I am in receipt of a PR income tax refund check. Great news. Unfortunately, I am hitting roadblocks in trying to cash or deposit the check and I can use guidance.
1) my US based credit union will not accept the check because they insist it is a foreign check. I have tried to educate them that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the US, the check although printed in Spanish is using USD as currency. The Puerto Rico banking system uses the same Federal Reserve Bank as with US banks. And as in the US bank deposits are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
2) being unable to deposit to my US based credit union, I thought that opening an account in Puerto Rico would be my solution. So today I went to a Banco Popular to open an account. But they will not allow me to deposit the check because my wife (also listed on the check) is not here in person to deposit the check or to sign up as a joint account holder. She does not plan on traveling here until the end of December, so this is not a good option.
Any suggestions?