Wirring money bank to bank

[elcolombiano]

I need to wire money from my bank account to another bank account in Colombia. The money leaves the US in Dollars. Does it arrive in Colombia in pesos?

How do they compute the exchange rate?
My bank charges a $40 dollar fixed fee. Does the receiving bank charge a fee?

[littlebhuddha]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

To wire $1000 to Cali, Western Union charges $68 and you will lose another $35 dollars with their exchange rate. The bank will use the actual exchange rate. The receiving bank will charge a small fee, usually $5-10. I have found this to be the safest and quickest way to get money to Cali. Most ATMs in Cali limit withdraws to 200,000-300,000 at a time, each one costing between $3-4 US. To withdraw 6,000,000 peso will take several days and cost $60-80. Plus there is no risk of your novia getting robbed as she walks away from the ATM. Sending her an ATM check card is also a good idea as long as it is a Visa or MC card. However there could be problems if her name is not on the card. Getting one with her name on it is somewhat problematic. Most banks want her signature and identification before they will add her to the account and issue her a card. One possible solution is to open a CitiBank account. They have several branches in Cali. I haven't looked into this but it could be a way of eliminating the transaction fees for ATM usage.

[cancunhound]

... in response to Forget Western Union, posted by littlebhuddha on Nov 6, 2003

I had checked into that one - no go - it's a separate entity in South America so no benefit's to be had - especially given their few locations there.  One avenue that might be worth checking into is Lloyd's - I suspect that may be different and they seem to have at least as many locations.

[Pete E]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

I sent my in laws $5200 once to buy a pickup they needed for the nursery business.They did not want me to do a bank wire.I guess for that amount they would have to explain it or it could cause a problem.So they took it out at the ATM,$300 a day at a time.Funny,by the time they finished my stocks tanked and I just barely had the money to give them.
Cut me short for awhile. But yeah,Dolex will send up to $2500 for $5-$10.But someone would have to pick it up.

Pete

[luvslife]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

I think I remember someone posting on a solution to this problem that might work for you.  Open a bank account here with her name on it.  Get a check card with the visa label on it and send her the card.  Call her once she recieves the card and give her the pin.  She can then take money out no charge outside of the atm fees.  Note, make sure that it is a separate account and do not put anything in it that is not intended for her.  Good luck.

[Michael B]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

Pete's wife will do it for only $10.00 and give a decent (but not quite a good as an ATM card) exchange rate. She works for Dolex, look for their signs in the windows or outside wall of several grocery stores and convience stores in the Mexican part of town. But they only accept cash in the US and they only pay out cash, in the local currency. No 'bank to bank' stuff, but if your objective is to get the money to a particular PERSON, that's the way to go. Doing international deals with banks is clumbersome, time consuming and expensive. If this is going to be an ongoing endeavor, follow Freddie's advice, open a new account (at a different bank that you usually use) and send her an ATM card.

[jey]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

It depends on the currency of the receiving account. If its a US dollar account you wire dollars, otherwise you have to ask your bank to convert the currency into pesos at the interbank rate. Its all on the international wire transfer form.
You will need to know the SWIFT number or most likely the name of the correspondent bank (usually in New York City) of the Colombian bank.

[Miguel]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

Freddie had some good comments. If amount is small follow his advice.  Don't know about Colombia specifically, but in general if you want the money to arrive in pesos (if the recipient of the wire has a peso account), you'll need to tell your bank to convert to pesos. And your bank will charge you an arm and a leg, in percentage terms, to do this.  Generally, a bank does not charge a fee for receiving wires.

[Freddie]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

I do believe the local bank will charge her and if she doesn't have an account she'll probably have to open one.

As much as I dislike Western Union for some of their business practices you can send something like upto $199 for about $25.

All they need is an ID with the exact name you sent it to to pick it up. It's usually available within 1 hour.

If you are going to be doing this on a regular basis open a checking account here, put a hundred or two in it and send her an ATM card.

[elcolombiano]

... in response to DON'T DO IT., posted by Freddie on Nov 5, 2003

The money is going to a doctors office for medical services. I already sent my novia an ATM card a long time ago.

[CaliAdvisor]

... in response to Re: DON'T DO IT., posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

In that case, tell her to take out the cash and then she can put hte money in the doctors account.

[Michael B]

... in response to Re: DON'T DO IT., posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

Send her a giro and let her pay the doctor in cash, or put some money in her account and let her pay him with the visa card.

[thundernco]

... in response to Wirring money bank to bank, posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

n/t

[elcolombiano]

... in response to Your bank can answer these questions n/t, posted by thundernco on Nov 5, 2003

My bank could not answer the questions. I tried.

[thundernco]

... in response to Re: Your bank can answer these questions..., posted by elcolombiano on Nov 5, 2003

I have the need to xfer funds frequently and BofA is good about stuff like that.  I usually get charged a fee to convert from USD to COP by Colmena when I xfer funds down there.  No fee to recv. by Colmena only to xfer by BofA.  Exchange rate is the then daily interbank exchange rate.  If you can, put more money into the act. you left for atm and then have her withdraw daily until she has enough to cover the expense.  Also, most, if not all physicians and clinics will accept an atm with the appropriate visa or mc logo.  Hope that helps some.  Good to hear things are going along well with your gal pal. -TNC