PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

BANKS & MONEY TRANSFERS

Can anyone out there advise me on which bank in Colombia is the best for handling international wire transfers of money?

I have an account with Bancolombia, I chose them because they are supposed to be the biggest bank here, so I thought they would know what they were doing and would be used to international transfers. HOW WRONG COULD I BE! I have had nothing but difficulty each time I have tried to transfer funds from both the USA and UK. On every occasion Bancolombia have taken ages to process the transfer because they have somehow lost the funds in their system. It seems Bancolombia are unable to handle transfers directly themselves and always do it either using Citibank facilities in the case of US Dollars or Barclays Bank for GB Pounds or Euros. I have only ever received the necessary funds after many phone calls, which often result in me going round and round in circles. The inefficiency of Bancolombia is driving me crazy. A word of advice to any foreigner thinking of opening an account in Colombia; DON’T OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH BANCOLOMBIA!

So, please, please can anyone out there who has had direct experience of transferring money to Colombia without problems give me some suggestions as to which bank they think I should move my account to, before I go insane. I know you guys on PBH always come through with good advice, so thanks in advance.

By Paul Anthony on Oct 17, 2007, 07:54 in Friendly Talkzone.

webmanco says on Oct 17, 2007, 08:02:

I got experience but sending money from Colombia to UK. Always to Barclays and in USD currency. I do it thru CitiBank and got not complains so far. I will transfer some to USA in the near future.

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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msaucey says on Oct 17, 2007, 08:22:

I'm with webmanco... Citibank is the way to go.... And they're much faster.... It's best if you had a Citibank Account in the U.K. and one in Colombia... It makes it easier to know where your money is...

The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. - CS Lewis

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Gator says on Oct 17, 2007, 09:55:

Citybank

Do a search on this site(upper right hand side). This topic has been discussed "ad nausium."

BTW. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! use "Colombia without problems" in the same sentence.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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Boatygringo says on Oct 17, 2007, 14:09:

PA I have used BBVA twice to tranfare funds from my bank in the US and had no problems each time I used them, they can account for the funds in tow days. BBVA is listed on the German stock exchange so you probably will have no problem with Euro´s. They do howerver hold the funds for about a week before they will release them to you.

Boatygringo

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Gator says on Oct 17, 2007, 18:47:

Are you talking about a postal money order or a transfer directly;y to a bank? I do not think Colombia accepts direct International Money Orders from the US Postal Service. For the very few time we have used it MoneyGram has worked very well. If you are talking about UPS's Dinero Seguro the only banks in Colombia you can work with are Banco Davivienda, BBVA Colombia, Banco Granahorrar and we were told you must have a cédula to use at the bank. Also the exchange rate is very favorable.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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dwmte7 says on Oct 18, 2007, 19:01:

i've had a bancolombia (bic) acct, for about 18-19 years. to say that they can't handle your financial needs is wool dreaming. i used to do manufacturing in and around medellin and had about 60 employees. granted, it wasn't world bank scale, but i transferred in the neighborhood of u.s. $350,000.00 and had no problems. the funds went from our various banks ie charles schwab, b of a, etc and were routed through citi bank n.y. neither ourselves nor the verious banks were trying to reinvent the wheel and everything went as smooth as could be expected...especially in the late 80's when gunfire could disrupt diposits and withdrawls...no atm back in the shoot-em-up-killem days.

dwmte

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dwmte7 says on Oct 19, 2007, 06:55:

mario...one time in '97, my mother wired $7,500.00 directly to me in cartegena via west. union i don't remember how much they charged, but as i vaguely remember, it was about a thousand dollars. maybe less. but more than enough to enjoy a couple of great weeks in any hotel in the old city. when you use w w ya gotta pull down your pants, close your eyes and try, after it's all over, to grunt and moan, 'thank you.'

dwmte

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