Tip: PIX even without a bank account

97POSTS

4 years ago

Ol谩 everyone,

for anyone in Brazil without a RNE, you know how difficult or let's say impossible it is to open a bank account in Brazil. I tried everything from Banco do Brasil, Bradesco to C6 and Nubank and at some stage of the process they always require a copy of RNE.

So I went to Casas Bahia, downloaded their bank app called banqi which is basically a virtual bank account. Only requirement was CPF and taking a selfie, then you choose your PIX number (preferably your CPF) and you're ready to go. In any Casas Bahia you can deposit money and it will immediately be available in the banqi app. No costs. You even get a virtual bank account, as well as a physical one if you order one for free. So, now you can use the Brazilian App Store, Netflix, and so on as well.

But I believe that having a PIX number and be able to make payments in PIX is a huge win, since my landlord asks for the rent via pix and I always had to ask friends to transfer to him. Also, many times, when buying a flight ticket or bus ticket, my international credit card got rejected after some time. Also when buying products in mercadolivre, they wouldn't accept my bank card from abroad.

I really like the idea of PIX: immediate money transfer free of cost. It's revolutionary聽

Brazil!!! (in comparison: Germany is far behind that, never heard of anything like PIX, even still some places refuse to accept card payment, only cash, whilst in Brazil you pay a balinha de 1 Real with credit card)聽

Cheers,
mitchel

1 member reacted to this post

See also

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Texanbrazil ViP

2744POSTS

4 years ago

Mitchel,
Take care with Pix. It is fairly new and has been hacked a few times. Yes, even Gov. agencies are using Pix.
C6/JP Morgan, some had problems with refunds when cloned. Online banks have been around for a few years, but still, CS is not good.
It is too easy here to find your CPF in Brail, so using it as a password?
It is all up to you.
Does your CC have a chip? Many times it is the vendor's WiFi causing the issues.

3 members reacted to this post

mberigan Serial expat

386POSTS

4 years ago

Cute PIX story if it wasn't so sad:

I was visiting friends in Fortaleza and we headed off to Chico do Carangueijo at the Praia do Futuro for our visit and drinks and those "iguarias" that one has at the beach. I hadn't been there since 1984.

There were a lot of folks approaching selling sunglasses, hats, boiled peanuts, cashew nuts, shrimp - all of those things that come at you when on a beach.

There were also some folks asking for assistance. A young mother with a tiny baby in her arms and a young daughter at her feet approached. The daughter grabbed a chair and joined right in and hopped up in a chair. Well, we had plenty to spare so we asked the mom to sit as well and fortunately avoided those ugly stares normally given by waiters and other staff that most often chase away people asking for handouts.

I noticed the young daughter had a note taped to her vinyl purse. It was a telephone number and I commented to the mother that this was indeed a smart thing to do should her daughter get lost in the crowd, to which the mom replied, "No! That's our PIX key because nobody carries money any more."

MattB

3 members reacted to this post

Texanbrazil ViP

2744POSTS

4 years ago

Matt,
Same here except my wife and I get many calls with crying moms (I guess) and do not understand saying please help here is my pix #.
Once that was said I had to hang up.
Tex

2 members reacted to this post

brasilienfreund20 Active member

97POSTS

4 years ago

@texan. Yes indeed. Many "golpes" through WhatsApp, requesting PIX transfers.

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Mikeflanagan Serial expat

471POSTS

4 years ago

yea working in the tech industry. if you found a way to work it. thousands have already found a way to scam it. pix like tex was saying is really prone to alot of issues and there is no saftey net with it. for things like netflix and the likes. you should be able to use your normal banking from your country of origin where payments are accepted! Most places like magazine L and americanos recently just shut services down for a period due to inconsistencies with cloning lol

3 members reacted to this post

NewBrazil Serial expat

332POSTS

4 years ago

It鈥檚 interesting the Bank is promoting this PIX. If you read articles about it is designed to eliminate physical money. As stated before hacker are always trying to get around any thing you use digitally. I myself haven鈥檛 use it and what I see it鈥檚 a way for them to track your money. Remember cash has no connecting but can be exchanged for good and service. Since Country are talking about a digital coin replacing currency. How much control do you want them to have over what you spend.

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Texanbrazil ViP

2744POSTS

4 years ago

"Since Country are talking about a digital coin replacing currency. How much control do you want them to have over what you spend?"

None!

2 members reacted to this post

abthree Brazil Expert

6453POSTS

4 years ago

03/01/22

Here in the North we're between a rock and a hard place.聽 Coins have always been scarce in the northern states (Amap谩, Par谩, Amazonas, Roraima, and Acre), but since the pandemic started, the shortages have extended to low value bills as well, often even up to R$20.聽 We've taken to paying purchases as small as a garraf茫o for the water cooler with our debit cards.

Pix makes me very nervous and I seldom use it.聽 When I do, it's generally from home, where I'm behind a couple of layers of security.聽聽But for some things, like the Sunday collection, I don't have a better option.

4 members reacted to this post

Mikeflanagan Serial expat

471POSTS

4 years ago

#10

Yeah I use cash where I can. Canada has had a shift in policy where if you support any organization they don't approve of they will freeze all your assets in recent news surrounding the trucker crisis. So even trusting banks is questionable at times聽

3 members reacted to this post

mberigan Serial expat

386POSTS

4 years ago

#11

PIX has become my main method of payments on the street and for smaller purchases from, or payments to, people who traditionally don't have secure methods to carry cash (a lot of street robbery used to happen here). As long as one stays away from the most common swindles done digitally there should be little fear of using PIX.

Here are (obviously in Portuguese - sorry) common swindles:

The article ends with way to protect oneself but, obviously, using extreme care as you would with cash is the best advice. Remember that at each end of a PIX transaction is a bank and the Central Bank (developed by Carlos Eduardo Brandt) is in the middle.

1 member reacted to this post

montrealist New member

4POSTS

4 years ago

#12

Thanks for the tip! Would have been super useful. Too bad this app isn't available outside of the Brazilian app store (on iPhone).

rraypo Serial expat

776POSTS

4 years ago

#13

Thanks for the tip! Would have been super useful. Too bad this app isn't available outside of the Brazilian app store (on iPhone).
- @montrealist

听冲冲冲

I'm curious about your not being able to use Pix, I am not iPhone literate, so can you fill me in on it not working?聽 Thank you

brasilienfreund20 Active member

97POSTS

4 years ago

#14

@rraypo you need to create an Apple ID for the Brazilian App Store. That's what I did. CPF is required for this, as well as to register in the Banqi App.

But, short update. I've been blocked once from the app, since they were asking for my Brazilian ID (maybe they saw that I transferred 5000 reais) and after some phone calls and help chat conversations, they unblocked my account. Since then I didn't have any further issues.