Chile Forum

Wedding Photographer wrote:

dkhazenirad wrote:Do you have a Nationwide account, I am hoping to come over to Chile and this account is pretty damn good, it avoids foreign exchange charges on there standard current account, the post for the Moneysavingexpert.com guide is below, ps there are lots of great forums on there todo with money transfers and UK banking if that helps. Hope to meet up for a Beer later this year Brian!

Dan


<LINK REMOVED DUE TO NEW USER MNIMUM POSTS NEEDED BEFORE LINKING RULE>

I might be wrong but nationwide and abbey are both owned by santander group and they are very highstreet down here if this helps....might be an easy way to do branch to branch transfers

I went into Santander (Providencia branch) the other day to ask if they had an english template of a Spanish document that had been provided for business purposes (a letter of credit in this instance). Apart from being met with a blank look, when I suggested that maybe Abbey would have such a document, the person did not even know that Santander was Spanish owned. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that because a certain bank has a branch in Chile that this will make things easier - they are only international brands operating locally! (the last time I made that mistake was joining Barclays in Spain because I had used them in the UK - I was way better off with a local bank such as BBVA which although I have an account with them in Spain, are of no use to me here in Chile as they would not even let me open an account with them and told me very clearly that they have no links to BBVA in Spain).

Except with large amounts (for property, Vehicles, etc.) ATM Debit Cards Like Admin says. But sometimes a red flag may pop up, block your card, and you'll have to call your bank. SKYPE has made that such a lesser hassle, that I've found myself actually appreciating the safeguards. Have your foreign bank get a memo posted in their system of your "extended travels in Chile". I get a lot of visitors, and those that have that done, with their banker before arrival, avoid it usually. Some US banks do this in huge numbers with immigrants, so there are less flags (B of A).
Exchange rates are great, and the convenience of not dealing with moneychangers and banks is fantastic. Machines are "everywhere".
With a $1,000/day limit or more, it can add up quick for larger needs. Anyone can get a savings account, or coffee can. The larger amounts help with that new $5 fee spreading out. The keeping little cash on your person or around depends on your circumstances.

Randy wrote:Except with large amounts (for property, Vehicles, etc.) ATM Debit Cards Like Admin says. But sometimes a red flag may pop up, block your card, and you'll have to call your bank. SKYPE has made that such a lesser hassle, that I've found myself actually appreciating the safeguards. Have your foreign bank get a memo posted in their system of your "extended travels in Chile". I get a lot of visitors, and those that have that done, with their banker before arrival, avoid it usually. Some US banks do this in huge numbers with immigrants, so there are less flags (B of A).
Exchange rates are great, and the convenience of not dealing with moneychangers and banks is fantastic. Machines are "everywhere".
With a $1,000/day limit or more, it can add up quick for larger needs. Anyone can get a savings account, or coffee can. The larger amounts help with that new $5 fee spreading out. The keeping little cash on your person or around depends on your circumstances.

And enjoy that mechanism before OhBummer starts to overtax it also.