Has anyone else discovered funds missing from their account/s. My checking account came up $430 short. When I questioned the teller I was told I must have spent it and it's not the banks fault or responsibility to prove to me what happened. I don't have a Atlantic ATM card and only wrote a few checks since opening the account which they should be able to track and see the error is on their part. After talking to some friends who are Belizean I discovered it happened to two of them in the last year or so. They also were rudely blown off by the staff.

Pursue it higher, because maybe the same staff member that blew you off, actually stole the money out of your account. It is not unheard of.

Absolutely go higher up....the tellers are not helpful, except to hand out cash or pay bills. They are limited in what they know or what they can do.

Can you not look at your monthly statements and find out where and when the money was taken out of your account?

Do you have their online banking? That may identify when/where/how if you don't have your latest paper statement. And you should get all your processed cheques back so can prove you haven't written any others. Definitely pursue this - I have banked with Atlantic for almost ten years and never had a problem.

These problems go back a while and I gave up on the Bank and money. I had this account since '02 and only used it to occasionally pay a bill. From the beginning I never received a paper statement although my San Pedro PO box was on file and on I numerous occasions I inquired with the floor manager at to why. When the funds disappeared my account it had been inactive for a few months since I pay for most things in cash. I did speak to the then manager and was met with a blank stare and complete indifference. It was then I decided to just write it off as another lesson to living here. As for the account I took out the remaining money and left it at that.
What disturbs me more is the same thing happened to two Belizeans I'm close to with very little income. They work crappy back breaking, low paying jobs but made the effort to open an account and diligently saved 20/30 bucks a week to only have that stolen. They were met with even less respect or care by the bank when questioning the indiscretions..... Thanks for all the replies though.

Maybe a call to Central Bank?

Hi, I sent you a PM about this topic. Please read and get back to me so I can help.

Thanks

I think that all of the local banks have a policy whereby you have to report a problem within 60 days in order to have it resolved.
We had issues with Atlantic some years ago - they deducted an entire hotel payroll from our company account. When informed they promptly rectified the error. We also changed banks.

I have banked with First Caribbean in Belize City, Atlantic on Caye Caulker and Belize Bank in Belize City. Atlantic Bank has been the best so far with hardly a mistake in 10 years versus my experiences with the other banks. But it still pays to go higher and not accept this automatically.

Clopez may be an employee of AB? Damage control division?

PS ------ most banks have a policy whereby if you do not maintain a minimum balance in a checking account (around $1,000), there is a monthly fee automatically deducted from your account. It is possible that if your account balance decreased do to this ?

Well said Diane. Even if you keep a balance if there is no activity in the account they will charge you. Although you seem to have found people who say the bank has taken their money I would be very surprised if that actually happened. Atlantic Bank has always provided decent service here on the Island.

I have been in touch with the bank and they are looking into it. Fees could be a possibility and they would be on record. I don't recall ever seeing a fee of any kind when i would check the balance online. I can only speak for myself and hope to be wrong here.....

My wife was with Belize Bank and had a few hundred $ in but they froze the account as she had not used it for a few months. Charged her every month and charged for the letter to her telling us what they had done.

i have stood at Atlantic bank counter and argued that,, yes, this is my signature.
then they made me sign it 3 times before they believed it was me standing there in front of the teller I PERSONALLY KNEW!!!

You look suspicious!!!!

Barn you look suspicious and then some. You probably wrote about the teller on your blog the week before, what do you expect?

We had the same problem as Barnacle with Atlantic Bank, except with us they would also refuse checks because of a "bad" signature, then charge us and the payee a bad check charge, automatically deduct it from our account, and refuse to put the money back. On one occasion, we really made a stink, and they made their customer service rep refund our money out of his own pocket! We think it's some sort of scam for them to collect extra fees. We finally got fed up and closed the account, and after having the customer service rep (who knew us quite well by that time) watch my husband sign 3 forms to withdraw the funds from the closed account, the bank manager refused his signature on ONE of the forms and demanded identification. It was complete harrassment.

