It appears you have not registered with our community. To register please click here ...

+-

+-PL Gallery Random Image


Author Topic: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?  (Read 1893 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Jedimaster

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 50
Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« on: December 02, 2018, 09:39:08 PM »
Are there any banks in Colombia that do not charge any ATM withdrawal fees?


I'm fairly sure that BanColombia now charges an ATM fee of around 12000 pesos per ATM withdrawal.  Most other banks in Colombia also charge ATM withdrawal fees but I'm hoping there are still a few who do not.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Offline Calipro

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3473
  • Country: 00
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: None (yet)
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2018, 10:40:59 PM »
Are there any banks in Colombia that do not charge any ATM withdrawal fees?


I'm fairly sure that BanColombia now charges an ATM fee of around 12000 pesos per ATM withdrawal.  Most other banks in Colombia also charge ATM withdrawal fees but I'm hoping there are still a few who do not.  Thanks in advance for your help.


I have a Charles Schwab and a Fidelity debit card.....both of them reimburse the ATM fees that the ATMs charge me while in Colombia.

Offline buenopues4

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 69
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2018, 05:15:39 AM »
Yes, BBVA and Colpatria. If you're on a short visit it doesn't matter much but if you are in Colombia long term the best option is using a Capitol One 360 debit card at either of the banks mentioned. No fees.

Planet-Love.com

Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2018, 05:15:39 AM »

Offline Elexpatriado

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3459
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2018, 09:17:15 AM »
Actually its a lot more complicated than that.

They all charge fees. Why would anybody think a Bank would let you use their ATMs "free of charge"espescially in Colombia where the banks are notorious ladrones. There are 2 types of fees.

1. The published fees..that apear on the screen ..Usually between 12,600 and 13,600 cop for some banks..these (and only these fees) are the only ones that The US banks..Capitol One, Schwab and TD Bank (US Division) will reimburse you for.

2. The exchange rate fee. This is the difference  in exchange rate between the midpoint buy/sell on XE. Com at close of business on previous day (COB on Friday for weekends and Lunes Festivos) and exchange rate the bank whos  ATM you are using  gives you.

I have looked at Colpatría and BBVA and they both have published fees that come up on the screen and the "overall exchange rate" ( published fee plus exchange rate fee) on BBVA was quite high ..almost 7 %...

I have read elsewhere that Colpartía has no published fee but on the ATMs that  have "Scotiabank " markings they tell you you will be charged a "published " fee of 13,600 COP.   

The best deal I could find was Davivienda which had 0 published fee and exchange rate fee of 3.5%...giving an.overall.of 3.5%.   

In order to calculate your overall fee, just take the actual exchange rate the ATM gives you and compare it to the XE.com rate of COB previous Colombian working day. 

If you want to save money on fees maybe use a credit card as much as possible. A lot of cc have very low foreign transaction fees ..some 1 % or less. Ask your Bank for this informaction. You can check this with same comparison to XE.com rates as per the ATMs.

To make matters more complicated, the above are Colombian ATM charges only. Some Canadian or US Bank accounts charge  you an additional percentage on their end to use a foreign Bank ATM. Talk to your US Bank to make sure .

In the end, the only way to know how much you are really getting ripped off and comparing applies to apples is by doing a comparison against previous COB XE.com rates.Math doesnt lie.

The above analysis  is based on Canadian Dollar withdrawal not US. The exchange rate hidden fee percentage may differ for US withdrawls but the methology will not.

There are quite lengthy discussions on this subject  on other Colombian Expat Forums but like BuenPues said..not worth worrying about  on a short trip

 



 
« Last Edit: December 03, 2018, 09:25:23 AM by Elexpatriado »

Offline buenopues4

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 69
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2018, 04:25:18 AM »
Well lately what's been going on is a delay of one day. For example on Nov. 30th I took out $600.000 from a Colpatria ATM (without Scotiabank signage) and got an exchange rate of 3.274. That was the official rate for Nov.29th as published by the Banco De La Republica. http://www.banrep.gov.co   (On that site look down on the right where it says TRM, Tasa Representiva Monetario i. e. exchange rate.). As you can see I haven'
t lost a peso to the official rate.

