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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 26, 2016 15:09:09 GMT -5
Citigroup announced that it has suspended the sale of its consumer and retail banking units in Colombia. However, the possibility remains open but depends on there being offers that reflect what they consider the appropriate value of those businesses. "Citigroup has decided to suspend the process of selling its consumer and commercial banking in Colombia announced on February 19, 2016 ... Like any other company, we do not rule out the possibility of selling these operations at a price that reflects its significant value, but This decision will be evaluated in the future, if the opportunity is given and if it remains consistent with the Bank's overall strategy, "the bank informed the market. So far, it is the only country, announced at the beginning of the year, in which the financial multinational Citigroup has not completed the announced sales. At the end of September, Citibank's loan portfolio in Colombia exceeded 7.5 trillion pesos, giving it a market share of just over 2 percent, compared to other banks that have a participation close to 23 percent. Only in the consumer portfolio did the entity keep a balance close to 4.3 trillion pesos, according to the most recent data published by the Superintendency of Finance. Its customers in the credit card business are around 650,000 with an average monthly consumption of 350,000 million pesos. As it is recalled, in mid-February, Citigroup's top spokesman surprised the market with the announcement of his exit from the bank's retail and consumer banking in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. Brazil and Argentina At the beginning of last October it was announced that the Brazilian giant Itaú would stay with the operations that Citibank has in Brazil, which include 71 branches, as well as the credit and insurance portfolio and its credit card business. The business was priced at about 198 million dollars. Only a few days after this announcement, the US multinational financial company announced that Banco Santander remained with its operations in Argentina, for which it would pay a sum close to 300 million dollars. See (in Spanish): www.eltiempo.com/economia/empresas/citi-suspende-venta-de-banca-de-consumo-en-el-pais/16758392
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Post by buenopues on Nov 26, 2016 22:08:03 GMT -5
An acquaintance in Cali who had an account and used his debit card to withdraw funds from their atms always got a terrible exchange rate.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2016 22:35:20 GMT -5
We use their ATM all the time for cash--typically within 1-2% of day before Bloombergh rate---- plus 10,000 peso withdrawal fee
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Post by scumbuster on Nov 27, 2016 5:29:03 GMT -5
I never found an ATM that gave me more per transaction than a Citi ATM. My exchange was always as good as others if not better.
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Post by coolcoil on Nov 27, 2016 14:39:10 GMT -5
I've never had a problem with the exchange rate a Citi machines and I appreciate the fact that you can pull $2MM in one transaction. It's helpful when you have a big purchase. We keep a Citigold account in the USA. It costs $30 per month, but there are no transaction fees for using any ATM in Colombia, so we save a ton of money with it.
Another nice thing with this account is that Citi will use your US credit history in foreign countries when considering making loans or issuing a credit card. I had been planning to get a credit card from them just to start building some credit history in Colombia, but had dropped the idea when the announced they were leaving.
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Post by charlie640 on Nov 27, 2016 20:53:55 GMT -5
Yep.. I love CitiBank in COL. Also have a CitiGold Card... No fees and the BEST exchange rates !!!
Hey COOL... I don't have a COL account with them. I only use the ATMS. Did you open a COL based account ?? Have you moved funds between USA and COL citibank accounts with ease OR do they ask you a million questions?
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Post by coolcoil on Nov 28, 2016 5:32:38 GMT -5
Hey COOL... I don't have a COL account with them. I only use the ATMS. Did you open a COL based account ?? Have you moved funds between USA and COL citibank accounts with ease OR do they ask you a million questions? I do not have an account with Citi in Colombia for a three reasons. First, the nearest branch is about 25 minutes from my house, so it would be inconvenient, particularly as they do not maintain Saturday hours. Second, my wife did open an account with them as we thought it would be an easy way to transfer money to her. They did ask a bunch of questions, and even came to visit our apartment to confirm that she really lived where she claimed. I found the whole process to be very annoying. Third, it turns out that it is not easy to transfer money. The problems with money transfer is what finally turned me off to working with Citi Colombia. I attempted to send money to my wife's account twice over the past few years. In theory, it should work like a wire transfer to any bank, except that it's free, where you have to wait three days and then the recipient goes in to the branch to "monetize" the transaction. In both cases the Citi Colombia claimed they could find no record of an incoming transaction and I had to have Citi USA intiate a trace. In both cases Citi USA claimed they had done everything correctly, but could not get help from the Colombia bank to figure out the problem. They ultimately reversed the transactions and redeposited the money in my US account. I've been very pleased with Citi USA. I have a couple of no-foreign-transaction-fee cards that I use all of the time and it was easy to add my wife as an authorized user, so we make as many purchases with those as we can. My listed address with Citi is in the USA, and at first my cards were cut off a few times, but I have not had any problems since. Our ATM card works well at our local BanColombia ATM's, and we have had few problems pulling cash since I switched to Citi. They do cut off the ATM about once every three months or so because of fraud concerns, but a 5 minute call resolves the issue. I can do pretty much everything else on line, including initiating wire transfers, so it's very convenient.
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 28, 2016 7:35:11 GMT -5
We use their ATM all the time for cash--typically within 1-2% of day before Bloombergh rate---- plus 10,000 peso withdrawal fee This is the way to go in Colombia. Usually works out to 2.5% to 3%. Same with cedit cards, but with CC you are guaranteed 2.5% , plus in my case, I get points, which pays for the major part of 2 trips home a year.
