We had this topic in the old forum and I thought it is a good one to continue here.
I was in downtown Temuco today and I thought I would check on the fees each bank charges for using their ATM with a foreign debit card. And I know some foreign debit cards are better than other, so YMMV. Edit: US debit card. Credit Union in the PLUS network.
Here is what I found:
ATM Fees
Per Transaction, max 200.000
Banco de Chile 8500
BICE 2500
Scotiabank 7000
Securitybank 5000
BCI 8000
Santander 7000
I didn’t get to try Banco Estado because the machines at the branch I went to didn’t have money. I went to ITAU but that location didn’t have an ATM, I believe it was a business office location.
In the past Banco Estado did let me withdraw 400.000 in a single transaction. I don’t remember what the fee was. But then later the ATMs at the branches here in Temuco didn’t allow you to do that.
For all posting, please list the country of issue of your debit card AND bank issuer. From the TA forum, it appears Europe issued cards get different owner fees than US issued cards (BE fee for example may be greater). Also, as there are different alliances with say Scotiabank, a European card issued by a bank with an alliance with Scotiabank may have the Chile owner fee waived at that ATM.
In all the years I’e been here, there is ONE exception to the $200.000 CLP per withdrawal — BancoEstado ATMs. IF the machine is configured to spit out all $20.000 bills, a foreign debit card can take out $600.000 CLP in one withdrawal (subject to your bank’s limit of course). For US issued cards, the BE fee is $.5.500.
My limit per card was/is $600 per day. With the exchange rate being in my favor now days, I can get more out than when the rate was 450 or so to 1 dollar.
$800.000 CLP in one withdrawal, venerable, it is configured to spit out 40 bills. So $400.000 in 10.000 bills max., $800.000 in 20.000 bills, one may watch while waiting in line what kind of notes are available. All LIDER’s have BE machines (HIPER/Express, also formerly Econo’s), then Servistado (now branded BE Express) then of course BE branches. Closer to the end of the month (when people are paid) it takes 2 - 3 days, trying 5 - 6 machines each day, to find the right one. Normally they are emptied by that time, and have only 5.ooo bills. Watching the VISA FX calculator (for those who use US-issued VISA/PLUS), if the rate is good and fixed on Friday market close – you have 3 days (Sat, Sun, Mon) with the same fixed rate. Otherwise in the morning ( tue, wed, thu, fri) you see yesterday’s rate that will stay the same till the next morning.
Thanks, this corrects and adds even more to my knowledge-base.
I will try it next time as I expect another surge towards 1000CLP/1USD in the not too distant future.
Not difficult for me as my hiperLider has three BE machines with at least one always configured to spit out all $20.000 bills. My normal time for extraction, Thursdays between 2ish to 3ish subject to downtime, maintenance or refill which also can happen around that time.
The other day I went to Security Bank to use their ATM machine and the foreign fee was now 8000, up from 5000. Not sure when it exactly changed, but was probably within a few months since I remember checking earlier this year and it was still 5000.