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Question: Describe an experience in which you overcame a challenge. What did you learn from the experience?
Written by: Alfred Amasanti
The greatest challenge I’ve faced in Italy was something so mundane that I would have never thought it would take me more than a month to solve: opening a bank account. My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to open a bank account in Italy so my extended family in Turin could wire money without the extortive fees and the 3% fee Bank of America uses for abroad charges.
After arriving at Unicredit Banca on a Friday afternoon, however, I quickly found out that I could not open an account because the person in charge had taken the day off.
I came back the next Tuesday. The operation went smoothly until the computer the employee was using decided to reject my information. We tried to make it work, but after an hour the employee told me to go back home and come back the next week. In the meantime, she would call the support service and figure out what was wrong.
I arrived the next week and the employee still didn’t find any solutions. A few days later, she simply told me it was “impossible.” How it is impossible to open a bank account is simply beyond me.
Since I wasted enough time in this bank, I decided to try to open an account with other bank. Unfortunately, not being a legal resident of Italy made this incredibly arduous. Most banks did offer a bank account for non-residents, but it was incredibly limited, only allowing me to withdraw money from ATMs at that particular bank.
Then I tried another Unicredit Banca, who referred me to another sub-bank that might be able to help me, only for this bank to tell me to go back to the first. I was finally able to find a decent employee who explained to me that it was possible to open a bank account, but that I needed a government-issued document.
The codici fiscale is the equivalent of the SSN in America. While it’s easy to figure out that number online, banks require an official document stating that the codici fiscale belongs to you (in spite of already knowing your number!).
After 4 trips to the Agenzia delle Entrate,I was able to obtain it, and opening the bank account finally became easier.
A combination of not being able to express myself properly in Italian, inadequate employees, lack of proper technology, government regulation and inefficient agencies made me feel like I was the helpless protagonist of a new Kafkian novel in which the lead is once again caught in a mess of bureaucracy numerous times. I’m definitely glad this could not happen in Boston.
{ 1 comment }
Unfortunately this can and does happen in Boston–to international students!
As frustrating as your experience was, hopefully your Italian skills benefitted!
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