Balloon payment makes seller a silent partner

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

Welcome to the Wild, Wild West.  There are prospectors, gamblers, gunslingers, and even saloons, and brothels.  One can find gold in them thar hills. Oops, them thar hills are the gold — literally.

Yes, all this is referring to Costa Rica.  The translation of Costa Rica to English is “Rich Coast.” Spanish conquerors gave the country its name because supposedly there were tons of real gold to be found in this country when they landed on its coasts.  Or better yet, maybe those who arrived hundreds of years ago knew the secrets most people are learning now.

Today, it is not the gold people seek, but the land.  Especially land with an ocean view, but all land is skyrocketing in value.

Prospectors are of a different sort these days.  They take the form of speculators — gamblers who bet property values will continue to go up and up and up for years to come. The problem is, some are speculating on the money of innocent sellers.

This is how it works:

And this little piggy has gone electronic

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

This article is about SINPE. No, it is not a new virus, disease, or pill.  It is what is happening to online banking in Costa Rica, and the system lets anyone transfer money into any account in the country.

SINPE, or Sistema Interbancario de Negociación y Pagos Electrónicos is the main payment system for the central bank.  It translates into English as the “interbank electronic payment system.”  

The system handles electronic money transfers, check clearing, direct debts and direct credits as well as provides account information for all bank-related institutions. The system connects 99 percent of Costa Rica’s financial institutions, handling hundreds of millions of U.S. dollar transactions daily.

More importantly, it is providing an example to other countries all over the world because a key developer of the system is homegrown.

SINPE grew out of the new Organic Law of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, law 7558 of Nov. 27, 1995.  This law broke the monopoly of government-owned banks.  It opened the doors to private banking, giving everyone new choices. The law also set some goals for the future, one being an efficient electronic banking system that gave birth to SINPE.

Transparency phantom stalking bank info

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

This is a scary story about a phantom called Transparency that is creeping secretly into everyone’s life. Thanks to Transparency, individual and corporate bank accounts are becoming open books for tax investigators from all over the world.

Everybody has noticed all the great new services available for those who use online banking in Costa Rica. One can pay telephone, water, light and other bills via a computer.  There is no reason to wait in long lines at the bank or local grocery to pay most monthly bills.

Along with all these great new services, something else is happening, something frightening for those concerned about personal and business privacy.  

The computers are getting better and incredibly more efficient.  They are tabulating, recording, and archiving everyone’s transactions.

Those who do not use computers to do their banking probably have noticed a different treatment at their bank of choice.  This, too, is because of Transparency.  It is called “know your customer.”