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Post by elexpatriado on Nov 28, 2016 7:39:34 GMT -5
Hey COOL... I don't have a COL account with them. I only use the ATMS. Did you open a COL based account ?? Have you moved funds between USA and COL citibank accounts with ease OR do they ask you a million questions? I do not have an account with Citi in Colombia for a three reasons. First, the nearest branch is about 25 minutes from my house, so it would be inconvenient, particularly as they do not maintain Saturday hours. Second, my wife did open an account with them as we thought it would be an easy way to transfer money to her. They did ask a bunch of questions, and even came to visit our apartment to confirm that she really lived where she claimed. I found the whole process to be very annoying. Third, it turns out that it is not easy to transfer money. The problems with money transfer is what finally turned me off to working with Citi Colombia. I attempted to send money to my wife's account twice over the past few years. In theory, it should work like a wire transfer to any bank, except that it's free, where you have to wait three days and then the recipient goes in to the branch to "monetize" the transaction. In both cases the Citi Colombia claimed they could find no record of an incoming transaction and I had to have Citi USA intiate a trace. In both cases Citi USA claimed they had done everything correctly, but could not get help from the Colombia bank to figure out the problem. They ultimately reversed the transactions and redeposited the money in my US account. I've been very pleased with Citi USA. I have a couple of no-foreign-transaction-fee cards that I use all of the time and it was easy to add my wife as an authorized user, so we make as many purchases with those as we can. My listed address with Citi is in the USA, and at first my cards were cut off a few times, but I have not had any problems since. Our ATM card works well at our local BanColombia ATM's, and we have had few problems pulling cash since I switched to Citi. They do cut off the ATM about once every three months or so because of fraud concerns, but a 5 minute call resolves the issue. I can do pretty much everything else on line, including initiating wire transfers, so it's very convenient. Transferring large amount of money to Colombia is a big head ache. Plus it brings up the risk of poking a sleeping dog with a stick (the one called DIAN). Not recommended under any circumstances.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 28, 2016 8:33:59 GMT -5
Transferring large amount of money to Colombia is a big head ache. Plus it brings up the risk of poking a sleeping dog with a stick (the one called DIAN). Not recommended under any circumstances. I respectfully disagree. I have transferred money via wire transfers several times without problems. I would rather do a wire transfer to bring money to Colombia vs. using ATMs or carrying cash, which to me are more risky ways. DIAN doesn't really need to be poked - per a Colombian friend working at DIAN they are already aware of gringos living here and not filing taxes like they should. He said they recently have been focusing on wealthy Colombians with money outside the country trying to avoid taxes. But at some point in the future....
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Post by charlie640 on Nov 28, 2016 8:35:36 GMT -5
Screw DIAN .... I will never spend more than 183 days in COL
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2016 9:03:24 GMT -5
Transferring large amount of money to Colombia is a big head ache. Plus it brings up the risk of poking a sleeping dog with a stick (the one called DIAN). Not recommended under any circumstances. I respectfully disagree. I have transferred money via wire transfers several times without problems. I would rather do a wire transfer to bring money to Colombia vs. using ATMs or carrying cash, which to me are more risky ways. DIAN doesn't really need to be poked - per a Colombian friend working at DIAN they are already aware of gringos living here and not filing taxes like they should. He said they recently have been focusing on wealthy Colombians with money outside the country trying to avoid taxes. But at some point in the future.... I agree, I file taxes here and in the states. I would not be able to sleep trying to avoid doing the right thing. I sleep like a baby. Its a hassle and there is some cost, but if you are going to live somewhere it is my opinion that you should respect the laws or if you don't like it move somewhere else. Of course they know who is living here, when I applied for my resident visa they had records of 15 years of my comings and goings-probably better records than the US.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2016 9:46:30 GMT -5
Good to have a U.S. CC with no shopping purchase fees such as some Chase cards / others etc. Have a permanent stateside bank account--- then while in Colombia use online banking to pay the card / cards
Plus--if on SS or other pension retirement--have the funds deposited in a U.S. account--in this way -- never a hassle with the surprise of a monthly non payment due to overseas rules on SS --
If not owning property or assets in Colombia--over 183 days is sort of a mute point-- as one will not owe any taxes anyway in Colombia
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Post by livinginmedellin on Nov 28, 2016 10:00:14 GMT -5
Good to have a U.S. CC with no shopping purchase fees such as some Chase cards / others etc. Have a permanent stateside bank account--- then while in Colombia use online banking to pay the card / cards Plus--if on SS or other pension retirement--have the funds deposited in a U.S. account--in this way -- never a hassle with the surprise of a monthly non payment due to overseas rules on SS -- If not owning property or assets in Colombia--over 183 days is sort of a mute point-- as one will not owe any taxes anyway in Colombia Not necessarily true that "If not owning property or assets in Colombia--over 183 days is sort of a mute point--as one will not owe any taxes anyway in Colombia". Colombia taxes the worldwide income of tax residents just like the U.S. But in Colombia there are several tax deductions and you can subtract income taxes paid in another country from income taxes due in Colombia. So I have met several expats living in Colombia with six figure USD incomes that pay no income taxes in Colombia. But I also know some expats that pay some income taxes (usually a small amount) in Colombia, including myself. The income tax filing requirement in Colombia is low. It was gross income in 2015 of only $12,751 USD at the official exchange rate at end of 2015 for income taxes filed in August and October 2016. I suspect there are very few expats living in Colombia with income less than that. So most expats living in Colombia are likely technically required to file taxes but may not have to pay income taxes depending on their situation. But I have met several expats that don't file even though they are required to. I live here so I play by the rules and file taxes - I don't want any future problems.
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