Free money, no questions asked

Much as I love it, I seem to have plenty of criticism of Greenland. But the Bank of Greenland? No complaints. For one, check out my bank card. It has swimming polar bears on it. Nice.

But there are plenty of other plusses. When I first arrived in Greenland, I needed a bank account to put my salary in. There are two options if you want a bank that is physically located in Greenland – the Bank of Greenland and Bank Nordic, which is based in the Faroe Islands. Both are fine banks as far as I can tell. But when I visited Bank Nordic I was told I’d need evidence of payslips for the past twelve months, my work contract, my residency permit, passport, and there were a bunch of forms to fill in. When I went to the Bank of Greenland, they asked for my social security number and they gave me a bank account. Nice.

Well, I should clarify that in asking for all this documentation, Bank Nordic is simply fulfilling the banking regulations – regulations that the Bank of Greenland is also subject to, but which they seem to ‘bypass’ somehow. But nonetheless, the Bank of Greenland made our lives easy.

It was a similar story when we bought a house. Not only did a lovely lady answer all our questions – in person – at all stages of the process, the Bank of Greenland also applied on our behalf for a no-interest loan for about quarter of the mortgage value. Well, it is actually the Government of Greenland that should be credited for this. The Government tries to encourage home ownership because few Greenlandic residents own their own homes. So there are great incentives for home loans. Nonetheless, the Bank of Greenland, again, made it easy.

And here’s what happens when you accidentally overspend on your bank account. The Bank of Greenland just pays for it. Occassionally this has happened with our automatic payments. I only find out when I happen to check our bank account online, sometimes weeks later. And what are the consequences? A nasty fee? A threatening letter? Nope, nothing.

Free money, no questions asked – the Bank of Greenland. Nice.