Online money transfers here now well worth doing

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Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated.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!

Electronic banking in Costa Rica has grown up.  It is now easy, fast, and efficient.

Transfers from Interfin last week to the national banks, Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago, worked easily.  Transfers from the Banco de Costa Rica to the private banks Interfin, Banco San José, Scotia Bank, and Cuscatlan worked just as flawlessly.  All banks in Costa Rica are currently interconnected.  Transfers can be made in either U. S. dollars or Costa Rican colons.

The Central Bank of Costa Rica moved its interbank payments and transaction system called the Sistema Interbancario de Negociación y Pagos Electrónicos to Microsoft’s .NET technologies at the end of 2002.  Carlos Arraya, the CEO of ArtinSoft, a Costa Rican company, worked closely with Microsoft to migrate and improve the system over the past five years.   The ArtinSoft founder and CEO was chosen as one of the most successful and respected executives in Central America by SUMMA Magazine in June 2006 for his work on this and other projects.

Making a transfer is easy.  However, the various banks use different terminology to refer to the electronic transfers. And you have to know and use a 17-digit number for the receiving account.

Clues in land fraud cases gaining more importance

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Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated.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!

A good detective can catch crooks in Costa Rica.  The court now voids contracts, deeds, documents and deceptive acts more than before based on mere indications and clues of wrongdoing.  Good thing too because day by day the wicked get worse and believe that they can get away with anything here.  

Even expats get caught up in stealing property and other assets that are not theirs because they believe they will not get caught by the law.  It is true the judicial system is slow and inefficient at times, but it is equally true the country is striving to improve it.  

Legal issues in Costa Rica involving theft and fraud usually form a triangle of players: the victim or plaintiff, the defendant and a third party.  For example, in property fraud, the victim represents the true owner, the defendant is the crook, and the third party the person who bought land from the crook.