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Post by scumbuster on Sept 6, 2018 14:39:40 GMT -5
I was in a mall this morning and took some money before 11:00, at Colpatria. Got 3088.49
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Post by caliorbust on Sept 6, 2018 20:12:15 GMT -5
I too have decided to keep taking out US funds every day as long as I get more than 3000 pesos and don't go over the $44 million DIAN limit in my account. Been getting a better rate than I thought because my bank had included the 3% international fee in the amount charged for each withdrawal and listed it under 'pending'. I caught it when they removed the 'pending', showed a lower withdrawal figure and listed the 3% separately. So I got 3091.3 yesterday and 3099.8 today with no ATM fees with my regular Citibank card at Scotiabank/Colpatria but unfortunately am charged the 3% international by my bank which is $30 per $1000 While at the bank yesterday I asked the manager what current rate I would get if I initiated a US$ transfer to my account, he looked it up: 2720 pesos and I would need to fill out a form explaining where the money originated from and to be safe with attached documentation or the money may be returned to my US bank account by the head office and I would still get charged transfer fees but by both banks.
I called Citibank USA to raise my daily withdrawal limit to $3000 from $1000, because I doubt the current rate is going to last but a few days and the bank said no problem, $3000 for three days.
But the ATM stopped paying me at $1000. Again I called the bank and was told everything was ok on their end and to go inside the Colombian Bank and ask what's going on.
I already knew the answer, ATM procedures are managed by their head office in Bogotá, branches have no control over the ATM's.
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hogan
Junior Member
Posts: 26 
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Post by hogan on Sept 7, 2018 10:27:01 GMT -5
I too have decided to keep taking out US funds every day as long as I get more than 3000 pesos and don't go over the $44 million DIAN limit in my account. Been getting a better rate than I thought because my bank had included the 3% international fee in the amount charged for each withdrawal and listed it under 'pending'. I caught it when they removed the 'pending', showed a lower withdrawal figure and listed the 3% separately. So I got 3091.3 yesterday and 3099.8 today with no ATM fees with my regular Citibank card at Scotiabank/Colpatria but unfortunately am charged the 3% international by my bank which is $30 per $1000 While at the bank yesterday I asked the manager what current rate I would get if I initiated a US$ transfer to my account, he looked it up: 2720 pesos and I would need to fill out a form explaining where the money originated from and to be safe with attached documentation or the money may be returned to my US bank account by the head office and I would still get charged transfer fees but by both banks.
I called Citibank USA to raise my daily withdrawal limit to $3000 from $1000, because I doubt the current rate is going to last but a few days and the bank said no problem, $3000 for three days.
But the ATM stopped paying me at $1000. Again I called the bank and was told everything was ok on their end and to go inside the Colombian Bank and ask what's going on.
I already knew the answer, ATM procedures are managed by their head office in Bogotá, branches have no control over the ATM's.
2720 is just crazy. For me WorldRemit and ATMs have always been the most cost-effective way to transfer/exchange money. However, if you need to transfer larger amounts, it seems like a wire transfer is really the only option. We did a wire transfer early last week, then called on Friday and told them to exchange into COP that day. We used Accion Fiduciaria. We got an exchange rate of 3064, which was very good for that day. Although we used Accion, the transfer actually goes through Bancolombia and the exchange rate was determined by Bancolombia at their "negotiated" rate. We also had to pay a commission to Accion, but it worked out to only about 0.24% of the total transaction. The funny thing is, when we spoke with Bancolombia last year about wire transfers, they quoted us a much higher commission (I can't recall exactly what it was though). Although using Accion adds an extra step, it works out to be cheaper, even though they use Bancolombia to do everything. The other challenge with the wire transfer is that we had to provide Accion with a signed Form 5 or Form 4 before they would accept the money. They would not accept an emailed copy, only an original. |
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Post by sedelen on Sept 7, 2018 13:17:44 GMT -5
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Post by caliorbust on Sept 8, 2018 22:16:49 GMT -5
Had a weird experience the last two days with my Citibank debit card. After taking out 3 Million pesos from the Scotiabank/Colpatria ATM twice the card stopped working with a message to call my bank. I called and Citibank said the card is fine. So I tried the same ATM in a different location clear across town, same message to call my bank. Called again and found out the Fraud Department had stopped my card (for my protection!) because the PIN was entered wrong three times in a row. I knew that was impossible because I had used that PIN for many years and only the day before. That was cleared up with a phone call, the Fraud girl was 100% sure the card works now. Now the ATM said: We don't recognize you PIN. An idea struck me to change my PIN (online) and I went back to the ATM. No luck, the ATM said: Call your bank. Now I suspected Scotia/Colpatria jinxed my card after trying three different ATM's of theirs, so I saw a regular old Colpatria ATM and the card worked, got an other 3 Million today with no fees and a slightly better rate, just had to make five withdrawals of 600.000 pesos each, their maximum.
