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Post by sedelen on Aug 28, 2018 21:24:35 GMT -5
I make use of my cards. Two I use US Banks charge fees, independent from any fees charged here. One charges a 1% International transaction fee, and both charge user fees. But, as far as the exchange rate, it's always been within the daily range I see posted on Bloomberg. I use two different banks here, Davivienda and Bancolombia. Another card I use with Bancolombia because the stiff fees Bancolombia charges are reimbursed, so whether it's 12.6 or 13.6 mil really doesn't matter as I don't have to pay it. I've checked transactions based on declarations of people being ripped off, some in what I considered big ways, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary in my transactions, so now I've quit questioning it unless I can see something out of kilter. Perhaps, I'll get to the point where I need to figure a transaction down to the "gnats" ass, and will use the XE posted exchange rate just prior to using my Card. But I just don't see any reason to go there now. I can live with the small percentages I know the banks make. Sorry to say some stuff I see leads me to believe there are folks that really don't have a clue as how to figure out the math involved in these transactions, so they perhaps feel cheated because they might have erred in their math, or can't explain it, so they just shoot off the hip, so to speak without any meaningful explanation, or don't respond at all when being backed in a corner. I mean, I expect people to be competent enough to balance a check book and I can't believe how many I know personally, that can't. It's really sad when it becomes evident, because most of these people come across as fairly smart otherwise, and you expect them to be able to use the calculator that's on their phone to figure out a basic transaction. I have a gringo friend, geez, he's been here off and on his entire adult life, we went to look at a rental apartment in Rio Negro, he told me the price was 1.5 million pesos a month. And somehow he got it in his head it was $300.00 USD. And I asked him, how did you come up with that? And he said his wife's friend rented one for $300.00, so this one should be the same, and I told him, $300 USD is not 1.5 million pesos. I could see the wheels spinning in his head and he just couldn't figure it out. I mean really? And then I said, look just divide 1.5 million by 3 like in 3 mil pesos to the dollar. I actually had to show him how to do the math on his phone's calculator. Then, it finally dawned on him. So, he asked the realtor for a discount, and we were back on the curb awaiting a taxi in a New York minute. Sad, very sad. I will say this though, your advice on the use of credit cards was spot on. I think you should check.it out.A "gnats ass" can be quite significant. I just took a bunch of money out and from 4 difierent banks and was shocked to see Me being charged exactly the same..a hefty 7 Percent from BancoColombia, Banco de Bogota and Sirvienbanco and 5 percent from Davivienda. The posted fees 12600 to 13600 pesos only make Up 2 %. I am so shocked I am.going to phone my bank Up and see what is happening as well. I am los going to phone Charles Schwab and Capitol.one and TD US account people about their accounts . But for me it is a big hassle.I have to have a US address, invest the minimum in the account and transfer thousands from.my Canadian account to the US account every month. And honestly, I find it hard to believe that the Colombian Banks give better exchange rate on Charles Schwab and other no fee account than on other cards. Pilot guy seems to have doffeent experience than you do on this matter. I never implied that Colombian banks give a better exchange rate for any particular type of card. You just have to substract the fee's in advance of figuring out the rate.
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hogan
Junior Member
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Post by hogan on Aug 28, 2018 22:17:37 GMT -5
A few things to think about exchange rates at ATMs:
1) if the ATM asks you if want to make your withdrawal "with conversion" always answer no. With conversion is also known as dynamic currency conversion and is when the bank or atm operator determines the exchange rate, which is normally a bad rate.
2) if you select "without conversion" or proceed without being given the option, the rate is determined by visa or mastercard, not the local bank. The rate is an international standard selected by visa/mastercard or an official rate mandated by the government. In Colombia, for USD transactions, it is mandated to be the TRM posted by Banco de la Republica for the previous day. Not sure if there is a similar rate for CAD, but i imagine there is, although I could not find it published. This rate does not change throughout the day, it is the same for the entire business day.