To see what exchange rate you've gotten for a given withdrawal (assuming your bank publishes the results in real time) divide the withdrawal amount in pesos for example $600.000 by the amount withdrawn from your bank account, in this case it was $183.24. The result: 3.274 exactly what was published by the Banco de La Republica on Nov. 29th. This was using the debit card from my Capitol 1 360 account and by the way no reimbursement needed since no fee charged by Colpatria.


If you get an exchange rate of anything less than that published by the Banco De La Republica then yes you are being charged something somewhere along the line. So far as I know it is not possible to get anything more than that rate.


So really it's pretty simple after all, divide the withdrawal amount by the amount taken out of your US checking account and that is the rate you got.


Here is a handy site that provides exchange rate history:


https://www.dolar-colombia.com


Offline Elexpatriado

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3459
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2018, 01:46:29 PM »
Well lately what's been going on is a delay of one day. For example on Nov. 30th I took out $600.000 from a Colpatria ATM (without Scotiabank signage) and got an exchange rate of 3.274. That was the official rate for Nov.29th as published by the Banco De La Republica. http://www.banrep.gov.co   (On that site look down on the right where it says TRM, Tasa Representiva Monetario i. e. exchange rate.). As you can see I haven'
t lost a peso to the official rate.

To see what exchange rate you've gotten for a given withdrawal (assuming your bank publishes the results in real time) divide the withdrawal amount in pesos for example $600.000 by the amount withdrawn from your bank account, in this case it was $183.24. The result: 3.274 exactly what was published by the Banco de La Republica on Nov. 29th. This was using the debit card from my Capitol 1 360 account and by the way no reimbursement needed since no fee charged by Colpatria.


If you get an exchange rate of anything less than that published by the Banco De La Republica then yes you are being charged something somewhere along the line. So far as I know it is not possible to get anything more than that rate.


So really it's pretty simple after all, divide the withdrawal amount by the amount taken out of your US checking account and that is the rate you got.


Here is a handy site that provides exchange rate history:


https://www.dolar-colombia.com

Dont know how the Bank of Colombia rate compares to XE.com. Think they are very close.

My analysis is done on $Cad conversion . May be different for $USD conversion.. But  I doubt they would let you use a foreign card in their ATM for free

Also I noticed Scotia Bank is taking  over the Colpaytia ATMs . There was one here in this mall without Scotia Bank markings, there was no published fees, now it has Scotia Bank markings and there is an "on screen published fee of 13600 cop
« Last Edit: December 04, 2018, 02:11:23 PM by Elexpatriado »

Offline mudd

  • Commercial Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2707
  • Country: us
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: > 10
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2018, 02:05:29 PM »
the only bank i have seen that doesnt chage  a foreign transaction fee and gives you the actual rate is chase, if you have the private client account.  and even with this account, bancolombia will give you a lower rate, than say using davianda or BBVA. bancolombia seems to always give a lower rate.


a friend mine has the charles schwab card, we compared fees and rates by taking out $ 400,000 at the same time, compared with chase. He wasnt charged a fee but he  got a lower rate than what i received, by about  150 points.




the banks always have a way of getting their fees, one way or another.

Offline Elexpatriado

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3459
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2018, 02:15:03 PM »
I am going to try to gond a non- Scotia Bank Compartía around here sonewhere and see how it goes

Still, they rip off Canadians a lot other than US people. Probably to do with volume.
 

Offline buenopues4

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 69
  • Spouse's Country: No Selection
  • Status: Looking 0-2 years
  • Trips: Resident
Re: Any banks in Colombia that do not charge ATM withdrawal fees?
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2018, 05:01:40 PM »
I agree that the Scotiabank addition to the Colpatria ATMs appears to be a trend but for now their ATMs at both Chipichapi and next door Jumbo perform as I have stated above.

 

Sponsor Twr1R

PL Stats

Members
Total Members: 5871
Latest: ponttbryr
New This Month: 1
New This Week: 0
New Today: 0
Stats
Total Posts: 133128
Total Topics: 7864
Most Online Today: 333
Most Online Ever: 1000
(December 26, 2022, 11:57:37 PM)
Users Online
Members: 0
Guests: 322
Total: 322
Powered by EzPortal