I opened a bank account at BAM recently and brought along a Guatemalteco to vouch for me as requested (required). He is a trusted and long-term employee where I am currently living. All went well...I must have answered a million questions to which there seemed no clear answer (like how much do I plan to spend per month. Um, really?) but finally walked out the proud owner of a shiny new Guatemalan bank account.
Only problem is, after the fact, doubts set in and I wondered if my overconfidence in my Spanish had failed me - and I had unwittingly agreed to allow another person to have full access to my account. Yes, you can laugh.
I signed almost all the papers, whereas he only signed a couple of papers in the end (which I should have perused more closely), along with producing his DIP (bank made copies of), and answering a couple of questions about his work and where he lived...so for the most part it was me sitting in the hot seat in front of the bank officer answering all questions, while he was behind in the rows of other seats, so no joint account vibe there.
And I'm not in too deep at this point (about $50), so of course I will ask the bank directly if he has access, and if he does, change the person to someone else whom I trust more, etc....but...what do you think? Lol. I may be a gormless gringa at times, but ultimately a fast learner. Please advise before I return there to pick up debit card, etc. - and potentially make a bigger fool of myself.
And don't try to sell me any swamp land, just yet.