3) XE.com is a good starting point and a quick reference but it is out of sync with the TRM. The TRM normally lags XE published rate. So, some days it is better and some days it is worse. Another thing to be aware of is that no one gets the XE.com rate, not even XE customers. The published rate is the mid-market. Buyers will pay more and sellers will get less when using XE.
4) i think most discrepancies that people notice are due to accepting a "with conversion" withdrawal, comparing to the wrong exchange rate, not deducting an ATM fee (that may have been hidden), or the local ATM may have charged another undisclosed fee, such as an extra fee for using a foreign ATM card (although i have not experienced that i think it is possible). Whenever i make an ATM withdrawal, i deduct the ATM charge first (if there is one), and the exchange rate i get is always very close to the previous day's TRM.
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Post by elexpatriado on Aug 29, 2018 7:08:15 GMT -5
A few things to think about exchange rates at ATMs: 1) if the ATM asks you if want to make your withdrawal "with conversion" always answer no. With conversion is also known as dynamic currency conversion and is when the bank or atm operator determines the exchange rate, which is normally a bad rate. 2) if you select "without conversion" or proceed without being given the option, the rate is determined by visa or mastercard, not the local bank. The rate is an international standard selected by visa/mastercard or an official rate mandated by the government. In Colombia, for USD transactions, it is mandated to be the TRM posted by Banco de la Republica for the previous day. Not sure if there is a similar rate for CAD, but i imagine there is, although I could not find it published. This rate does not change throughout the day, it is the same for the entire business day. 3) XE.com is a good starting point and a quick reference but it is out of sync with the TRM. The TRM normally lags XE published rate. So, some days it is better and some days it is worse. Another thing to be aware of is that no one gets the XE.com rate, not even XE customers. The published rate is the mid-market. Buyers will pay more and sellers will get less when using XE. 4) i think most discrepancies that people notice are due to accepting a "with conversion" withdrawal, comparing to the wrong exchange rate, not deducting an ATM fee (that may have been hidden), or the local ATM may have charged another undisclosed fee, such as an extra fee for using a foreign ATM card (although i have not experienced that i think it is possible). Whenever i make an ATM withdrawal, i deduct the ATM charge first (if there is one), and the exchange rate i get is always very close to the previous day's TRM. Pretty well all Colombian Bank ATMs dont have these options " with or without conversion" you get what they give you. The Canadian dollar to COP rate on XE has been steady between 2307 and 2311 for a couple days. When I use my visa hard I always get very close to the Publisherd rate of 2.5% below XE exchange rate.It isthe Colombian Bank ATMs that vary all over the place from 4 to 7% below. I think the cabrones are trying to see what they can get away with. Obviously I take into acount the published ATM fees which like I have said are 12,600 to13,600 or roughly 2 to 2.2 % on a 600 mil withdrawal. What Bank ATM in Colombia do you withdrawal from that gives you this option "with or without conversión "? never heard of it with Colombian banks . I checked todays USD TRM rate against XE rate ad its about 1 % discount so if you do her that thats good. I couldnt find a TRM for Canadian dollars to pesos anywhere in a Google search.
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Post by caliorbust on Aug 29, 2018 9:11:27 GMT -5
Today may be a good day for USD folks to hit the ATM
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Post by sedelen on Aug 29, 2018 12:01:42 GMT -5
Today may be a good day for USD folks to hit the ATM It was better earlier, it was at 3,015.40 but has since fallen back to about where it closed yesterday, @ 2,988.17.
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Post by caliorbust on Aug 29, 2018 13:22:14 GMT -5
Yeah, the market should have closed at 10 AM, lol. Bloomberg says 2,999.4 today.
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Post by sedelen on Aug 29, 2018 13:47:20 GMT -5
Of the rates I've been getting with Davivienda,
of the 4 withdrawals I made from the 24th through the 27th with one card I got 2,965.38 on Monday, and for Fri, Sat, and Sunday I got 2,980.63.
