Chile Forum

William Randolph wrote:Hi all!

Hey, help me out if you can. I'm getting ripped off sending $ to my friend in Chile via Western Union... Any ideas how I can circumvent their 15%??? My friend likes WU because they have stations all over Santiago, thus convenient. Is there a better, cheaper, equally convenient alternative?

if its small and regular....
open a bank account and send them a ATM card....

if its large or not that often, bank transfer.... good luck, not fun

Does anybody use paypal on the forum? I tried to send my one cousin money through paypal once but she said she could not create account.... Looking on their website I know you can but I am not sure about connecting it to a Chilean bank account.

Does your friend need to receive US dollars?

Have you tried AFEX? My mom sends birthday and Xmas money for my son using them and it's very easy to collect the money as there are loads of offices in Santiago. You'd need to check the website for charges though.

http://www.afex.cl/

AFEX is the handler for Moneygram in Chile. Their rates should be on their website.

What about the OP getting a pre-paid debit card in the US for his friend and charging it up as needed? At the other end it should be possible to get cash from an ATM and use it for payments? I'm not sure, though, if Chile allows credit/debit cards to be sent by post. Some countries don't, but the courier service will know.

(Edit: just realized ZerOnz posted something very similar, sorry for the duplication)

Not sure if this is possible as I've never attempted this or ever used one, but possibly you can send your friend a travellers cheque through the mail and they can cash it. I'm sure someone will be kind enough to poke holes and expose any flaws in this idea, but it's just a thought.

We sent 1000 USD to Concepcion via Western Union at our local supermarket customer service counter(or "Grocery" as they say in Texas) for a total fee of $68. Not cheap, but not 15% either. The conversion rate was within 1 or pesos of the ucc,con rate for the day.

We sent 1000 USD to Concepcion via Western Union at our local supermarket customer service counter(or "Grocery" as they say in Texas) for a total fee of $68. Not cheap, but not 15% either. The conversion rate was within 1 or 2 pesos of the ucc.com rate for the day.

We sent 1000 USD to Concepcion

How come I never got it?

PenquistaDeCorazon wrote:Does anybody use paypal on the forum? I tried to send my one cousin money through paypal once but she said she could not create account.... Looking on their website I know you can but I am not sure about connecting it to a Chilean bank account.

I have both a US paypal account and a chilean one. My chilean account is linked directly to my bank credit card, but not to my checking account. (My US account is linked to both). I use it occasionally and the only reason I avoid it is because of the bank's fees for international purchases. I have used it a few times to transfer money to myself from US to Chile or vice versa. I usually make a "sale" to myself, to avoid the extra fees they charge for doing a simple transfer.

We leave debit card on US bank account with family, periodically fund the account and allow them to withdraw $$$ via the card. Convenient, reasonably cheap, especially if they use an ATM that charges low/no fees, pretty big thread on that specfic subject posted here and periodically updated, one of EEUU Expat's better contributions.

John Hyre

in my experience over the last 5 years:

ATM cards are the most practical, cheapest and simplest way convert dollars to pesos in small amounts on a monthly basis, say, $500 to $800 per month.

for larger sums, getting cash from a US based credit card is OK as long as you pay it off quickly. this works for transfers in the $1000 to $5000 range.

for very large sums, a bank to bank transfer is best. obviously this requires a bank account in chile, which can be a problem for foreigners. i still don;t have one. when i bought my house, i transferred the money to my chilean gf's account, and she got the "vale vistas" for the seller and the realtor according to the terms of the contract we signed.

Western Union isn't really good for anything except true emergencies, and they stick it to you because they know they can. if you are going to them, it's because you are already in a bad situation or you haven't done your homework yet.

cali_chile48 wrote:for very large sums, a bank to bank transfer is best. obviously this requires a bank account in chile, which can be a problem for foreigners.

This might require another thread but I understand and have talked to foreigners who have received wires for pickup at a Chile bank without needing a bank account.

Anyone care to share? Especially amounts, fees, problems, etc.?