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It always depends on the purpose you are bringing cash. The more you bring the larger denomination, limited to $10,000 “by law” of course. Scott is absolutley right about any marks, hole punches or tears or you will be stuck with a C-note and most business will not take anything over a $50, but a $20 is highly preferrable for it matches their highest circulating denomination of C10,000.
[quote=”davek”]Should I rely on using my debit card or should I use American dollars or exchange American for Colones.[/quote]
While I have lived in Costa Rica for more than two years I still do my banking in the U.S..
I use my debit card at any ATM to withdraw in colones and get a better exchange rate than the local banks.:o
I have not figured out why but I don’t incur ATM charges unless they are included in the exchange rate which would not make sense.:?
I’m afraid to ask the bank why no ATM charges for fear that they may discover that they have made an error.:D[quote=”DavidCMurray”]All right, waggoner, I gotta know . . . What U.S. bank do you use?[/quote]
That had to come up didn’t it.
Formerly, Union Bank of California just rebranded as [b]Union Bank[/b].My comment is not a recommendation for the bank. Simply a statement on how I see our account being handled.
We have been customers of the bank for about ten years and I do know that I have seen the charges in the past but I noticed that they suddenly stopped the charges about a year ago.
Waggoner,
Can you tell me if there is a limit on the amount you can withdraw from ATM’s and how they work? I assume I enter how much I want in American and then it asks me if I want dollars or colones?? Is it still 550 Colones to $1.00 US. I don’t think I will be as lucky as you have been with the fees so I don’t want to have to pay a bunch of fees if I can only take out $200.00 worth of currency each time. That is the usual limit where I am from.You can always see the current rate of exchange at the Banco Central de Costa Rica website at:
[ http://www.bccr.fi.cr/flat/bccr_flat.htm ]
Today the following rates apply:
Compra (Buy): 545.76
Venta: (Sell) 555.84The rate will vary very slightly depending on which financial institution you work with …
As you can see from the chart the dollar has fallen about 40 colones in the last six months.
Scottdavek, you have two limits on the amount you can withdraw from a Costa Rican ATM. First, your U.S. bank imposes a limit per transaction, a daily limit per card, or a daily limit per account. You may be able to get your bank to increase those limits. Ask them when you notify them when you’ll be in Costa Rica.
The ATM machine itself imposes a limit on the amount you can withdraw in one transaction. HSBC’s ATMs limit you to $400US, but you can make two withdrawals in the same session, without even taking your card out of the machine. That’s pretty typical.
Most ATMs will prompt you for your PIN, then ask what transaction you want (withdrawal, deposit, balance inquiry). If you opt for withdrawal, they will first prompt you for the currency you wish to receive (colones or dollars) and then the amount [u]in the currency you specified[/u]. That is, you specify that you want (say) c100,000. You do not say that you want $100US worth of colones. The ATM will give you your c100,000 and the banking system will withdraw the appropriate amount of money from your U.S. bank account (in dollars, at the prevailing exchange rate) plus whatever fees are imposed.
Your U.S. bank should be able to tell you about their fee structure.
To add a little to what Dave has said…HSBC charges an 890 colones fee for using the ATM machine…yesterday when HSBC had a computer glitch, I walked up the street to the Costa Rica bank and made my withdrawal with no 890 colones fee mentioned. My bank back home has fees for international withdrawals that have just been increased but still within reason.It is worth the fees to be able to get money so easily. Of course you have to have the money in the bank to take it out:D.
[quote=”davek”]Waggoner,
Can you tell me if there is a limit on the amount you can withdraw from ATM’s and how they work? I assume I enter how much I want in American and then it asks me if I want dollars or colones?? Is it still 550 Colones to $1.00 US. I don’t think I will be as lucky as you have been with the fees so I don’t want to have to pay a bunch of fees if I can only take out $200.00 worth of currency each time. That is the usual limit where I am from.[/quote]My bank sets the limit at &1,000 per day. I experienced one time that I couldn’t withdraw what I asked for but that could be for any of a number of reasons.
You are given the option of dollars or colones before you enter the amount. The options in colones go up to 50,000 and an option for “other amount”.
Somewhat of a word of warning: I have had the ATM dispense 5,000 colone bills rather than the normal 10,000 at times. That is a big wad of bills.
The loal banks were running around 547 per dollar as of Saturday, my bank was 552.
You can check current exchange rates at the local banks at:
http://indicadoreseconomicos.bccr.fi.cr/IndicadoresEconomicos/Cuadros/frmConsultaTCVentanilla.aspxOkay so after all of this great advice, I find out that my bank charges a 3 percent fee on all international transactions made with my debit card. So if I take $500.00 out of an ATM in Costa Rica, my bank will charge me $15.00. They say that this is a Visa or Mastercard fee and not theirs but regardless this really sucks. Do you think I am safe bringing a few thousand US dollars and then exchanging at a bank there for Colones?
[b]No! I DO NOT think that you would be safe bringing “a few thousand dollars” whether you exchange them for colones or not.[/b]
Costa Rica is hardly crime-ridden, but it would be a fool’s errand to bring that kind of cash money here (or anywhere else, for that matter). Think of the bank’s 3% transaction fee as a form of insurance. You can only lose as much as you withdraw. If you bring a big wad of cash here and someone gets wind of it and you lose it, then what?
Think of it another way: How much of this “few thousand dollars” can you comfortably afford to lose? That’s the amount I’d carry in cash.
[b]Don’t do this![/b]
(On second thought, when and where are you arriving? I just might like to meet you myself.)
[quote=”DavidCMurray”][b]No! I DO NOT think that you would be safe bringing “a few thousand dollars” whether you exchange them for colones or not.[/b]
Costa Rica is hardly crime-ridden, but it would be a fool’s errand to bring that kind of cash money here (or anywhere else, for that matter). Think of the bank’s 3% transaction fee as a form of insurance. You can only lose as much as you withdraw. If you bring a big wad of cash here and someone gets wind of it and you lose it, then what?
Think of it another way: How much of this “few thousand dollars” can you comfortably afford to lose? That’s the amount I’d carry in cash.
[b]Don’t do this![/b]
(On second thought, when and where are you arriving? I just might like to meet you myself.)[/quote]
Point taken, I am just not happy about all of the fees.
Thanks David
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