Beating ATM withdrawal limit?

[Saramira222]

My bank account is in the U.S. and I can withdraw up to $500 per day there. However, here the most I can take out is $200 per day, which makes it really inconvenient at rent time, etc.

Does anyone know a place which has a higher limit or a way to beat this ridiculous system?

Thanks a lot!

[Alpineprince]

Scotia bank has a $400.00 per day limit.

[Saramira222]

Thanks a mil, Alpineprince! I will head to Scotia!

[Arroz con Pollo]

BanBif lets me take out $600 I have not tried for more. No fee either for my ING Direct checking.

[stuart]

Walk into a bank, queue up, then withdraw money as a credit/debit card transaction. BCP point blank refuses every time I ask and tell me it is impossible, but BBVA is fine with it. They'll ask for ID either way, and usually take a photocopy, but you can withdraw whatever is the maximum per-transaction amount on the card. Mine comes out at about $4000 US.

[chi chi]

BCP let's you take out 700 soles per transaction.

Banco de la Nacion up to 1500 soles per transactions but only with certain cards.

All other banks 400 soles per transaction.

Don't use Banco Continental, the charge 17 soles for transaction with a foreign card.

[rama0929]

My bank account is in the U.S. and I can withdraw up to $500 per day there. However, here the most I can take out is $200 per day, which makes it really inconvenient at rent time, etc.

Does anyone know a place which has a higher limit or a way to beat this ridiculous system?

Thanks a lot!

Call your bank, explain your situation, ask if they can increase your daily limit.

[jfabian1363]

scotiabank has the annoyance of only letting me take out 100 or 200 cant remember at a time however i put the card in again over and over again and withdraw money so far the most ive taken out in one day is about $1000 dollars i think. i have bank of america so they dont charge me anything either

[chi chi]

scotiabank has the annoyance of only letting me take out 100 or 200 cant remember at a time however i put the card in again over and over again and withdraw money so far the most ive taken out in one day is about $1000 dollars i think. i have bank of america so they dont charge me anything either

It's more convenient to transfer money from your foreign account to your Peruvian account. It's safer too. If you start doing a lot of withdrawels at an ATM then you will attract unwanted attention from chorros.

[Kelly]

Hopefully, you mean "choros", not "chorros". And you should probably avoid Peruvian slang, because not everyone knows it.

apart from that, the advice isn't bad - punks do tend to watch ATMs and may take notice of anyone making a bunch of repeated withdrawals.

[chi chi]

apart from that, the advice isn't bad - punks do tend to watch ATMs and may take notice of anyone making a bunch of repeated withdrawals.

A common trick at ATM's is that someone watches over your shoulder to see your pin code. Then they throw a few coins on the ground behind you and attract your attention and say that they saw them falling out your pocket. You bend over to pick the coins up and they take the card out of the ATM and run over to another ATM around the corner and start withdrawing cash.

[stuart]

apart from that, the advice isn't bad - punks do tend to watch ATMs and may take notice of anyone making a bunch of repeated withdrawals.

A common trick at ATM's is that someone watches over your shoulder to see your pin code. Then they throw a few coins on the ground behind you and attract your attention and say that they saw them falling out your pocket. You bend over to pick the coins up and they take the card out of the ATM and run over to another ATM around the corner and start withdrawing cash.

This and all other types of street cons are easily beaten by either, depending on personal temperament, responding aggressively or completely ignoring anyone who does anything strange around you that attempts to cause you to interact with them in any way. I've seen that if you're not from a big city that this is a difficult concept to grasp.

[Saramira222]

Tried Scotia today and it would not allow me more than $200. I think it will require talking to my own bank about increasing the limit.

I have had no luck in getting a bank to withdraw money for me with my card inside the bank. They claim they cannot do it.

[stuart]

Tried Scotia today and it would not allow me more than $200. I think it will require talking to my own bank about increasing the limit.

I have had no luck in getting a bank to withdraw money for me with my card inside the bank. They claim they cannot do it.

I was successful in practically forcing one guy in BCP to do it years ago. He was shocked as for some reason he thought it was impossible to do. In BBVA I do it at least once every two months, two or three different locations and have never had a problem.

