Sending Money to Colombia

[STM]

This thread was part of another thread that was started by stm. It has been moved to "Money Matters" because it deals with methods of sending money to Colombia.

[Bill123]

How do you send it? To wire it gets quite spendy doesn't it? Have you tried the ATM card method?

One thing I forgot to add My Wife sends the money Western Union I believe it is $125 to send $100 Again It was something we did not discuss I am not complaining The good definitely outweighs the bad I am 39 and she is 25 it is hard to find a girl in the US to date someone with the age difference

DKH, have you tried sending the money via Western Union on their web site, www.westernunion.com ? I have used both the over-the-phone order and the web site. The web site is much cheaper relative to the phone method. Good luck.

[Bill123]

I think I mentioned on another post about maybe using the method of giving them at ATM card, tied to a checking account. I'm not talking about one tied to Visa or MC, just a plain 'ol ATM card. Tell them it's good for $100 or $200 a month or whatever. And only deposit that much a month to the account. I did this thru my credit union and there are ZERO costs for this...yep, that's right..zero...oh how I like the sound of that!!

Tell them to just use it in an ATM and ask them NOT to check the balance. Just take out x number of pesos a month.

The only wierd thing about this is that I recently heard that someone could use it to make a purchase in a store, but if so, I would tell them not to. That they should just use cash instead. This is especially so since they may look at the card and see it is not their own card, or maybe they would have to sign for the purchase of something or other.

[Kent]

What Bill is saying is right on target except for one important thing. If the receiver of the money in Latin America comes up with the idea" Lets see what happens if I try for more than what I am told I can get". In this case your bank usually sends you a nasty letter that you are over drawn on your account and when its all said and done the fee are anywhere from $50-$75 for the over draw. I tested this myself on my last trip to Bogota and was not able to correct the problem until I returned. If you attempt to put and additional amount in the account to solve this problem, more than likely it will only compound the problem. One friend of mine used this method to save wire fees and learned the banks charge a fee of around $15-$25 per failed transaction each time the receiver tries to hit the machine. Its a fee simalar to a hot check charge. He found she would hit the machine 3 and 4 times a day only to see if the money was deposited yet and as a result would run up a huge amount of bank fees and penalties. The ATM route is by far the best method for exchange on trips and for money home if they person receiving the money is responsible and will follow the rules.

[Bill123]

Kent,

I thought if they tried to get more than what was in the account that it would refuse payment to them?? Is this not the case?

I thought the main problem was that they could somehow also be able to use it for purchases, but what you have brought up is just as bad, if not worse.

What's so wierd about this is that I thought the bank would just refuse to make the transaction. Are you saying that they do in fact refuse the transaction, but still charge for the attempt?

Kent, It was good to meet you at the Inter. Was your cowboy hat a problem for your last trip to Colombia?

[Bill123]

I didn't see you post in reply yet, so let me add...

I checked with my credit union today and they said the failed transaction would not carry a charge on their part. Can you find out if the charge was from the actual owner of the ATM that was used, or was it from his own bank? As I said, my own bank (credit union in this case) did not charge a fee and they weren't aware of any fee being collected on the part of the owner of the ATM machine.

Secondly, as to purchasing of goods, they did indeed say that the holder of the card could use it for purchases like in a store if they put in the pin number. But there is a way around this....they said to tie the card to a savings account and not to a checking account. With this they would only be able to take money from an ATM machine. You may not care of she also uses any of the monthly allotment for purchases, but it seems to me that they may risk losing the card if the clerk looks at it and sees your name is on it. So instead, make it so she can only use it in an ATM machine and only for cash. And hopefully without an extra charge in case she puts in an amount over the balance in the account.

Western Union update !!!!!!!! I must now "revise" my advice in my post above recommending Western Union to send money. I just made arrangements to send $100 to someone in Barranquilla and they charged me $20. THey have changed their pricing and there is no advantage in using their web site. If you visit a WU ofice or rep and put up the money to send, then it would be $15.

The ATM is by far the best way to go.