9 million pesos would normally last me through the end of the year. But now that we unofficially adopted three always hungry homeless girls (5, 7 and 17) with their birthdays and Christmas and a move to an apartment in a better neighborhood coming up, it may not be enough. But I don't mind at all, these kids are very appreciative and polite, eager to learn and a joy to have around.
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Post by caliorbust on Sept 8, 2018 23:01:59 GMT -5
Eventually other countries or the World Trade Bank will bail them out as happened in the past with Greece and their economies will recover, so, the strong dollar may not last that long.
Fact is they borrowed heavily and the government squandered the money, like Erdogan of Turkey building himself a huge luxurious palace and being militarily involved in the Syria civil war.
Italy is in dire straights also these days.
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Post by sedelen on Sept 8, 2018 23:03:31 GMT -5
Had a weird experience the last two days with my Citibank debit card. After taking out 3 Million pesos from the Scotiabank/Colpatria ATM several times the card stopped working with a message to call my bank. I called and Citibank said the card is fine. So I tried the same ATM in a different location clear across town, same message to call my bank. Called again and found out the Fraud Department had stopped my card (for my protection!) because the PIN was entered wrong three times in a row. I knew that was impossible because I had used that PIN for many years and only the day before. That was cleared up with a phone call, the Fraud girl was 100% sure the card works now. Now the ATM said: We don't recognize you PIN. I changed my PIN online and went back to the ATM. No luck, the ATM said: Call your bank. Now I suspected Scotia/Colpatria jinxed my card after trying three different ATM's of theirs, so I saw a regular old Colpatria ATM and the card worked, got an other 3 Million today with no fees and a slightly better rate, just had to make five withdrawals of 600.000 pesos each, their maximum. That's a crazy story. When I first came here, it was a learning experience using these debit cards, just finding a ATM the card would work with was very frustrating, especially when you need money pronto. I've had my cards shut down for no reason at all, even with a travel plan in effect, with a message to call your bank and them telling me it was probably just because I'm in Colombia. Stigmatized! It gets old after awhile. |
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Post by caliorbust on Sept 8, 2018 23:28:59 GMT -5
I too have decided to keep taking out US funds every day as long as I get more than 3000 pesos and don't go over the $44 million DIAN limit in my account. Been getting a better rate than I thought because my bank had included the 3% international fee in the amount charged for each withdrawal and listed it under 'pending'. I caught it when they removed the 'pending', showed a lower withdrawal figure and listed the 3% separately. So I got 3091.3 yesterday and 3099.8 today with no ATM fees with my regular Citibank card at Scotiabank/Colpatria but unfortunately am charged the 3% international by my bank which is $30 per $1000 While at the bank yesterday I asked the manager what current rate I would get if I initiated a US$ transfer to my account, he looked it up: 2720 pesos and I would need to fill out a form explaining where the money originated from and to be safe with attached documentation or the money may be returned to my US bank account by the head office and I would still get charged transfer fees but by both banks.
I called Citibank USA to raise my daily withdrawal limit to $3000 from $1000, because I doubt the current rate is going to last but a few days and the bank said no problem, $3000 for three days.
But the ATM stopped paying me at $1000. Again I called the bank and was told everything was ok on their end and to go inside the Colombian Bank and ask what's going on.
I already knew the answer, ATM procedures are managed by their head office in Bogotá, branches have no control over the ATM's.
