Suggestions on exchanging Dollars for Pesos

Coolgirl says on May 1, 2006, 12:00:

Leonardo Please do not take your US dollars to Colombia, they will give nothing for them, 1800 per 1USD.
I did that in the past and was not worth to try.
Do you have anyone that you can trust to send the money from US to colombia?
If you do, do that instead. Maybe you can send that money to yourself in colombia because by so you will get a better deal.
Trying to take money out of the ATM was not worth the try either, at least for me.
Next time I am going to travel, I will make sure that I'll exchange all the money from here to there.

Monica

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Miguel_Clavo says on May 1, 2006, 12:02:

My suggestions: Avoid Hotel exchanges. (the worst), and at the airports (worse). The banks in Colombia are good, but i dont want to be the 128th person in line just to exchange money, so i go the Cambiamos counters inside the Exitos/Carulla/La14 grocery stores. But be aware that you lose money every time you do an exchange. (fees, commissions etc) Others may have other different experiences as well.

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo..."NOT the wannabe one..=P"....faltan 60 días.....

"Ignorance is a Weapon of Mass Destruction..."

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

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juanalejo says on May 1, 2006, 12:05:

Pesos You get around 2240 per dolar at an exchange house, the best rate will always be ATM or Credit Card.

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daver says on May 1, 2006, 12:42:

I agree with using ATMS. You will get the best rate possible, minus the $3 foriegn withdraw fee. I think you can take 400,000 pesos out, 3 times a day (or something close to that).

Also, its safer than having a shit-load of dollars or pesos on your person.

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Miguel_Clavo says on May 1, 2006, 12:59:

Do you guys find that even after deducting the ATM use fee and the conversion fee it is still better than the Cambiamos style counters? I use BofA ATM and they hit me twice with each atm fee (non-BofA ATM and the conversion fee)...

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo..."NOT the wannabe one..=P"....faltan 60 días.....

"Ignorance is a Weapon of Mass Destruction..."

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

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tejasmarcos says on May 1, 2006, 13:13:

Hey Miguel I use my B of A - ATM here at the AV Villas in Poblado and I get clipped to the tune of $5 FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE (B of A) and another fee of $1.28 from the fine folks at AV Villas. That is $6.28 for a MAX of 300,000 pesos per withdrawal (or approx $128 US) or 4.91% TOTAL FEE to access my own money.

* It's not so bad in Panama because I can pull more money from the ATM ($500).
* At some point in time, I will have to break down, get the CEDULA and open up a local account here.

trying to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine...

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daver says on May 1, 2006, 13:16:

My CIBC card (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) hits me only with a $3CAD for each transaction, and you don't get good rates here with Canadian dollars, so its easily the best way for me.

Dave

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caslug says on May 1, 2006, 13:33:

Dont carry large amount of cash unless you have to.. ATM is the best. You can withdrawl over 1 million peso per ATM visit. I can't imagine spending that amount in couple of days. Plus if you take 2k USD down, Are you planning to visit the money changer in one trip? then walking out of the place carry 4 million peso? In Cali last year a american got robbed&killed for at 2USD(4-5 million peso) after he visited the bank to withdrawl.

ATMs are everywhere, so it's NOT a inconvenience to visit them when you need to.

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Crazy4Cali says on May 1, 2006, 13:43:

Ditto on the ATM 1st, for that kinda money, it might be worth it to find a Credit Union or similar outfit that isn't know for fees upon fees (like Bank of America a.k.a. thieves of america).

2nd, Use ATMs (after getting an account at a Credit Union) to keep your exposure to a minimum AND to get the best possible rate. I use a Credit Union and get $2200 to $2300 COP/USD and that includes all the transaction fees.

3rd, Unless you have some big-money transaction goin' down in Colombia or just want to get robbed, keep the amount of money you withdraw and carry at anyone time to the minumum necessary (and then split it up and keep it in different pockets so you don't pull out a big roll of cash whenever you pay for a taxi. No da la papaya.

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Miguel_Clavo says on May 1, 2006, 13:47:

tejasmarcos...the $5 fee is per withdrawal, so that sucks.. i have my cedula so when i move to CTG in July/August i will open a business checking and/saving account with a colombian bank....ATMs are a real convenience there, like caslug says, they are all over the place....

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo..."NOT the wannabe one..=P"....faltan 60 días.....

"Ignorance is a Weapon of Mass Destruction..."

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

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caslug says on May 1, 2006, 14:30:

tip on avoid ATM fees.. Open a Citibank acc't in the US. Citibank is in all large cities in COL. You don't get charge ATM fees because your using the citibank ATM. Only downside is each city only has couple of citibank offices. I don't know where the citibank in CTG is, hopefully they DO have one.

