Travelling in Colombia

Travelling
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Hi there,

I am travelling in Colombia and I would like to share my experience and ask for recommendations while travelling in Colombia.

  1. My base currency is DKK.
  2. I withdraw money 3 times as they charge 4% when you use cash here.
  3. I took money from
  • Banko Colombia (max 400,000 COP and they charge 14,000 COP
  • BBVA (max 300,000 COP, once I was not charged fee for withdrawal but the second time I was charged about 2USD, don’t know how it really works).

Have you tried any other banks here?

My another question is, do you think I should keep all the money in my base currency which is DKK and let it be exchanged to COP (the exchange rates varies a lot) or change to completely other currency for instance USD and let be exchanged from it.

  1. I couldnt add my virtual card nor physical card to uber but you can pay in cash to drivers. It is way better than taking taxis here that are 2x more expensive.

Hope you will find this topic helpful!

1 Like
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About charge: it looks like typical DCC related topic. You should’ve always deny DCC offer.

Which currency use? Your domestic. Why? Because it’s only one conversion, so it is cheaper.

2 Likes
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Thanks for reply Redi, I avoid DCC as hell. Some atms do not ask you about it though.

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I haven’t seen such ATM but I’ve read here that skipping can be hard because in some ATM’s is a little bit hidden… You can read about it i.e. here: 5% ATM Fees in the First withdrawing within my country !

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Hey, little bump on this old thread.

I’ve been traveling for the last 2-3 months in Colombia and I found that all Davivienda ATM’s don’t charge any fees if you withdraw from your “checking account”. Also there is no fees when you pay at any store, sometimes you get asked if you want to be charged in GBP or COP, always select COP.

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Davivienda is good. But they have a limit of 400k. I suggest using Caja Social. You can find some that allow to withdraw 700k at one time.

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Hello! I tried Davivienda but it always applies DCC without asking! So bad exchange shown. Do you have visa or Mastercard? With other cards I have all is OK, just with Revolut and don’t get why!

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:frowning:
I already used the Chat support but they only say I should select (no conversion or so…) but the ATM does not give me option.
My card neither works in Caja Social :S

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My first idea would be to look for a different ATM.

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Have you tried to choose “Decline” ?:slight_smile:

1 Like
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Wow, that’s a very bad rate, almost a 6% difference from the Mastercard rate!
If you press decline, does it cancel the entire transaction? If yes, then that means the ATM is forcing DCC which is very bad.
See if you can find some Colpatria or BBVA ATM’s, I heard some of them don’t have fees.
Banco Caja Social is what I usually use since it has no fees, however, I’ve never tried it with a Revolut card so I can’t confirm if it works or not.

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Of course hehe then it just cancels all options. I read people was using this ATM (no fees) with Revolut so I don’t understand why would not work for me :frowning:

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Im running out of the free of charge options… Also sometimes in some little towns there are no much option. Anyway, thanks for replying :slight_smile:

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I know! Yes… It cancels it all!! I will try with those ones, thanks! I read BBVA sometimes charges that is why I was avoiding. Also I am using ATMs from the list of mastercard accepted ATMs that Revolut gave me.
Banco Caja social is super good as is free and allows more money at once, it works with other Visa card I have but not Revolut :frowning:

Thanks for your tip!!

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My experience is that one way or another the ATM charge in Colombia is 10 percent of what you withdraw. Either with a very high fee or with a very high tax on withdrawal or both.

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