August 20, 2012

Navigating the Brazilian Mammoth Bureaucracy

I've been out of my blog for almost 3 months navigating the Brazilian bureaucracy.
I have a construction and real estate business that had some receivables to be turned into cash.
Well, the process took me 6 months!
First, the bank account manager took 1 month to understand (wrongly) what should be done to get the money.
Then the bank branch took 2 months analyzing my business and processing the paperwork.
After 3 months, the bank credit department realized that the bank branch did everything wrong and restarted the process. I had access to the bank's regulations and the credit department was right.
After 3 months more, I finally was able to turn receivables into cash...
In Brazil, things take the time they take, not the time you hope they will take.
The bank: state owned Caixa Econômica Federal (the best rates in Brazil).