Over the 3 years we had the account, we also had problems with mysterious withdrawals. They always explained it as someone mistyping an account number and the money was supposed to come out of somebody else's account, or it was an error in charging us twice for our safe deposit box, or some such drivel, although to their credit they always put the money back when we confronted them, and my husband is an accountant and tracks that stuff, so the mysterious withdrawals were usually brought to their attention quickly. However, I wouldn't be surprised if that's also a scam they're running since not everybody notices money missing from their accounts until it's too late to track.

We also know someone who has a loan with them and wants to pay it off. They won't give him a statement to tell him what his payoff balance is until he pays $55. So, he's not paying off the loan.

Our advice is to get your $$ out of Atlantic Bank ASAP.

we use Scotiabank and have been pleased with their service so far

Five years with Belize Bank and no problems.

We were happy too until last week when the Scotiabank ATMs started charging $4.00BZ for cash withdrawals against our Canadian bank cards. This is like someone stealing a rum drink on us when our backs were turned.

Some quick research shows that the Atlantic Bank ATM withdrawals are still free.

we have never had any 'problems' with atlantic, just the little funny things.
i don't go inside anymore, i wait in the truck but my wife almost every time comes out shaking her head and grinning about some goofy thing that just happened.

Eighteen years with Belize Bank...no problems.

Y

I hope you are reading your own San Pedro Daily.

Yes but again, my personal experience has been all good.

Yes, based on the past but I would be a little concerned having money in that bank after what the Central Bank had to say.

Governor of the Central Bank in a sworn affidavit:
"the Belize Bank's performance is deteriorating"
and
"if left unchecked and unresolved could lead to the bank becoming financially unstable."
in 7 News Belize - FYI

Thanks for posting that. I should have made it clear I was refering to the Belize Bank.

And, maybe this should be a separate topic, if so maybe an administrator could move it.
I am curious what protection a depositor has in Belize if a bank becomes insolvent.

The uninitiated might not know that there is a whole subtext here that has little to do with the actual performance of the bank.

I was refering to the first ch7 report and the Guardian article where it was stated that the Belize Bank had a non performing loan ratio of 28%.
Having been in the banking business, that would be of great concern to both depositors and regulators if it were a US bank.

But I understand this is Belize not the US. Thus my question, what protection, if any, do depositors have if a Belize bank fails?

BZ Bk and Heritage both have very high default rates at present. Scotia the lowest, First Caribbean and Atlantic within acceptable ranges. BZ BK lost out on loans to PUP political and business cronies in Ashcrofts attempt to keep PUP in power and build an empire he could manipulate.

A quote from Lan Sluder: Your Money and How to Hold On to It in Belize
By Lan Sluder

CAUTION: Deposits in Belize banks are not protected by deposit insurance, as they are in the U.S. under the FDIC, and in many other countries. All of your deposits are at risk should the bank fail.

Can anyone speak to the status of the British Caribbean Bank (the offshore/international side of Belize Bank) relative to any additional protections or lack thereof?

The Belize Bank has its own thread now in the "Nation" forum: Belize Bank in Trouble?.
Please keep this thread on topic (Atlantic Bank and Beachdog) from now on.
Thanks

Does anyone know current requirements to get a Scotia Bank Account here?

Also wondering for people who have accounts there do they get charged every so often for having a current account there[someone told me they closed their account at Scotia because of an unreasonable charge for that].

So what happens if one was to take a loan for a house and the bank goes under? What would happen to the loan and/or property?

Scotia Bank is a Canadian based bank and from what I have heard from reading the newspapers..... banks in Canada are some of the safest banks in the world.

The house loan is an asset of the bank that made the loan. The assets of a failed bank go to whatever conservator or purchaser or other overseeing entity takes over. Your loan will not be canceled and you will be paying another entity.

Hello

We are coming to Ambergris Caye for Thanksgiving Holiday. This will be our first time back since last Feb. we purchased a condo then .
We need to open a bank account with one of the banks and was wondering if anyone could steer us to a reputable one, that can do wire transfers and international banking.
What documents would we need to bring with us in order to open an account?

Thank you so much

4woats

2 letters of reference, 1 from your financial institution in the states and 1 from your CPA is preferred & your passport if I remember correctly. We use both Scotia & Atlantic and have no complaints.

We applied for a dollar account at Belize Bank this past August. We had to have a letter of reference from our bank, and one from either a lawyer or accountant, plus passports. I think that was it.

Diane Campbell seems to be a very intelligent lady.