Using a different card yesterday at Davivienda, I got 2,958.36. Believe that to be in the middle of Bloomberg's range for the day.
Anyway...………..
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hogan
Junior Member
Posts: 26
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Post by hogan on Aug 29, 2018 15:41:02 GMT -5
A few things to think about exchange rates at ATMs: 1) if the ATM asks you if want to make your withdrawal "with conversion" always answer no. With conversion is also known as dynamic currency conversion and is when the bank or atm operator determines the exchange rate, which is normally a bad rate. 2) if you select "without conversion" or proceed without being given the option, the rate is determined by visa or mastercard, not the local bank. The rate is an international standard selected by visa/mastercard or an official rate mandated by the government. In Colombia, for USD transactions, it is mandated to be the TRM posted by Banco de la Republica for the previous day. Not sure if there is a similar rate for CAD, but i imagine there is, although I could not find it published. This rate does not change throughout the day, it is the same for the entire business day. 3) XE.com is a good starting point and a quick reference but it is out of sync with the TRM. The TRM normally lags XE published rate. So, some days it is better and some days it is worse. Another thing to be aware of is that no one gets the XE.com rate, not even XE customers. The published rate is the mid-market. Buyers will pay more and sellers will get less when using XE. 4) i think most discrepancies that people notice are due to accepting a "with conversion" withdrawal, comparing to the wrong exchange rate, not deducting an ATM fee (that may have been hidden), or the local ATM may have charged another undisclosed fee, such as an extra fee for using a foreign ATM card (although i have not experienced that i think it is possible). Whenever i make an ATM withdrawal, i deduct the ATM charge first (if there is one), and the exchange rate i get is always very close to the previous day's TRM. Pretty well all Colombian Bank ATMs dont have these options " with or without conversion" you get what they give you. The Canadian dollar to COP rate on XE has been steady between 2307 and 2311 for a couple days. When I use my visa hard I always get very close to the Publisherd rate of 2.5% below XE exchange rate.It isthe Colombian Bank ATMs that vary all over the place from 4 to 7% below. I think the cabrones are trying to see what they can get away with. Obviously I take into acount the published ATM fees which like I have said are 12,600 to13,600 or roughly 2 to 2.2 % on a 600 mil withdrawal. What Bank ATM in Colombia do you withdrawal from that gives you this option "with or without conversión "? never heard of it with Colombian banks . I checked todays USD TRM rate against XE rate ad its about 1 % discount so if you do her that thats good. I couldnt find a TRM for Canadian dollars to pesos anywhere in a Google search. Regarding which bank ATM had the "with or without conversion" option, I'm sorry but i can't remember. I'm back in the U.S. right now and it was several months ago at least. I'm pretty sure it was around Lleras in Medellin though, which probably makes sense. Hopefully I'm not misremembering, but it stuck out as odd because i had never run across that before. Wish you luck finding a better option. I know everyone has to make a buck, but giving up 4-7% is harsh.
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hogan
Junior Member
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Post by hogan on Aug 29, 2018 15:50:32 GMT -5
Today may be a good day for USD folks to hit the ATM It was better earlier, it was at 3,015.40 but has since fallen back to about where it closed yesterday, @ 2,988.17. With a good rate today, i decided to wire some money. The problem though is that it may take 2-3 days for the bank to acknowledge receipt of the USD, then we have to tell them to exchange into COP. Who knows what the exchange rate will be then. You'd think wire transfers could be done more quickly. If anyone here is close with Trump, please ask him not to say anything about keeping interest rates low for at least a few days.
