A Very Easy Process.......Not!

Meredith and I set up a bank account a few weeks ago. It is quite a long and drawn out process…

We went to the bank knowing that we needed our passports, photocopies of our passports, photos of us (passport size) and a person who has an account with the bank and could vouch for us as fine upstanding citizens (we chose Daniel). We approached the desk and began filling out the appropriate paper work. When all was done we asked how we could get our bankcards. The person told us that we could come back next week and get them. That was no problem. We put it off an extra week due to the fact that the banks would be busy with everyone in town getting their monthly salaries and clogging up the lines.

We entered the bank again a week later and asked the person who set up our account, for our bankcards. He told us to visit the enquiries counter with a copy of our passports to get the cards. I said, “But, we gave you photocopies of them when we set up the account.” We were informed that those copies were to set up the account, and other copies were needed to get the bankcards.

We returned on another day with the copies of our passports in hand, and approached the enquiries counter. We had forgotten to bring our account number with us, but didn’t think that it would be difficult for the guy behind the counter to access it. We told him the reason for our visit, and he asked for the copies of our passports, and our account number. When we told him we forgot the number, he looked as if it would take hours to locate the account. It didn’t.

He informed us that we had yet to deposit any money into the account and that he couldn’t give us our cards until the money was deposited. He also gave us forms to fill out to apply for the cards. Meredith’s response was “This is a very difficult process. In North America we visit one person to set up the account and get the bankcard. I don’t understand why it needs to be this hard.” The bank employee’s response was “This is very easy, it is not hard.”

So, off we went to deposit our money, and fill out our forms. We returned to the counter and presented everything we had. The guy behind the counter asked us if we had put any money in our account yet, to which we responded with a frustrated “Yes. We were just there.” He proceeded to do the work necessary for the bankcards. His next question was, “Do you have your passports?” I replied, “We just gave you our photocopies. We weren’t told to bring in our passports and they are at home.”

After confirming who set up the account for us, the man behind the counter called over to the desk of the person who set up the account. He then gave us back the paperwork and told us to get the first guy’s signature on the spots indicated. Off we went to the other side of the bank to get the needed signatures.

We returned again to the enquiries counter to complete the task we set out to do. The cards were processes, and printed with our names on them. We were then told to go to the next window, and wait for the next guy to come and set up our pin numbers. Once that was done, we tested the cards to make sure they were working. All in all a 40 minute job to what was supposed to be walk in and get your card.

One of the joys of banking under African skies…