Originally Posted by thommy

if you go to a bank and they tell you about interest and they tell you something like 4% - than don´t get too much exited - they always talk about MONTHLY interest ;-)

loan is a huge business there and you can make a lot and lose a lot.
they call it compra venta because you do not give a simple loan you buy something from the debtor and give him a fixed time and rate to buy it back.

i did that too and my lawyer "bought" houses, cars, land and much more things....and the end of the day not one of this people in the contracts was existing - all just lies....
and no chance to get your money back or sue him.

i had just one real friend there. he was a guy who went quite rich with changing currencies. so he owned a house and a nice car and he worked hard.
one day someone shot him on the way to santo domingo and stole all the money.
they catched the guys (they were his own nephews).
the police got also the money but it never appeared again. it got lost at the police station.

if i compare this time with thailand (where i live since 6 years now also) it is like heaven and hell. thailand is also a corrupt country but you are able to deal with that. DR you will not be able to deal with - no matter what experience you had before.

i was one day in prison there because i was not willing to pay a 500 dollar fine by crossing a red light with my car.
i asked the police guy where this fucking light is (because there was no) - he showed me where is WAS 5 minutes before.
if i would start to write a book about that NOBODY in the fucking world would believe me a single word.