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Post by sedelen on Aug 29, 2018 18:34:47 GMT -5
Pretty well all Colombian Bank ATMs dont have these options " with or without conversion" you get what they give you. The Canadian dollar to COP rate on XE has been steady between 2307 and 2311 for a couple days. When I use my visa hard I always get very close to the Publisherd rate of 2.5% below XE exchange rate.It isthe Colombian Bank ATMs that vary all over the place from 4 to 7% below. I think the cabrones are trying to see what they can get away with. Obviously I take into acount the published ATM fees which like I have said are 12,600 to13,600 or roughly 2 to 2.2 % on a 600 mil withdrawal. What Bank ATM in Colombia do you withdrawal from that gives you this option "with or without conversión "? never heard of it with Colombian banks . I checked todays USD TRM rate against XE rate ad its about 1 % discount so if you do her that thats good. I couldnt find a TRM for Canadian dollars to pesos anywhere in a Google search. Regarding which bank ATM had the "with or without conversion" option, I'm sorry but i can't remember. I'm back in the U.S. right now and it was several months ago at least. I'm pretty sure it was around Lleras in Medellin though, which probably makes sense. Hopefully I'm not misremembering, but it stuck out as odd because i had never run across that before. Wish you luck finding a better option. I know everyone has to make a buck, but giving up 4-7% is harsh. After all the time I have spent here, I can't remember ever seeing those options on a ATM prompt. If I did, I would be totally unprepared and it would stop me dead in my tracks.
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Post by elexpatriado on Aug 29, 2018 18:39:20 GMT -5
Regarding which bank ATM had the "with or without conversion" option, I'm sorry but i can't remember. I'm back in the U.S. right now and it was several months ago at least. I'm pretty sure it was around Lleras in Medellin though, which probably makes sense. Hopefully I'm not misremembering, but it stuck out as odd because i had never run across that before. Wish you luck finding a better option. I know everyone has to make a buck, but giving up 4-7% is harsh. After all the time I have spent here, I can't remember ever seeing those options on a ATM prompt. If I did, I would be totally unprepared and it would stop me dead in my tracks. Me neither.. and I have been.to the ATM.probably a thousand times Heck..the Colombians used to call.me "Señor cajero"
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Post by sedelen on Aug 29, 2018 20:19:22 GMT -5
It was better earlier, it was at 3,015.40 but has since fallen back to about where it closed yesterday, @ 2,988.17. With a good rate today, i decided to wire some money. The problem though is that it may take 2-3 days for the bank to acknowledge receipt of the USD, then we have to tell them to exchange into COP. Who knows what the exchange rate will be then. You'd think wire transfers could be done more quickly. If anyone here is close with Trump, please ask him not to say anything about keeping interest rates low for at least a few days. Saw this a few minutes ago, thought of you. colombiaconnection.freeforums.net/thread/5103/remitly-money-transfer-service-promotion
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Post by robbierobnj on Aug 30, 2018 8:15:40 GMT -5
I question some of the math Im reading here as well but that's another problem. As for the exchange rate it appears many of the worlds currencies are stumbling verse rising US rates. The people complaining about the weak dollar at 2700 2800 just a few months ago should be loading tons of dollars now at 3000 and change and as we go higher continue to take more than normal if they plan to live in Colombia or elsewhere this will take care of the fee's and than some looking ahead. I expect the dollar to strengthen over the short term at least until trump gets some deals in place with Canada Mexico and China but any sign that that the US will slow the Interest rate hikes will cause an immediate weakening of the US dollar which will also help the Markets move higher. I can't see the fed wanting to move rates to fast and rock the boat in an election year. Best of luck and enjoy the 3000's for the near future.
On a side note I have been Using the ROBINHOOD app to trade options and stocks regularly now for months and i have saved a fortune in Fee's or trading cost they offer options , stocks , margin , and even extended hours trading as well as crypto's if that's your things and they are fee free. Will probably save 10000 in fee's just this year with the app.
