* CHANGING BRITISH £'S INTO COLOMBIA PESOS *

englishsettler says on Aug 13, 2006, 05:45:

ATM Hi

the best way to do it is quite simple. Take you visa debit card and do withdrawals from that. I never bother doing currency exchange because this way is just as cheap and you dont have the worry of carrying around lots of cash. By the way im english.

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expatriate says on Aug 13, 2006, 05:54:

Bring your ATM cards Bring some pounds for use in England's airports and airplanes.

When you get to Bogota, start using ATMs. As far as I can tell, they all give the same exchange rate for a given moment, and that is the best rate that you can get anywhere when buying Colombian Pesos.

Tips: Look for the green and black Servibanca sign. That ATM is the one most likely to accept your ATM card, since not all ATM cards work with all bank's ATMs.

Before you leave, try to open a bank account that has low or no international fees, so that you get to keep all or most of the money yourself.

Colombian ATMS will give you a maximum of 300,000 to 500,000 Pesos each time you use the machine. That is not a daily limit, just each time you use the machine. That's 66 to 111 British pounds each ATM use, so the lower fee that your own bank charges you for using an international ATM, the better.

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famsearch says on Aug 13, 2006, 06:37:

that's what we did on both trips, exchanged enough for the first day, then went to the atm after that. we did our exchange at the airport before we left the country.
dan

dan

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pedro says on Aug 13, 2006, 07:14:

Welcome to the 21st century Just use ATMs. At the Bogota airport, the BanColombia one should do the trick.

People report that Nationwide Flex account (something like that) is the automatic choice for UK travellers.

You should probably bring an ATM card from a second account as a backup. Just in case you lose one, or it's not working for some reason.

Colombia is one of the worst places in the world to change foreign currency cash into local currency. Dunno why, I think it has something to do with drug money cash flows.

que nota!

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Ctg Bound says on Aug 13, 2006, 07:53:

Goose You will get a very bad rate of exchange from pounds to pesos, probably lose about 15%, best with a ATM card, here is a recent artcile that may help you.....

Try not to get badly stung on your holiday
By Dido Sandler (FT)

Published: June 16 2006 18:26 | Last updated: June 16 2006 18:26

Holiday foreign exchange is a licence for many providers to print money. Foreign currency loadings, commissions, withdrawal fees and transaction charges are just some of the stratagems dreamt up by card and currency providers to relieve you of large amounts of cash.

Withdraw £1,000 of currency though a foreign cashpoint, and Lloyds credit card holders get stung for £47.50 of charges – 2.75 per cent foreign loading and 2 per cent withdrawal fees. In addition, there’s a higher, 19.5 per cent interest rate, compared with 17.9 per cent on purchases. And there’s no interest-free period on cash.


The best way to take money abroad this year is the Nationwide Flex account debit card, which charges nothing at all, on cash withdrawals or payments.

Most debit cards impose a loading of around 2.75 per cent on purchases and cash withdrawals, plus a flat charge of 75p-£1 or a 1.5-2.5 per cent transaction fee.

Another top currency solution is cash bought in the UK from a commission-free provider with decent rates. Several companies now eschew commission, including the Post Office, Marks and Spencer and Thomas Cook.

Shopping around to find the best exchange rates is laborious but rewarding – in the table below there’s a difference of nearly £42 between the cheapest and most expensive providers of €1,000. Rachel Thrussell, head of savings at data provider Moneyfacts, says M&S and the Post Office tend to be amongst the cheapest. Central London bureaux de change can be competitive.

Customers of packaged, fee-paying current accounts such as RBS Royalties Premier can enjoy free foreign exchange.

Buy last minute at the airport and you will probably pay extra. On May 17 Travelex at Heathrow’s Terminal 1 offered €1.4004 for £1, including 1.5 per cent commission, compared with €1.4211, commission-free, on its website (www.travelex.co.uk).

However there is a security risk taking just cash.

Credit and debit cards are safer – you’re not normally liable for expenditure when they’re stolen. And following an Appeal Court ruling earlier this year, credit cards have retained the same money-back protection on faulty goods and services overseas over £100, as they do in this country.

Credit cards can be good value abroad and once again Nationwide wins hands down with fee-free purchases, although cash withdrawals attract a 2 per cent charge. Saga (backed by Liverpool Victoria) allows purchases without extra charges within the EU.

Most other credit card purchases, by contrast, charge 2.5-2.75 per cent foreign usage fee. Consumers should avoid ATM withdrawals on credit wherever possible: here you’re hammered with the same usage fee, plus a typical withdrawal cost of 1.5-2.5 per cent, and a hiked- up interest rate from day one. Capital One’s No Hassle Platinum interest rate is normally 6.9 per cent on purchases but 21.94 per cent on withdrawals.

Be warned that even if you buy currency on your credit card in the UK, you will still incur the higher interest rate.