2720 is just crazy. For me WorldRemit and ATMs have always been the most cost-effective way to transfer/exchange money. However, if you need to transfer larger amounts, it seems like a wire transfer is really the only option. We did a wire transfer early last week, then called on Friday and told them to exchange into COP that day. We used Accion Fiduciaria. We got an exchange rate of 3064, which was very good for that day. Although we used Accion, the transfer actually goes through Bancolombia and the exchange rate was determined by Bancolombia at their "negotiated" rate. We also had to pay a commission to Accion, but it worked out to only about 0.24% of the total transaction. The funny thing is, when we spoke with Bancolombia last year about wire transfers, they quoted us a much higher commission (I can't recall exactly what it was though). Although using Accion adds an extra step, it works out to be cheaper, even though they use Bancolombia to do everything. The other challenge with the wire transfer is that we had to provide Accion with a signed Form 5 or Form 4 before they would accept the money. They would not accept an emailed copy, only an original. That is good to know about Acción Fiduciaria, hogan. Could you provide us with their contact site? |
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hogan
Junior Member
Posts: 26
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Post by hogan on Sept 9, 2018 23:21:51 GMT -5
2720 is just crazy. For me WorldRemit and ATMs have always been the most cost-effective way to transfer/exchange money. However, if you need to transfer larger amounts, it seems like a wire transfer is really the only option. We did a wire transfer early last week, then called on Friday and told them to exchange into COP that day. We used Accion Fiduciaria. We got an exchange rate of 3064, which was very good for that day. Although we used Accion, the transfer actually goes through Bancolombia and the exchange rate was determined by Bancolombia at their "negotiated" rate. We also had to pay a commission to Accion, but it worked out to only about 0.24% of the total transaction. The funny thing is, when we spoke with Bancolombia last year about wire transfers, they quoted us a much higher commission (I can't recall exactly what it was though). Although using Accion adds an extra step, it works out to be cheaper, even though they use Bancolombia to do everything. The other challenge with the wire transfer is that we had to provide Accion with a signed Form 5 or Form 4 before they would accept the money. They would not accept an emailed copy, only an original. That is good to know about Acción Fiduciaria, hogan. Could you provide us with their contact site? Here is the website for Accion that lists contact info for each office. www.accion.com.co/We've been working with the office in Medellin. I think I read on this site or another that some people got good rates using Alianza Fiduciaria, which i feel may be bigger than Accion. We only used Accion because they already held the "escrow" account for our apartment. Here is the commission schedule they gave us last year. (I couldn't figure out how to insert the image, so i retyped a table below). Based on our latest transfer, it went up about 10% this year. Seems like a lot but i didn't complain since they severely undercharged us last year. We also had to pay $25 to Schwab for the transfer and another $20 to somebody else along the way. That is still not much if transferring a decent amount but those extra fees can obviously add up on a smaller transfer. | Monetizaciones Equivalentes a Dolares | Costos de la operacion (COP) | | 0-2000 | 35,000 | | 2,001-5,000 | 50,000 | | 5,001-10,000 | 75,000 | | 10,001-20,000 | 100,000 | | 20,001-40,000 | 150,000 | | 40,001-60,000 | 300,000 | | 60,001-80,000 | 335,000 | | 80,001-100,000 | 350,000 | | 100,001 en adelante | 0.0002% del valor en pesos |
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Post by caliorbust on Sept 14, 2018 7:28:40 GMT -5
I finally managed to fill up my Bancolombia account with barely a million pesos under the DIAN reporting limit at more than 3000 to the dollar inclusive the 3% international fee, using the Colpatria ATM, the Scotia/Colpatria ATM which used to belong to Citibank until recently rejected my card shortly after the dollar rose above 3000. Yesterday I tried the Scotia/Colpatria ATM and what a surprise the card works again but gave me 31 pesos less per dollar than the Colpatria ATM did at the same time. Thanks to Premonition who guided me toward the old Colpatria ATM I saved quiet a bit. During this withdrawal period my bank in the US blocked my card twice and reduced my daily limit to $200 three times because of 'suspicious activity' or my card having 'been compromised', for the most ridiculous reasons really, like why I would make so many withdrawals of uneven amounts like $194.28 (the amount for 600.000 pesos, the maximum at the Colpatria ATM).
Just yesterday my bank messed with my daily rate again, reduced it from the promised $3000 for three days to $1000. Back home I went to call the bank, lucky for me I have a toll-free number that works from Colombia and got my limit reinstated, but by the time I got back to the ATM the rate had changed, it cost me $10 more to exchange $1000. Just as well because I almost deposited above the DIAN limit into my Colombian account. I finally lost my composure with my US bank, told them they are sabotaging my strategy to get the most pesos for the dollar and to leave my card alone, nothing ever happened to it in more than 20 years I've been with them. But when they see the card is used in Colombia they expect the worst, for their card and from their client. |
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Post by sedelen on Sept 26, 2018 14:41:13 GMT -5
Today we broke 3,000 to the downside, ending at 2,999.23, and then after the currency market closed the US Federal Reserve raised rates by a quarter point. So, tomorrow we might be back above 3K, even though I read analysts expect to see further weakening in the dollar. Not really the rate I'm concerned with here, just trying to possibly identify a new trend, as it's been trading over 3K to almost 3.1K over the last couple of weeks. www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDCOP:CUR |
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Post by scumbuster on Sept 27, 2018 8:31:27 GMT -5
Im surprised to see the USD go slightly lower today despite the Fed raising interest rates yesterday. I figured that would at least give a few day bump in the rate.
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Post by sedelen on Sept 27, 2018 9:05:19 GMT -5
Im surprised to see the USD go slightly lower today despite the Fed raising interest rates yesterday. I figured that would at least give a few day bump in the rate. I guess those analysts were right, about seeing a weakening dollar. Saw another article about a weaker dollar called, "buy the rumor, sell the news!" talking about rate hikes and how it would affect the dollar. Dollar trading now at 2,988 and change. |
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Post by scumbuster on Oct 10, 2018 12:24:10 GMT -5
Climbing again. 3,094.08
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Post by sedelen on Oct 10, 2018 14:23:41 GMT -5
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Post by scumbuster on Oct 10, 2018 14:55:19 GMT -5
Amazon lost almost 100 a share today. 1775 the last I saw. At some point I want to pick some up. I cashed out of a lot of positions last week. Looks like a good move. Now just timing my jump back in.