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Post by sedelen on Aug 30, 2018 8:46:08 GMT -5
I question some of the math Im reading here as well but that's another problem. As for the exchange rate it appears many of the worlds currencies are stumbling verse rising US rates. The people complaining about the weak dollar at 2700 2800 just a few months ago should be loading tons of dollars now at 3000 and change and as we go higher continue to take more than normal if they plan to live in Colombia or elsewhere this will take care of the fee's and than some looking ahead. I expect the dollar to strengthen over the short term at least until trump gets some deals in place with Canada Mexico and China but any sign that that the US will slow the Interest rate hikes will cause an immediate weakening of the US dollar which will also help the Markets move higher. I can't see the fed wanting to move rates to fast and rock the boat in an election year. Best of luck and enjoy the 3000's for the near future. On a side note I have been Using the ROBINHOOD app to trade options and stocks regularly now for months and i have saved a fortune in Fee's or trading cost they offer options , stocks , margin , and even extended hours trading as well as crypto's if that's your things and they are fee free. Will probably save 10000 in fee's just this year with the app. I'll gladly take the 3,000's, @3,027.80 right now, but it's been somewhat volatile.
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Post by scumbuster on Aug 30, 2018 10:06:24 GMT -5
I plan to take 600,000 COP late this afternoon from Davivienda and another 600,000 from Colpatria. Whenever I get the best rate I will hit in the morning and take my daily limit from both my wife's and my Schwab card. Tonight I will post my rates at both banks. Someone needs to be keeping track of how many COP each bank shaves off the daily rate so we can find the definitive best bank ATM to use.
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Post by sedelen on Aug 30, 2018 15:54:42 GMT -5
I plan to take 600,000 COP late this afternoon from Davivienda and another 600,000 from Colpatria. Whenever I get the best rate I will hit in the morning and take my daily limit from both my wife's and my Schwab card. Tonight I will post my rates at both banks. Someone needs to be keeping track of how many COP each bank shaves off the daily rate so we can find the definitive best bank ATM to use. I've only been able to get 400,000 from Davivienda regardless of the card I use. Some machines have a max of 300,000 and use can use the prompter to increase it to 400,000, these machines are at San Diego. The one's in La Central already have a 400,000 prompt, so I tried to input more, and the highest it will accept is 400,000. What would be good would be if we can close where were at now tomorrow and be able to continue to take advantage of the high rate through the weekend. Pesos on sale!
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Post by scumbuster on Aug 30, 2018 17:42:59 GMT -5
Well at 5:00 today I would have thought I would have received the new rate but it sure sucks like it was yesterday's rate. Todays rate was 3033.03 and yesterdays was 2999.41 In either case the rate I got seemed to be one of the worst I can remember. Although I haven't taken much lately and when I did I didn't crunch the numbers. Feel free to do your own calculations. I took 300,000 and they took 101.15 out of my account. Colpatria & Colpatria both gave me 2965.89
At worst 300,000 @ 3033.03 exchange would mean they skimmed 66.99 pesos for every USD = 6776.04 = 2.26% Best @ yesterday's @ 2999,41 skimming 33.37 per USD = 3375.38 pesos skimmed. = 1.13%
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2018 17:55:08 GMT -5
Well at 5:00 today I would have thought I would have received the new rate but it sure sucks like it was yesterday's rate. Todays rate was 3033.03 and yesterdays was 2999.41 In either case the rate I got seemed to be one of the worst I can remember. Although I haven't taken much lately and when I did I didn't crunch the numbers. Feel free to do your own calculations. I took 300,000 and they took 101.15 out of my account. Colpatria & Colpatria both gave me 2965.89 At worst 300,000 @ 3033.03 exchange would mean they skimmed 66.99 pesos for every USD = 6776.04 = 2.26% Best @ yesterday's @ 2999,41 skimming 33.37 per USD = 3375.38 pesos skimmed. = 1.13% Scum I believe if you get money later tonight you would get todays closing rate at Colpatria. The last time someone mention what they got at ColpTria on a day where the rate rose I got the better rate at night, not sure what time of day it updates.
