Back to the Bank

The banking in Israel is weird.  We were told to select a bank near where we lived for convenience.  Except we are in temporary housing and don't know for certain that we'll stay in this same neighborhood.  So we chose a bank near the ulpan -- school where we will learn Hebrew -- since we will be going there everyday.  In order to receive the  benefits for new olim like free medical insurance for one year, free ulpan for five months and other goodies, we must have a shekel banking account.

We opened a shekel banking account using the balance of the American dollars we had with us as the first deposit.  The account information had to be sent over to the Haklita, or absorption department, so they would okay the benefits.  Done.

But the next day we received a phone call from someone at the Haklita telling us it had to be a shekel account, and that because we put in American dollars, it wasn't a shekel account.  To which David -- who handles this stuff so well -- said:  No, no, it's a shekel account you can see on the form we sent you it's in shekels.  Luckily, there was someone at the Haklita who spoke English -- after some screaming in the background -- it turned out Haklita will accept the deposit on our new accounts.  Whew!

After paying the rent, we were low on cash, and went to a different branch of the same bank where we opened the account. David tried to withdraw some money, and the card was rejected.  We didn't know if it was Wells Fargo panicking and not allowing an ATM withdrawal because we were in Israel or what.  We went to the teller and she basically said she could not help us because this was not the branch where we opened our account.  Our branch is a 30-minute bus ride away.  But then David, who reads cursive Hebrew much better than I do, figured out he was not using an ATM but the bank thing that gives you numbers so you can sit and wait for the teller.  After David figured out where the ATM was, we were able to withdraw some funds and pay fees at both banks for the exchange rate.

Several days went by and we still hadn't received our bank cards.  So we traipsed back to the branch where we opened our account and being more knowledgable knew to go to the bank thing that looks like an ATM but gives you numbers so you can sit and wait for the teller and we inserted our ID and got a number.  Our number was 10, the number on the screen was 13.  Hebrew is written backwards maybe they count backwards too.  Nope, the next number was 14.

It looked like this was going to be a long wait.  But the lady who opened our account saw us and told us to come on over.  She explained we were supposed to got the the bank thing that looks like an ATM and gives you a number so you can sit and wait for the teller, but she would make an exception for us.  We showed her our number 10 and pointed out the number on the screen, she nodded and we realized her English skills are very poor, but she was very likely the best English speaker working at the bank.

David said, "We haven't received our bank cards and we are unable to access our on-line accounts."

"Too soon," she said.  "Wait five days," but she took David's ID and pulled up his account.  "Why do you want two cards?"

"I only want one card."

She went to a lock-box and retrieved two cards, cut one up and gave the other to David.  It was a bank card for getting cash out but not a debit card.  Then it was my turn, and I showed her my ID and she asked me if I wanted a debit card to use in the stores.  I nodded and signed a bunch of forms written in Hebrew.

"Five days."

David said, "I want one of those too."

She said, "You don't need one, you have the cash card."

David said, "No, I need one of those cards that say Master Card or Visa."

She said, "You have a card, you can get cash."

David said in Hebrew, "Ani rotzay zah."  He pointed at my paperwork.

She nodded and corrected his Hebrew, "zay."  And proceeded to have him sign forms for a debit card.

She gave us some secret numbers so we could go home and access our account online.  We went home and the secret numbers didn't work and we still can't access our account online.   I guess this is why they recommend choosing a bank close to where you live, you have to go there all the time.  Banking in Israel is a combination of being in the fifties with 21st century technology.  Go figure.