Chile Forum

Hi there,

I have small amounts of money coming in - money from bits of web design work and consultancy abroad. UK pounds and US dollars, no sum over $500,000 CP.

Western Union sting me with the UK pounds in a big way and dollars a little. Paypal wont pay to Mastercard and the wife (Chilean, has a Mastercard with Santander).

I've tried a direct bank to bank wire and I nearly passed out. Santander wanted to change UK pounds to Euros, Euros to Dollars, Dollars to Pesos - I would have lost half my money.

Any ideas are welcome - my UK Olympic pigeon training squad are in their final stages and we'll soon know how much we can attach to the scrawny legs of a grey feathered, plumped breasted bird.

Thanks.

Brian

MoneyGram charges a bit less less than Western Union.
You may want to check them out http://www.moneygram.com

There is always the method used in the movie Papillon

Have you considered opening a U.S. account with e*trade or Charles Schwab? They offer debit cards that allow foreign ATM withdrawals and they will refund the transaction fees (up to a monthly limit).

There was a nice lady called "Binta" from the Sudan on the site the other day.....perhaps not, I think her fee was 100% of whatever you had.
Any money transfers we do are through Scotia bank US dollars to Chile peso. Have to transfer money to New Zealand on occasion and found banks are about the only way to go. No great deals but better than these money transfer companies.

If you have a credit card with a bank outside of Chile, and you have access to your account via Internet, I've found that you can make a deposit to your credit card account transfering funds from a checking account so that you have a credit balance.

Next you go to any cash machine in Chile and make a withdrawal in pesos, or go into the bank and make a withdrawal in dollars. The last time I did this I think there was a daily limit of $500.000 (pesos) and all you pay is the ATM fee.

Say you have a UK Bank account(say Barclays) Get a Visa Debit card for that account, Pay the money into your account and use you Visa Debit card in a Hole in,t Wall in Chile....

atm cards. Better exchange rate, less messing with the banks. There is are loooooooong threads on the subject on the forum.

admin wrote:... There is are loooooooong threads on the subject on the forum. ...

You exaaaaaaggerate

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


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Just seen this from the UK based website too if it helps,

"There are scores of transfer companies and the cheapest depends on the country and amount you’re sending, even then it varies daily. Comparison site sendmoneyhome.org, which the Department for International Development helped set up, lists some, but by no means all, sites.

After searching, you’ll see the exchange rate, the fee, the speed of transfer, whether you need an account set up and the method of transferring your money. However it doesn’t list any charges for the recipient, so check those yourself.

It's recently upgraded the system to be more accurate and up-to-date with the rates. We have very little user feedback though, so for now, just consider it a benchmark, take note of the cheapest four or five companies listed and then visit those sites to make the comparison yourself."

MoneyGram!!!!! Is The Best!!! Send It In Dollars And You Pick It Up In Dollars!!!! Send It In Pesos!!! Pick mIt Up In Pesos!!! Thats How It Is With Me!!!

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


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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