But I think I will stay on the sidelines till I see how the election shakes out.
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Post by sedelen on Oct 10, 2018 15:06:48 GMT -5
Amazon lost almost 100 a share today. 1775 the last I saw. At some point I want to pick some up. I cashed out of a lot of positions last week. Looks like a good move. Now just timing my jump back in. But I think I will stay on the sidelines till I see how the election shakes out. I wish you well, it's probably a good move, definitely a good move longer term. This is now the longest expansion in history. I will wait until a new bull market if there ever is one again. Apple is down 10 bucks or 4.45% (at the moment). I think Amazon and Apple are great stocks, and will continue to be longer term, just ask Warren Buffet! Dow closed 863 points down. |
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Post by caliorbust on Oct 10, 2018 20:02:51 GMT -5
I'm agonizing if I should withdraw an other 3 grand in the morning or not...This might be a one time opportunity tomorrow before the dollar comes down again.
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Post by scumbuster on Oct 12, 2018 12:52:09 GMT -5
3093.5 Hovering in the same area. Anything over 3000 is a gift.
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Post by sedelen on Oct 12, 2018 14:48:50 GMT -5
I'm agonizing if I should withdraw an other 3 grand in the morning or not...This might be a one time opportunity tomorrow before the dollar comes down again. Do half or dollar cost average, that way you'll only be half wrong or less on a big bet, and you won't have to anguish over it. Looks like as long as there's turbulence in the markets, lots of volatility, such as we're witnessing now, the dollar could remain strong for awhile. I just hope it's still strong when I return, at least 2,800 or above. |
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Post by caliorbust on Oct 12, 2018 20:22:17 GMT -5
Sedelen, the ATM helped me make up my mind, it run out of money after I took out US$1600
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Post by elexpatriado on Oct 13, 2018 20:28:31 GMT -5
Sedelen, the ATM helped me make up my mind, it run out of money after I took out US$1600 Good move. Oil is temporrally down.. and the peso want with it. |
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Post by sedelen on Oct 14, 2018 16:39:38 GMT -5
Sedelen, the ATM helped me make up my mind, it run out of money after I took out US$1600 And in the meantime, the exchange rates hangs at 3,097 for the weekend. |
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Post by scumbuster on Oct 23, 2018 9:10:16 GMT -5
3,107.77
Bumped over 3100 this morning...
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Post by jabberwocky on Oct 23, 2018 9:18:43 GMT -5
Big reason why I think about buying something now - I rember the 1800 peso/dollar days , while I don’t think it’s going back to those levels - I don’t have a crystal ball ( 4000?)
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Post by scumbuster on Oct 23, 2018 12:40:37 GMT -5
3112.23 Take it if you got it.
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Post by robbierobnj on Oct 23, 2018 13:06:12 GMT -5
No reason o run out at 3100 it has basically held 2800 to 3100 for years expect the US to be in a rising rate env. moving forward I see nothing Colombia can do to combat a strengthening dollar I feel like the peso makes new all time lows before the US halts rate hikes. Best of luck and What a great couple of weeks to load stocks for New Highs into years end
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Post by sedelen on Oct 24, 2018 10:04:29 GMT -5
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2018 13:35:54 GMT -5
Rising interest rates is very dangerous to the US economy. The rates were kept so low for so long while at the same time blowing up the debt. I think we should be careful what we wish for, the increasing interest rates are already affecting the housing market and it will make paying the national debt almost impossible. Trump has got the economy moving but has done nothing to curb the increasing debt, his 5% plan is window dressing, entitlements must be addressed, and if the wacko socialists take over it will be an even quicker demise.
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Post by elexpatriado on Oct 24, 2018 13:41:51 GMT -5
No reason o run out at 3100 it has basically held 2800 to 3100 for years expect the US to be in a rising rate env. moving forward I see nothing Colombia can do to combat a strengthening dollar I feel like the peso makes new all time lows before the US halts rate hikes. Best of luck and What a great couple of weeks to load stocks for New Highs into years end You think they are gonna stay Up forever Robbie? I think the rate hikes are gonna cool things off further.Maybe time por a recesión unfortunately. Worse in Canada cuz we have an idiot in power and the TSX is basically a piece of sh1t for the last 6 years . Still , I see Trumps tax cut policy backfiring as the federal debt balloons..the elefant in the room no one wants to talks about. |
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