Mike Naylor, a principal researcher at Which?, says holidaymakers normally get a better exchange rate from the ATM than at hotels or local bureaux de change.

When paying by card, particularly in Europe, watch out for a new scam known as dynamic currency conversion. Here the retailer or restaurant converts the price of goods from the domestic currency to sterling, at their own exchange rate, which is worse than that offered by your credit card company.

Naylor says travellers should carry a mix of two cards and some cash. Card company systems sometimes block purchases if they detect atypical (such as foreign) usage, which suggests fraud. Carry more than one card, or even better, four between a couple, and it’s unlikely you’ll get stuck. However, alerting a firm to your plans in advance could be risky. He says: “I’d be dubious telling someone in a call centre I was going on holiday for two weeks.�

Finally, there’s a new foreign exchange format – pre-paid travel money cards which are offered by American Express, Travelex, the Post Office and Western Union all act as a sort of updated, plastic version of now declining travellers’ cheques. You pay £10-£20 for the card, then there are a raft of top-up charges, loading fees, ATM fees and cancellation charges.

You can use pre-pay in the same way as any other card – at retailers or cash machines and once you’re out of money, that’s it. Cards have the same security feature as travellers’ cheques so if you lose them, the provider effects a replacement loaded up with the money you lost, though there may be a fee here too.

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MacGringo says on Aug 13, 2006, 14:45:

I agree with using the Nationwide Flex Account card. I used at many different ATM's in Bogota, Manizales, and Cartagena with no problems.

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ivan ahau says on Aug 15, 2006, 14:32:

don´t bring pounds with U Euros or dollars if posible otherwise they willtake comision first in exchanging pounds to euros(dollars) and then to pesos with international rates and standars, and you will end up giving money away 4 no reason. the present exchange rate is 1euro=3012pesos or 1dollar=2225pesos

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Juanes says on Aug 15, 2006, 16:18:

Theres a goose loose about this hoose hey there birdie,

there is another posting very similar to this about money matters but who better to answer you than a financial advisor from london who is spending a month in colombia and 6 months in the rest of latin america ?

agree with macgringo here. not very often an englishman and scotsman get together and share the same views, maybe it is because the subject is not about football.

anyway, goose the best thing to do to avoid carrying lots of money on yourself at the airport and when your travelling abroad is by opening up a flex account with nationwide. for my trip to latin america leaving on sept 25th for 7 months i have just opened an online saver and a flex account. so every month i transfer over an amount to cover my costs from the online saver plus i am also taking 400 US dollars with me and 3000 mexican pesos which should last me the month from mexico city to colombia.

there is never any charge for taking money out wherever you are and you get the currency on the day ! i would go and get some dollars soon though while the dow jones and the american eceonmoy is a bit messed up cos us brits are getting $1.85 at the moment to our pound. VIVE ESTERLINA !!!!!!!

adios y buen viaje en colombia mi amigo/amiga ?

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

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MacGringo says on Aug 17, 2006, 11:10:

You are correct there Juanes. I think it's the only time we don't get on mate, when football is involved...or when the English football media is involved....or Alan Hansen (the most English , Scotsman I have ever seen)...hahaha

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famsearch says on Aug 17, 2006, 21:29:

and to think i just said, the heck with it, and used my good old check card at the local atm while in colombia. but then again, got a pretty good exchange rate too.
dan

dan

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rjstuff says on Aug 18, 2006, 10:12:

I learned from my first trip - ATMs are the best route. When I changed some dollars - I got about 15% less than the ATMs gave me (even with the 1% fee.)
My second trip, I used only ATMs (I did change $40 in Bogota for traveling money.) I also tried using Davivienda ATMS - they allow 500,000 pesos witrhdrawal and I always did that twice for a $1,000,000 withdrawal each time - (about $400.) A few other ATMs allow you to do multiple - same time withdrawals also (on one I was able to do 400,000 three times) but also some ATMs (one in a grocery store) would only allow a single withdrawal of 300,000.
Davivienda was the most convenient for me (both in Barranquilla and in Cartagena.) Good Luck.

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Cerealkiller says on Aug 20, 2006, 09:10:

Id suggest you do tell your bank youre coming to colombia, sometimes when people come over their cards dont work, my HSBC worked but my friend's Abbey didnt. I brought some pounds and exchanged them, rate isnt great but it should get you by. I wouldnt reccomend the airport one its crap, what I always do is go to the Hacienda Santa Barbara Mall they have a little area full of currency exchange places...i got 4300 pesos per pound 2 weeks ago.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

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juanalejo says on Aug 20, 2006, 09:33:

HSBC just bought Banistmo a Panamenian Bank that had bought Lloyds Bank in Colombia. So I guess that means HSBC will be soon in Colombian streets. And yes go via electronic means, you get between 6-8% better exchange rate.

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Aug 20, 2006, 10:23:

i have an account with HSBC and I am allow to withdrawal 500.000 COP a day they charge me £1,75 cash machine fee but they usually give me very good rates.

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