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Post by robbierobnj on Aug 31, 2018 10:17:50 GMT -5
3061 as I type usually doesn't stay this strong into holiday weekends. Might be time to look at Argentina as their currency is in a free fall
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hogan
Junior Member
Posts: 26
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Post by hogan on Aug 31, 2018 10:31:35 GMT -5
Well at 5:00 today I would have thought I would have received the new rate but it sure sucks like it was yesterday's rate. Todays rate was 3033.03 and yesterdays was 2999.41 In either case the rate I got seemed to be one of the worst I can remember. Although I haven't taken much lately and when I did I didn't crunch the numbers. Feel free to do your own calculations. I took 300,000 and they took 101.15 out of my account. Colpatria & Colpatria both gave me 2965.89 At worst 300,000 @ 3033.03 exchange would mean they skimmed 66.99 pesos for every USD = 6776.04 = 2.26% Best @ yesterday's @ 2999,41 skimming 33.37 per USD = 3375.38 pesos skimmed. = 1.13% Scum I believe if you get money later tonight you would get todays closing rate at Colpatria. The last time someone mention what they got at ColpTria on a day where the rate rose I got the better rate at night, not sure what time of day it updates. Are you sure you are looking at the right exchange rate? i just looked at the spreadsheet on the Banco de la Republica website and it says the TRM for 29/08/18 was 2966.00, which is pretty darn close to what you said you got. It would be cool to know at what time they switch from yesterday's rate to today's rate. I wonder if it varies by bank. Would someone volunteer to make withdrawals from an ATM every 30 minutes from 5pm until midnight to see when the rate changes? I'm sure that's perfectly safe, right?
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Post by caliorbust on Aug 31, 2018 10:32:39 GMT -5
3067 now at Bloomberg but we're only halfway through the market today. Wonder what brought on the sudden spike during the last hour.
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hogan
Junior Member
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Post by hogan on Aug 31, 2018 12:05:47 GMT -5
3067 now at Bloomberg but we're only halfway through the market today. Wonder what brought on the sudden spike during the last hour. Yes, definitely a nice move for those of us moving USD to Colombia. we wired some USD a couple of days ago and called today to initiate the exchange to COP. my wife asked what the exchange rate would be and was told it was "negotiated." I've heard others mention that and always wondered what it meant exactly. As near as i can tell now, it just means the bank hasn't decided what rate they will give us and it is not tied to any published rate. Basically, we won't know what the rate is until after it is done. That doesn't sound like much of a "negotiation." They did make it sound like they will try to give us the best rate possible, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Post by scumbuster on Aug 31, 2018 12:17:49 GMT -5
Scum I believe if you get money later tonight you would get todays closing rate at Colpatria. The last time someone mention what they got at ColpTria on a day where the rate rose I got the better rate at night, not sure what time of day it updates. Are you sure you are looking at the right exchange rate? i just looked at the spreadsheet on the Banco de la Republica website and it says the TRM for 29/08/18 was 2966.00, which is pretty darn close to what you said you got. It would be cool to know at what time they switch from yesterday's rate to today's rate. I wonder if it varies by bank. Would someone volunteer to make withdrawals from an ATM every 30 minutes from 5pm until midnight to see when the rate changes? I'm sure that's perfectly safe, right? I have been using Bloomberg. In the past it seemed pretty accurate. Right at this moment Banco de la Republica is about 25 COP less than Bloomberg. They dont want to give that higher rate all weekend. LOL I will just wait till tomorrow to take money. I dont really need it now but when it's over 3000 I always try to take some.
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Post by billyb on Aug 31, 2018 12:43:43 GMT -5
It was better earlier, it was at 3,015.40 but has since fallen back to about where it closed yesterday, @ 2,988.17. With a good rate today, i decided to wire some money. The problem though is that it may take 2-3 days for the bank to acknowledge receipt of the USD, then we have to tell them to exchange into COP. Who knows what the exchange rate will be then. You'd think wire transfers could be done more quickly. If anyone here is close with Trump, please ask him not to say anything about keeping interest rates low for at least a few days. Talked to him today, he said you are good to go.