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expatriate says on May 1, 2006, 14:38:

ATMs give the best rates affinitybank.com allows for using Colombian ATMS with no withdrawal fees.

paypal.com allows for using Colombian ATMS with a $1 withdrawal fee.

Bank of America's $5 withdrawal fee is ridiculous, and nobody should be paying that rate.

You just need time to setup these accounts before traveling overseas.

In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile.

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webmanco says on May 1, 2006, 15:24:

In Bogotá When I need to buy or sell USD currency I go downtown, right where emeralds are sold, exchange companies populate, Euros, USD etc

Last friday the USD was scarce I bought some for $2280 pesos each

As always pracaution is needed when carrying singnificant amount of money.


Emerald Trade Center

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

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Miguel_Clavo says on May 1, 2006, 15:58:

Caslug...there is a Citibank near the walled city. Can you...... access both your Colombian and US accounts online through Citibank?

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo..."NOT the wannabe one..=P"....faltan 60 días.....

"Ignorance is a Weapon of Mass Destruction..."

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

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bkcarolina says on May 1, 2006, 16:25:

credit card charges if you use a credit card, you will get the best rates, but most card companies have come up with a new way to bleed you...they charge 1-4% extra on charges made out of the country. call your companies in advance to see who charges and how much, and you might convince one of them to drop the charge in order to keep you as a customer.

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caslug says on May 1, 2006, 16:30:

miguel.. i dont know about both acc'ts.. because i only have US acc't. But i could see my balance. I suspect that if you have a COL citibank acc't, you'll have a seperate ATM card.

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SingSling says on May 1, 2006, 18:52:

Use HSBC I posted this on another thread but here goes again.

Hsbc have a new account called easysend, you can withdraw up to 5,000 USD a month and 1,500 a day anywhere in the world with no fees or charges whatsoever (from most of the major Colombian ATMs such as Bancolombia) and you get very good rates, 2340 COP as of today, taking foreign currency into Colombia is asking to be ripped off.

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SingSling says on May 1, 2006, 19:43:

Best rate The rates in the US will always be terrible, worse even than in Bogota, I have yet to find a better way to get money to Colombia than with HSBC, including charges it works out to around 300 pesos better than with AMEX.

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SingSling says on May 1, 2006, 19:56:

HSBC Its Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, second biggest bank in the world now, I live in NYC and they are pretty big here, check out their website www.hsbcusa.com. The best thing apart from the rates is that you can do the transferring on-line and it is instantaneous.

The information about easysend is under 'savings accounts' and it tells you about how it works etc and gives you a number to call. I don't work for them btw!

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tejasmarcos says on May 1, 2006, 21:16:

GREAT FEEDBACK on this thread. i think i am going to go with netbank, hsbc or citi.

*** by the way - i emailed B of A today after reading this thread and complained. they dropped the $5 withdraw fee for the next 90 days as a courtesy. gives me time to maneauver. makes me glad i frequent this site for good info like this :)

trying to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine...

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Mr. Hollywood says on May 1, 2006, 21:23:

Buying pesos in the US When you talk about buying Col Pesos in the US, ask yourself, where, exactly, are the banks or exchanges going to get a couple thousand dollars worth of paper pesos? That's why it's so expensive. With the exception of a few places in Miami and maybe Queens, I'm sure it's almost unheard of for someone walk in and ask for Colombian pesos.

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BE1900 says on May 2, 2006, 15:18:

Dollars to Pesos in CTG Hey Leonardo use your ATM Charges are $1.50 every time you use it
but the exchange is pritty good Banks whithraw max are differents you ncan get as much as 300.000 pesos.

no comments

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rapi2000 says on May 2, 2006, 18:26:

Davivienda ATM is the best. You can now withdraw up to 500,000 COP per transaction if you use the Davivienda ATM's. I have a Wachovia/Visa ATM card and I have never had any problems with in Colombia at all. They charge US$2 per transaction so the trick is to take out the max each time. BTW Davivienda is all over the country, even in small towns. It is also good to inform the bank about your trip to Colombia so they don't block it as a security measure. Last time I used my card in Cartagena, Barranquilla, Bogota, Villavicencio, Manizales, Pereira, Armenia, Parque del Café (Montenegro) and back to Barranquilla, It always worked just fine.
Now what sucks is my Bank of America CC, they rip you off with the foreign currency transaction, but they give you the official exchange rate with the Col. Peso.

Hasta la próxima!

rapi2000@yahoo.com

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