Sending Money (Ikobo inactive in Texas)

poco says on May 31, 2005, 10:35:

Moneygram Reduced rates last month. $10.00 U.S. A moneygram will have a toll free number good for three minutes printed on the receipt. Allows you to call and give the ID number on the transaction to the recepient.

IKOBO, stay away. They are always having "trouble". I think it is a "racket". With me, two years ago, they said "sorry" or cards don't work it that machine, then, Oh, we had problem, will send new card. Ha,,

Get a bank account with check card and give them the card.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

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dannyherm says on May 31, 2005, 11:06:

Answering my own question I just found an alternative that might interest folks out there. It's called Sure Money, or Dinero Seguro, offered by the US Postal Service.

I'm told you can go to any post office and send money to several countries, including Colombia. What attracted me is that you can send from $1 to $700 for a flat fee of $10. So it actually makes sense to send more money at one time.

The recipient is given a claim number, and they can go to one of three banks to get the money, including Banco Colombia. The USPS says the money is available 15 minutes after it's sent.

Sounds like a good deal. Anyone have experience with this?

Danny H.

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utopiacowboy says on May 31, 2005, 17:41:

Yes, I have used it several times to send money to Mexico. No problems and a very good alternative to Western Union. I did not realize that you could use this method to send money to Colombia.

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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dannyherm says on May 31, 2005, 19:38:

Finallly, I know something UTC doesn't :) The USPS says the recipient can pick up the money at Bancos Davivienda, Colmena, and Colombia.

DH

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Dan says on Jun 2, 2005, 15:59:

just looked it up here's the link with a little info on the USPS site for Sure Money

http://www.usps.com/money/suremoney/welcome.htm

God Bless America!

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ACBlessing says on Jun 3, 2005, 15:36:

PayPal I opened a PayPal account and got their free Visa check card and sent it to Colombia. Now, I can move money from my bank account to the PayPal account and she can get it from any cash machine. Cost nothing to transfer money to PayPal and only $1 per use at the cash machine when she uses it...less than my bank charges me to use my own Visa at a cash machine.

Alex Blessing, Spokane, WA USA
alex at acblessing.com
www.acblessing.com

Just plain poor

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rjstuff says on Jun 8, 2005, 11:03:

Tinto I think the banks charge more First of all thanks for your post. i am looking into using USPS for sending further cash to my fiancee. However, you mention a .004 fee. I think it's more like .04 - when my fiance cashed my check her bank charged her $17 for $500 or .034 or roughly 4%. .004 will be .4% and much better if true.
Do you ageee with my experience or is the bank overcharging my fiancee?
Thanks

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Tinto (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Jun 8, 2005, 11:27:

I am not familiar with bank check cashing fees but I think you might be confusing your $17 fee (for check clearing, processing, foreign currency conversion?) with the .004 (cuatro por mil) tax. If you were only charged $17 and received a good conversion rate, it sounds like you accomplished the transfer fairly economically (slow, yes, but a lot cheaper than MoneyGram or Western Union).



The "cuatro por mil" (.004 times the amount disbursed) appears to be a law that applies to Colombian bank disbursements only (Platano posted an article about it yesterday). I think the the only way around it is to use a non-bank or an ATM card drawn on a non-Colombian bank.

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Tinto (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Jun 9, 2005, 14:38:

Mario the TRM right now on the El Tiempo site is 2347.83



Do you have your receipt handy...do you recall the payout exchange rate? Curious if the spread is about 3% like in my example a few posts up. Thanks.

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