We would like to call your attention to the fact, that banking system in Bulgaria is not as well developed as in the Western countries.
One of the disadvantages of Bulgarian cash machines is the limited amout /100EUR/ you can draw on one transaction. Drawing a big sum from your account will take a lot of time and will cause much inconvinience. In brief, if you decide to do so, be prepared to face the irritation of those on the queue behind you.
To sum it up, you can rely on cash machines only to meet your current expenditures. As far as credit card transactions are concerned, please be advised that only a few Bulgarian banks offer such service to foreigners. Even if you find a bank to give you the money, one of the following problems will arise:
1. The Bulgarian bank asks you to wait three days until a confirmation is made by your domestic bank institution. This is extremely inconvenient as you might be flying back home the following day.
2. After checking with almost all banks, you finally find a few that will pay the money straight away. In that case, be prepared to pay commission of minimum 4% over the total money amount.
3. In case you pass those two stages successfully and the bank agrees to assist you, there is a great chance that the sum you need exceeds the net cash in the branch.
For those reasons, upon your first arrival in Bulgaria you don’t need to have the total amount of money for the purchase. After all, you haven’t even registered your company yet.
However, it is recommended that you bring about 10-20% of the amount for a deposit. When you pay а deposit, the property is taken “out of the market”-i.e. it can’t be offered or sold to any buyer but you for a certain period of time, specified in your contract with DAO REAL.
As a rule, this period covers the time for completion of you company registration (if you need to set up a company). After that, the sales-purchase contract is signed in front of notary public and you become the legal owner of the property.
Another way to bring funds for the purchase is in the form of travel cheques /American Express, American Travel/. It is best that the cheques be in Euro. If you transfer money from your bank back home, have in mind that the transaction takes 3 to 10 days Then, 3 working days might be necessary for the Bulgarian branch to secure the cash amount.
You should keep these in mind in order to keep the terms of payment and complete the deal successfully.
As a whole, the banking system in Bulgaria is now developing very rapidly and is much stable.
French, German and Greek banks also have branches in Bulgaria.
To open an account in Bulgaria, you will only need you passport.
Please note, that this article text is subject to Copyright by DAO Real and therefore can not be copied, modified, reproduced or published without DAO Real's written permission.
