the bank USD and they pay you back in USD. The only risk is that the bank goes under. Two things, check in see if there's any deposit insurance in the DR and make sure you're putting your money in a reputable bank.

Generally speaking, if there are banks in some other country offering really high interest rates on USD deposits, it's because there's a lot inflation going on in the local currency. I took a look at the interest being reported by the Central Bank of Dominican Republic and sure enough, they're reporting interest close to 9% as of the end of 2011. If you're holding Dominican pesos, the values is getting eaten away pretty quickly, so banks want to attract as many dollars as possible. That's why they're offering such attractive interest rates.

Also, look here: http://www.bancentral.gov.do/english/new...-05-31.pdf

The Central Bank of the DR now has its monetary policy rate at 6%. The monetary policy rate is the overnight rate it which banks borrow from one another, and from the Central Bank. Think about it, that's 6% on an overnight loan, so 7-8% on a 90-day CD makes sense. By comparison, the Fed Funds rate, which is the US overnight rate, is something like 0.15% right now.

Post: #16

(07-24-2012 07:55 PM)patron Wrote:  The local compra-venta (pawnshop) loans money at 10% per month. Go to one and tell them that you will loan them money at 5% and invest more money each month.

Dominicans pay high interest to borrow money. My friend would loan money on property. He would give the owner 25% of the property and charge 3% a month. He ended up with lots of homes/property.

3% a month ! - 36% a year ?

thats usury!

Post: #17

^ Most Credit Cards in North America are equal or worse.

Post: #18

Try getting the money out of these countries. They have exchange controls like the republic of georgia mentioned earlier

Post: #19

You can invest in dominican pesos or us dollars. Investing in DP will get you a higher interest rate. In 2006, the interest rate on DP was 24% and dollars 12%. I think th interest rates now are 12 to 14% on DP and 8% on us dollars. It depends on how long you want to invest the money.

There are no exchange controls. Money flows in and out of the country everyday.

Post: #20

(07-25-2012 05:31 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  What about banks, like Liberty Bank in the Republic of Georgia that I linked above, that give around 9% on 1 year CDs denominated in USD?

I read a blog of a Russian speaking Israeli guy (in Russian) who bought and apartment in the Republic of Georgia as an investment property. Among other things, the construction company at one point sent him a letter that he owed them >$10K just because somebody scammed them and they had to recoup the loss by getting the money from all apartment owners. As far as I remember, that problem was resolved, but you get the picture. He also complained about things like government officials not being able to speak any foreign languages, ridiculous local rules, etc. I personally would not invest in Georgia even though I have a friend there who could potentially help me if I got in trouble.

If you are looking for high yields on CDs, at least some other former Soviet Union countries offer them too, but IMO it's not worth the risk and the hassle. You could try if you had trustworthy relatives or friends there who could invest on your behalf, otherwise my advice is don't bother.