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Abnamro bank Nederland Discrimination foreigners and foreigners business

dutchindia
November 7, 2010 5:47:22 AM CET

Public opinion poll
Abnamro bank Nederland Discrimination foreigners and foreigners business
Yes or No
irishangel
- 670 posts
November 7, 2010 6:36:46 AM CET

dutchindia (Nov 7 2010, 04:47 AM) said: > original post
Public opinion poll
Abnamro bank Nederland Discrimination foreigners and foreigners business
Yes or No

No

They were the only bank that would let me open an account without having a permanent job contract and have been really good to be so far. Rabobank on the other hand.... bunch of tossers
leeam
- Moderator
- 6 posts
November 7, 2010 10:18:29 AM CET

yes

applied for a mortgage loan. was turned down. because my partner was from sub saharan africa and thus they would not consider him or his income. which left me as a single mother and a high risk as women with children usually stop working or significantly cut down on their number of working hours and I would not be able to keep up the payments.

oh, to be fair, he did add that as I am rather old, its is less likely that i will stop working as older women who kept on working are less likely to stop working ....

when partner became dutch, it was so much simpler to get the loan. i am an
EU citizen and that was not a point of discrimination so i guess the discrimination is against non-EU citizens.

opening a bank account for either of us (even when partner was not yet dutch) was a simple matter - my account was opened for me before I even got to holland and my bank card waiting for me when i arrived - i just had to activate it by going into the branch in person with ID and i walked out with a functioning bank account (about 3 hours after arriving in NL).
ouloveit1
- 4310 posts
November 7, 2010 2:06:54 PM CET

Well, I don't think it's a problem with Non-Eu people.

I am Non Eu and have never had a problem getting loans either from ABN or Rabobank. I am a woman too - though they would put me in the OLD category as well.

I think it comes down to your numbers.

If you are in a high risk category and yes, a mother with kids is definitely high risk because in the Dutch culture - women do tend to work parttime or not work at all.

I find this extraordinary because in The States, women work fulltime as a rule. I don't think I knew any stay at home or part time moms back there so moving here was a shock.

I don't know why a sub saharan africa partner that has a job would be a problem .. umm unless it's the obvious - he did not have a Durch passport or a Perm. Res. Permit. That's important.

You said - when he become Dutch everything was fine so I think that was the problem.

I used to have Rabobank - but I now have ABN AMRO and I recently applied for a loan and yes, they wanted to see my Permanant Resident Permit or a Dutch passport and know that I had a Permanent Work Contract.

Maybe that is the OP's problem too - no permanent res permit (only been here 2 years) and since he is self-employed ... well, banks in general look at the self-employed as less secure than someone with a permanent Work Contract.

When I moved here 10 years ago, I was able to buy a house after just being here 6 months - all they cared about back then was my salary. These days because of too many foreigners with no stake in the country taking a 'runner' ... lot's of banks are not willing to give a Non-Eu person a loan on a house unless you have either a Perm. Res. permit or a Dutch passport.

Within 3 days of moving here I was able to open a bank account at Rabobank as well ... but those were different times.
marlbjm
- 1 posts
November 7, 2010 3:58:25 PM CET

ouloveit1 (Nov 7 2010, 01:06 PM) said: > original post
I find this extraordinary because in The States, women work fulltime as a rule. I don't think I knew any stay at home or part time moms back there so moving here was a shock.

Do they? Maybe we lived in two differente United States, but there are A LOT of stay at home women in the US. Actually, I was often given the side looks for being a working mom when I did not need to work...I think that in the States its easier to be a working woman/mom than here but thats another story. Now to the topic. ABN people were twits to me and my EU husband, while at Rabobank they were slightly less difficult. Mind you, I was only treated half decently when my husband went with me there, alone they just nixed me without even hearing what I had to say.
filippijns
December 11, 2010 1:12:13 AM CET

NO

What's important for ABN Amro and for any bank for this matter are following the rules, i.e. are you a permanent resident here? do you have income? is your income coming from a permanent contract? do you have money? how much? these questions apply to any bank in any country. after all this is about business and you want to cover as much risk with your business. I would too if I was the bank.