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Post by sedelen on Aug 31, 2018 14:21:25 GMT -5
I believe the dollar has stopped trading today, (it's 2 pm here) and because it's Friday, the rest of the weekend also. So, here it is looking like 3,047.77, hope to see how this works out over a weekend. www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDCOP:CURFor my bank, I normally don't see anything posted until Monday at the earliest, but this Monday is Labor Day, so Tuesday at the earliest.
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Post by caliorbust on Aug 31, 2018 15:48:30 GMT -5
Market hours are 8AM to 1PM EST, except weekends and holidays. So this rate should be good til Tuesday before 8AM. If the dollar gains even more on Tue. they will keep this rate until Wednesday, if the dollar takes a dive we will get the new rate early Tue. morning.
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Post by buenopues on Aug 31, 2018 17:15:23 GMT -5
Confusing saga. yesterday I took money out of a Colpatria atm with a Capitol one debit card. They docked me about sixty pesos compared to the Banco de la Republica published rate. Today I took money out of a BBVA machine and it gave me the exact Banco de la Republica published rate.Neither of them charge a transaction fee when using the Capitol One card but maybe Colopatria is doing it with the exchange rate they give.
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Post by barrumundi on Aug 31, 2018 17:51:06 GMT -5
Matching the best foreign card with the best local bank with the best ATM is like searching for the holy grail. I am in a small town and am limited to what's available unless I grab cash when out and about in larger towns or cities. I don't fret the difference. I figure if I need money ....I get money. The exchange rate I get is what I get and I can't change that so why worry about it.
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Post by caliorbust on Aug 31, 2018 18:49:01 GMT -5
3067 now at Bloomberg but we're only halfway through the market today. Wonder what brought on the sudden spike during the last hour. Yes, definitely a nice move for those of us moving USD to Colombia. we wired some USD a couple of days ago and called today to initiate the exchange to COP. my wife asked what the exchange rate would be and was told it was "negotiated." I've heard others mention that and always wondered what it meant exactly. As near as i can tell now, it just means the bank hasn't decided what rate they will give us and it is not tied to any published rate. Basically, we won't know what the rate is until after it is done. That doesn't sound like much of a "negotiation." They did make it sound like they will try to give us the best rate possible, but I'm not holding my breath. At Bancolombia 'negotiating the rate' meant you will get the 'Demanda' rate, which sometimes changes once or twice during the day lately which it didn't do in the past.
You can look up the Demanda rate here: www.dataifx.com/ - it's listed underneath the TRM which we used to get with an ordinary debit card but not anymore it seems. The Demanda rate is the best exchange rate you can get unless you have a Chase or CapitalOne card which seem to get preferred rates anyway.
The problem with the Demanda is, there are high and low limits and you'll get this rate the moment your transfer hits the bank, not when you initiate the transfer at your bank in the US, so if the Dollar is in a dive in a volatile market by the time your transfer is in Colombia (Citibank in the US told me an electronic transfer to Colombia could take 2 to 5 working days), you could get a very low rate on a day when you normally wouldn't withdraw funds. If you transfer US$10.000 or more you need to negotiate the rate at the 'Mesa de Dinero' in a major branch, as they worry about money laundering.
Your wife should call the bank though what exactly they mean by negotiated rate if you're not with Bancolombia.
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Post by barrumundi on Sept 1, 2018 2:58:51 GMT -5
caliorbust I take it your Citibank account is in USA. What if you also had a Citibank account in Colombia? Maybe then it would not take 2 - 5 days for a transfer. I have recently opened a Citibank account in Australia and next month will open an account in Bogota ........ hoping the accounts can be linked online and funds transfers should be virtually immediate......... and without fees.
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