Banking in Paraguay

Hello Everyone!

I am starting a business here in Paraguay, I fix medical equipment and have been doing so in the states for 4 years. I do have residency here, so I can open a bank account, but I have been told many different things about the banks here. I need some way for my clients to pay me, and some being larger hospitals, I assume that they will like to transfer money into an account, or write a check?

My question is as follows... What method do people recommend for keeping my money here (or getting it back to the states) that is safe and secure? I also have the need to get my money back to my bank in the USA to pay off my credit cards that I will be using here.

Thanks for your help!

Joseph

People here don't pay like in the US, they will write you a check and will post date it too. The bigger the client, the later you're gonna get paid. To wire money (USD) from here, you need to have an account in foreign currency (USD) with an average minimum of 1500 USD at all time.

Besides paying bills and such, why on earth would you want your money to go back to the States? Remember that Uncle Sam taxes you on every penny :) If you have a surplus, don't send it back, invest it here (Land, house, ...)

From a US bank perspective, either receiving money or sending money from/to a Paraguayan bank shouldn't be a problem.  I've used both a bank and a credit union in the US to send money here to a Paraguayan bank account with no problem.   And I did check to see if the bank could accept funds from Paraguay and the answer was "no problem".   But haven't actually done it as I was just more curious than actually planning on doing so.  If your trying to make payments on a credit card in the US I'd go to your Paraguayan bank and verify their policies on transferring money as I'm sure each bank here would do things differently.  And ask for written confirmation of a policy or procedure and cost.  It drives me crazy here when the clerks at banks tell you one thing only to find out later they were wrong or "mistaken".