banks

Scotiabank, First Bank, Banco Popular are your choices on St Thomas.

I'm moving back to STX in 3 weeks after being in the states for 12 years now. I have made the decision not to open a bank account there. Everything I do is either debited from my account monthly or I can write a stateside check or pay something by credit card. My realtor takes my stateside checks for my lease, WAPA takes credit cards now and any money I need I can get out of an ATM machine. I see no reason to open a local STX bank account as all my income is auto deposited into my state account here. For me, it is just too much hassle to change all the automatic payments such as taxes, insurance, etc.

If you decide not to open an account here just be prepared to pay your rent in cash as most private landlords (and most small businesses) don't accept off-island cheques.

My stateside bank (Citibank) recently started accepting mobile check deposits which has been ridiculously convenient down here. I just photograph the front and back of the check through the app on my phone and it deposits. Every deposit I've made (up to $1,000) has cleared pretty much instantly. And so much faster than depositing anything (stateside or local check) into my Firstbank account.

We arrived last Monday on STX for good.

Have had an account @ Bank of STX for a couple of months now, very personal service like it used to be on the main land.

All mainland accounts closed.

Most local people and businesses do not like to take stateside checks, mainly due to the length of time it takes by the banks here to clear into one's account.

There is one more bank that folks seem to think is okay. Merchant's. Only thing is they just have one branch in STT and one in STJ.

Merchants Bank is head and shoulders above than the rest. It's the difference between Third World banking and Private Banking in the first world. Real customer service. Best of all, the staff is professional and they know what they're doing. Banking in the Virgin Islands can be an awful experience if you're not prepared for substandard service.