Best way to send $$ to Colombia

Dear Dr. Stanton,

Welcome to the Colombia forums

of Expat.com ...

Although your question about the best way to

send money to Colombia could be interpreted

as off-topic to this thread, it is an evergreen

subject worthy of discussion on this

Expat.com forum.

So, instead of discussing it on this thread,

I refer all to an existing, recently-active

forum thread.that is titled...

Getting access to PayPal money in Colombia.

Said thread is clickable off the Colombia

forum welcome-page list of thread titles.

My referral is not an endorsement of PayPal

as a superior way to transfer money.  I have

not transferred cash or arranged a wire to

South America via PayPal and do not benefit

financially by mentioning that company.

Please respond to this post at the PayPal

thread so we can be on-topic here at

this currency exchange thread.

cccmedia

member, Expat.com experts team

@drpeterjstanton Xoom! Paypal!

This is not an indictment of PayPal just sharing that PayPal regularly locks me out of my account when I am in a foreign country. Recourse has been difficult although now there is some way to contact someone in customer service. I think. Still, check out what to do when you are locked out of your account before you need to.

Hello everyone,

Since we were off-topic on the thread where this post was initially posted, I have created a new thread from your posts on the Colombia forum so that you may better discuss and share options.

All the very best,

Bhavna

@drpeterjstanton Remitly

No immport tax on $transfers, but in Bancocolombia at least they charge you supposedly 0.4% of your balance or your transfers ( not sure what it is), supposedly a government  tax, but I dont know if I believe it, cuz Davavienda hasnt started charging me yet.

Bank  fees and government charges are kind of erratic, chaotic and hit and miss.

You can also send by Remitly ór any other service for pick up  without a bank account  but depending on which bank or pickup.point, more charges, restrictions will apply and often  lower limits.

Dont wanna get into details, too complicated,  you have to figure it out yourself, other than to say Remitly is  the best service, and gives way better exchange rate tham WU.

Best also will vary and depend on individual circumstances. One time; in my case, the best option was WU because I was at work and could fire off a quick transfer to my wife who need cash in a flash for a medical situation. The cheapest option at the time ended up not being the best because it basically involved a cross town trip in order to pick up the cash.

Also how much you are sending is a factor as well as a minimum charge on a small transfer takes a bigger bite. Currently "the best" in our case is RIA, I am not sure it is the best financially but it suits my personal situation.

From a purely financial aspect you have to take in any charges and the exchange rates and compare. After that location and hours of the pick up facility may be an issue. We did have a few times when we were hit with some strange charges upon picking up in Colombia, we no longer use them.

As mentioned we currently use RIA to send to loved one'd in Colombia and are happy.

lpd

Thanks for the info.  I'll check out some of your suggestions.

If you are in Colombia a long time  and are a US citizen, get a Charles Schwab or Capitol one card and take $ out at local ATMs

Once again, dont want to get into details.

Do a subject sesrch on this or other Colombian  expat sites for more details

Cash-in-a-Flash. I once sent the entire rent payment to a different person with the same name on Venmo, not understanding that I was supposed to use the phone number to verify, not the name. Luckily the person was honest so I was able to get it back. So for others like me who can occasionally be as dumb as a box of rocks, check your work before you hit “send”!

I have been using World Remit for almost 4 years.........NO ISSUES................Funds arrive in minutes and only for $2.99 charge.........but I always find coupons and pay $0.00, by searching for WR coupons 

@drpeterjstanton Try Remitly or Ria Money Transfer. I've been using them for over a year no, no major problems. And the rates are consistently better than on WorldRemit, and usually charge zero fees (at least the way I do mine - bank to bank). But if you MUST use WorldRemit, look for their coupons and stuff so you can pay zero fees as well.

If there's a more expensive way to send money to Colombia except possibly for a wire transfer than Western Union, I haven't found it. I've been using Wise and it works flawlessly. My US bank is connected to them. Money sent bank to bank using Wise takes about 10 seconds in my experience. They convert at the published market rate. My last transfer fee was 0.0235%.

@drpeterjstanton

I have been sending money overseas from Canada to Ireland, France and Tanzania in the past 4 or 5 years and I have found WorldRemit to be the best and cheapest.

It is more convenient, cheaper and quicker than my own Canadian bank.

I just checked and Colombia is included in the countries they serve.

Joseph McAdam 

@jamcadam I used WorldRemit for a long time, and I still do occasionally, to keep my account "active". However, I find that Ria Money Transfer and Remitly offer better rates and often delivery the money a little sooner.

@CaliRay I wrote incorrectly the percentage that Wise charged me to transfer money from my US bank to Colombia. It should have been 2.34%.

I have been using World Remit for almost 4 years.........NO ISSUES................Funds arrive in minutes and only for $2.99 charge.........but I always find coupons and pay $0.00, by searching for WR coupons
-@laterfriend

I assume you send money to yourself from abroad. Do you cash out the money in cash or do you have it sent to a bank account?

@jack_gats Remitly gives way better rates and is way more reliable than World Remit

You can get cash pickup, but getting it wired to your bank account is more convenient, and less issues with the bank..with pick up they make you fill in all types of paperwork and try to disuade you from using this method.

Bank account much better

But a Charles Schwab or Capital One account and card is best if you are a US Citizen, and for non US citizens, a fintech account and prepaid fintech card. You then go to Davaienda ATM and "decline" their ridiculous  conversion rate..and yoou will get within 1% of the Visa or MC official rate for that day

Also, many of these Fintech cards are very unreliable and paranoid and will cut you off for any reason (assume you are money launderer)

Wise is the worst. But it also depends which country you are sending money from, as different countries have different Fintech rules. Canada is really bad for that. I have a lot of history with this.

But eventually, you will find a card that serves you-at least for a while. And new ones are coming out all the time. It is  very competitive industy..

The beauty of having a fintech or Charles Scwab card and a bank account in Colombia to wire to with Remitly, is that depending on the day, you can chose the exchange rate based on the spot price from XE,com , or the Banco de Republica TRM (which are very similar) with your bank transfer (instant or 7 days in the future), or the Visa/MC rate. which applies to the Schwab/Fintec cards, and stays the same for 3 days on the weekend. (Remitly and other wire service rates change daily, even on weekends)

Gives you a lot more flexibility.