money tranfers

utopiacowboy says on Jul 19, 2004, 15:27:

Give her an atm to an account Give her an atm card to an account that you set up for this purpose.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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roddy1970 says on Jul 19, 2004, 15:34:

you could send up 400 dollars for 10 bucks with Western Union..I do it every two weeks

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dafer says on Jul 19, 2004, 15:35:

trasnsfer but Im in texas it is only 10 from here?

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daver says on Jul 19, 2004, 15:57:

ATM works best I agree with Utopiacowboy. ATM is the best way. Start a no-fee (which is American for low-fee) chequeing account and send her the card via fed-ex. It will cost you $3 a tranaction and she can take out 300,000 - 500,000 pesos at the machines. Courier service to Colombia is expensive though.

You can also keep tabs on her and cancel the card if she gets out of control!!

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anonimo says on Jul 19, 2004, 22:18:

Check with the person receiving the transfer in Colombia.. they are not getting the whole $400 that you are sending. Western Union keeps a percentage in Colombia.

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daver says on Jul 19, 2004, 22:49:

Exactly why ATM is better Money transfer companies do 2 things:

1. They charge you a fee.

2. They offer a shitty exchange rate.

On top of the fee, they will usually give you an exchange rate that is 2-10% off the exact rate. Guess who keeps the difference?

Stick with the ATM as it is directly through the bank... they are already making a ridiculous profit off you, so it is better to be screwed by one company than two. Typically they will give you a much more reasobable exchange rate, and will only charge you a fee of:

$1.50 for not using your bank's machine
$1.50 for foriegn transaction

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pointofview says on Jul 20, 2004, 19:38:

Not the best choice but http://www.viamericans.com or https://www.viaamericas.com/login.asp Sure I don't like the exchange rate and I don't like the fee but for small amounts of money it's probably the cheapest alternative. They can place the funds right into any (most) bank accounts in Colombia or elsewhere and the whole transaction can be handled through the internet. If you want you can transfer up to $3,000 US in a wire transfer at the government exchange rate less the government fee of 3%.

Utopiacowboy has the best soultion. Credit or debit cards fees (yearly) in the USA are much cheaper than Colombia.

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Bquilla says on Jul 20, 2004, 20:01:

www.cashpin.com is very good to send money.

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Bill1243 says on Jul 21, 2004, 12:26:

and Tinto,

A correction. Your Wells card is still a debit card...it is just one without the Visa or MC logo on it. And it can indeed be used for point of purchase purchases...with a pin number. It just can't be used for signature-based transactions. And you are right, with the savings account, there is no fee, but check to see if there is a limit to how many withdrawals you can have over a certain period fee free.

Also, maybe there are no account fees, but Wells charges a hefty ATM fee for every use in Colombia, upwards of $3

A much better way to go is to join a credit union...easy to do nowadays. Mine charges no ATM fees for the first five transactions per month down there, and only $1 after that.

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daver says on Jul 21, 2004, 13:00:

about Wells Fargo... they are theives. Honestly, they will charge you every time you blink. If you call them... a charge, internet transaction, a charge, foreign withdrawl, a charge, talking to a bank teller, a charge.... charge charge charge. I would never go back to them.

Dave

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Dan says on Jul 21, 2004, 13:31:

Fees With everyone talking about fees... I've been working with SunTrust and because I'm in a different state with out any of their machines, I get charged 2 bucks from them and 2 bucks from the owner of the ATM, but when I go to Colombia, I only get charged the 2 bucks from SunTrust. I have not been charged $3 for international, and I've seen that I get a better exchange rate out of it rather than a money exchange office or bank for transfering cash.

God Bless America!

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saint says on Jul 21, 2004, 18:45:

Western Union is good because it's so quick and easy. Not too expensive. I'm in Texas too and I sent about $500 and paid about $15 at a local Tom Thumb store.

The easiest way I've found to send money regularly to South America is set up a FREE paypal.com account. You can get a free ATM card. You can even get a 2nd ATM card in ANYONE's name. This is good because they can use it at almost any ATM in the world. Paypal.com only charges $1 and most ATM's in Colombia don't charge a fee.

Keep in mind it takes about 2 weeks to get the card then you have to get the card to your friend in Colombia. I've done this in Argentina and Brazil and it worked fine. You can keep a certain amount in this account so your "friend" can't take out more than is in it.

Works great! Good luck.

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Bill1243 says on Jul 21, 2004, 23:33:

Dan and Saint Both of you said that only your bank charges a fee and that the ATM does not. Sorry to disappoint you but the ATM does indeed charge a fee...you just don't see it. They are not required to show it on the screen, and all you see on your checking account is the amount of dollars taken out and your bank's ATM fee, if any. What you don't see, because it is not itemized, are where this figure came from. It is an amalgam of several fees, including the exchange rate (usually 1%), the foreign ATM fee, and other fees. It usually comes up to about 2% off the interbank rate, which is still better than a cambio.

Why do you think they lowered the withdrawal amounts? One reason was so they could collect more flat fees.

This "scam"....this non-itemization of charges, is the subject of ongoing court cases, much like that that spawned the APR laws for loans years ago. Hopefully, in a matter of time we will get full disclosure, especially for our foreign transactions.

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mfbuckland says on Jul 28, 2004, 12:15:

money transfer to Colombia Register with www.ikobo.com and register your friend there.
I have used it to send money to friends in Medellin.
They will send an ATM card to the recipient the first you send him or her money. They can use it at any VISA ATM. There are plenty in Colombia cities now, even in suburbs. There are no charges, just $1.50 for using the ATM and any charge VISA wish to make (either none or $1.50 in my experience). The exchange rate is ok I think.

Mike Buckland,
England.

Mike Buckland

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pablo says on Jul 28, 2004, 12:57:

.

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Hunter says on Jul 28, 2004, 13:37:

If you are from the UK The Nationwide dedit card is the way to go, there are no charges, the only cost is that you get 0.5% less than the international exchange rate at the time of the transaction.

Hunter

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