But, this time they declined the conversion thinking the transaction would cancel too. It didn’t cancel the withdraw. They got money back, 400.000
What they saw on the US side was this:
Withdram Non Network Fee: $1.00
Withdraw Fee Vias: $4.12
Withdraw amount: $412.05. (405500 was the total amount charged in Chile)
The rate came out to 984 to 1 with this exchange.
So that markup was a handout? It was very misleading. Trying for you to accept the conversion rate they displayed. It appears to be optional.
This is very concerning. I don’t use BancoEstado, but others here in this forum do. If my friends were able to have taken a picture yesterday, I wonder what it would have said for the exchange rate? Today they were displaying 910.404 to 1. Which would have been $445.41using that rate with 405500. Like they displayed.
I’ve stopped withdrawing cash unless I actually need cash.
Now that Wise (formerly Transferwise) is only charging 1% for £UK to pesos (tends to be 1.0-1.1% at the moment), I think that’s a good deal.
I just checked for $US to pesos and it was $88 (0.9%) to send $10,000, $11 (1.1%) to send $1,000 and $3.48 (3.5%) to send $100.
If your bank is giving you the middle rate with no fees it can still be even cheaper to use Banco Estado but whether it’s worth the extra time involved I’m not sure.
If you have to drive and park at an ATM (and maybe pay parking) and stand in a queue, and value your time at almost any amount more than zero, Wise may be the better option at this point.
Yeah, press decline if you see it. Else you will be making a donation to the People’s Bank. I guess it is part of a plan to get more money out of foreigners here in Chile.
We have 13+ months for them to rape, pillage and destroy what is left. If Chileans that allowed this pension shit to happen don’t do anything and vote for their own demise, I might actually think about relocating elsewhere along with the property I fortunately never purchased.
Yes this is a bridge too far…7.5% on atm withdrawals in usd (if eventually made mandatory). Forget about it. Not only will it drive people like us away it will choke out the smart tourists that rely on atm’s for fair midmarket exchange rates and to avoid international transaction cc fees
In my experience when a withdrawal is at BancoEstado ATMs and your card is a US issued VISA then the rate is based on the following official US VISA Exchange Rate Calculator exactly:
The calculator is showing the same rate, unchanged, for 24 hours and it is reset each banking day to the past day’s market rate (this is either the rate at market closure or some sort of yesterday’s average). Thus, the Friday rate holds (will be the same) for Saturday, Sunday, and until the end of Monday. For example, if the transaction is dated “Monday” on the US side, then the rate will be based on the past Friday business day.
Have never seen the new screen at BE ATMs (but the last time I checked it was in December). Thank you very much for the update, the next time I will select “decline”, and see what happens.
Is this like when you are asked if you want to be charged in local currency or dollars and you chose local currency to avoid them applying a bad exchange rate.
When you say accept conversion you are effectively paying in dollars, and hence a worse rate. You are being charged to know what you are paying in dollars in advance? Which you should not accept as it’s a bad deal.
I’ve seen this before, e.g. in tourist areas, but for card payments, not cash withdrawals.
And decline conversion just means charge me in pesos and let my bank work out the rate for me in dollars later, which is the option you should be choosing.
7.5% is very high though, usually this sort of thing is 0%-5%.
What you talk about is called Dynamic Currency Conversion a.k.a. DCC and applies to foreign credit card purchases and it is the individual vendor setting the rate for that foreign currency transaction (yes, always a bad deal unless the vendor makes a mistake).
What is happening here is a GOVERNMENT that probably would have wanted an AUTOMATIC 7.5% cut but Cirrus/Plus said can’t be done unless the individual cardholder agrees.
Totally different situation and I have never heard of such a grab in my 24 years of following international ATM withdrawal topics.