As for opening a bank account here, this is a must, its like having a sofi nummer. However, you can only open a bank account here if you have a residence permit.

What I'd like to rant about ABN Amro though are the inefficient and ineffective advisers they have in their call centers. It was a simple question on ABA routing number and the intermediary bank they use in the US but every call had a different answer which lead me to calling them back again a few times (and being confused) for verification. It is annoying when you are dealing with money and you get wrong information from your own bank.
sir
- 5 posts
January 6, 2011 3:39:04 PM CET

dutchindia (Nov 7 2010, 04:47 AM) said: > original post
Public opinion poll
Abnamro bank Nederland Discrimination foreigners and foreigners business
Yes or No

I believe that in general the answer is NO, regardless whether ABN or any other of the local Dutch high street banks. However, one may make different experiences on individual level. Whilst any kind of discrimination is against the house internal policies, I am certain, that every now and then an expat may come across some small minded local fellow . If this poor expat than does not have local language , he might had the bad luck of meeting a bank associate with poor English ( there are plenty of them) . Before this banker would ever admit he doesn't get the point of customers need due to lack of English skills, he will rather turn the entire affair down, leaving the customer with the feeling of not being welcome for whatever reason. This can easily be interpreted as discrimination, but should not be generalized
illuminatus
- 1290 posts
January 7, 2011 12:07:08 PM CET

My best friend here has his own business, it's erotic by nature as he makes 'soft porn & kinky style movies'
It's a 100% legitimate business which has been operating for 7 years, he pays taxes and VAT, it's registered as a proper company in the Kamer van Koophandel. he uses official bookkeepers etc etc

He has tried numerous times to get a mortgage and every single bank in this country has declined simply because they will not deal with any business which is 'sex' related!!

Is this discrimination? it seems to be.
He got messed around the most by the ABN, I recommended that he tries to take legal action against the banks for discrimination.

Do banks have the right to refuse to deal with a company of his nature?
anyway, it doesn't seem right.

He had numerous financial advisers from the bank come to his house, looking at all the papers, all was ok until they realised the nature of his business, then it was 'no, not dealing with you, we don't deal with erotic businesses'

Seems bullshit to me.
sir
- 5 posts
February 22, 2012 5:27:30 PM CET

I had a similar customer with same issue. But it is at the banks discretion who they do business with and there are some general policies in the banking industry, which makes it very difficult for the adult industry to operate in the Netherlands. I agree, that this is quite hypocryte in a country which claims to be one of the most liberal ones, however, there is no legal obligation for a bank to accept a customer or grant him credit. Having a bank account is a business need, but the Dutch legislation does not grant title to anyone which may force the industry to provide service regardless what they think about your business modell. When it comes to providing loans, it´s even worth. You have to see it this way. If I would run a car shop and you come to me and for whatever reason I do not like your dress style and refuse to sell to you, there is nothing you can do about as it is my discretion to whom I do sell or not. (Of course, if I reject you by telling that I don´t like your boots, you may have a point, but it will not qualify for discrimination)
blackwater
- 271 posts
February 22, 2012 8:53:39 PM CET

I think the banking system,culture and laws in NL are totally different from UK or India. I know i also felt the same sometimes not only in banks but in every field..

This post was edited by blackwater at February 22, 2012 8:54:32 PM CET
ouloveit3
- 516 posts
February 24, 2012 2:45:33 PM CET

Umm as far as not getting loans etc because you are in the 'sex business' geesh .. I don't blame them.

The sex business tends to attact the unsavory types that often end up being a 'front' for all sorts of ILLEGAL sex business practices - like human Trafficking, forced labor, child **** .. the works.

I think the banks have been burned one time too many to tell the truth so now they keep their cards .. close to their chests.

I don't know why people say things like 'the country claims to be so liberal'. Who is making this claim? hee hee! And what does this have to do with giving people .. money?

Nooooo the Dutch are definitely NOT liberal in terms of many things and money is one of them.

I don't blame them.