If they get confused, tell them to do it as if it were a credit card transaction (this is assuming your ATM card is a debit card), this usually gets them thinking about how to solve the problem.

[renodante]

Walk into a bank, queue up, then withdraw money as a credit/debit card transaction. BCP point blank refuses every time I ask and tell me it is impossible, but BBVA is fine with it. They'll ask for ID either way, and usually take a photocopy, but you can withdraw whatever is the maximum per-transaction amount on the card. Mine comes out at about $4000 US.

i forget if it's BBVA or Ban Bif, but one of those two are thieves. You can only withdraw 400 soles a pop from the ATM and they charge you 5 DOLLARS per withdrawal for a foreign debit card. PFFT.

[kirby235]

I have to say, using ATMs is one of my least favorite thing to do in Peru...though I have not had a bad experience yet. Scotiabank lets me take out $500/day plus another 1200 or so in soles. Charles Schwab bank refunds ALL of my ATM transaction fees worldwide. Great fraud protection too. Can't beat it.

[rama0929]

Understand, the limits are part of fraud protection, it's quite common to see ATM fraud in foreign countries.

[renodante]

Understand, the limits are part of fraud protection, it's quite common to see ATM fraud in foreign countries.

true but the ATM i'm talking about allows you to withdraw multiple times up to the $400 limit. it just has to be 400 soles at a time, for $5 a pop. which is highway robbery.

[Philipc4u59]

Every month, I see my wife go to an ATM to only be allowed $200 maximum withdrawl on her debit card from an American bank. There is a charge of $4.00 per transaction at GlobalNet, plus her American bank charges their fees of some $12 per transation!!!

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER/CHEAPER WAY!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gracias,
Philip

[chi chi]

Every month, I see my wife go to an ATM to only be allowed $200 maximum withdrawl on her debit card from an American bank. There is a charge of $4.00 per transaction at GlobalNet, plus her American bank charges their fees of some $12 per transation!!!

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER/CHEAPER WAY!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gracias,
Philip

Just transfer your money to your Peruvian bankaccount.

I have an INTERBANK account and pay nothing at all to withdraw cash from a Globalnet ATM.

[renodante]

Every month, I see my wife go to an ATM to only be allowed $200 maximum withdrawl on her debit card from an American bank. There is a charge of $4.00 per transaction at GlobalNet, plus her American bank charges their fees of some $12 per transation!!!

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER/CHEAPER WAY!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gracias,
Philip

Banbif and bcp let you take out $400 a day, and charge 2 bucks per transaction. you can withdraw 700 soles a time at banbif and i think at bcp you can go up to 1000 soles a pop.

[rama0929]

Every month, I see my wife go to an ATM to only be allowed $200 maximum withdrawl on her debit card from an American bank. There is a charge of $4.00 per transaction at GlobalNet, plus her American bank charges their fees of some $12 per transation!!!

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER/CHEAPER WAY!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gracias,
Philip

She can't wire the money?

[Kelly]

Exactly - if she has a Peruvian bank accnt, it's much cheaper to wire a lump sum.

[caliaa]

Hi. I also need to find a cheaper way to withdraw money from an ATM on a regular basis (from a BoA account). I've been using BCP ATMs until now, but they charge me $5 per transaction and then also BoA charges $5, so I'm charged $10 per the $200 transaction limit.

Scotia has a $100 limit per transaction and I think the daily limit is $500, I don't care too much about the limit. I called Scotia, and they told me that they don't charge anything on their side (can somebody confirm this?) but does anybody know how much BoA charges or is it the same for all American banks?

Also, BoA told me that there are no fees on Global ATM alliance ATMs but I can't find info about that. I read that Scotia Bank belongs to this alliance but Scotia Peru ATMs are not, but I'm not sure.

Does anybody have more information?

Thanks

[TonyLeslie]

I think you should be careful here because some people are talking soles and some dollars. I use a Scotiabank ATM inside a Metro Supermarket. (Scotia is a Canadian Bank) In soles I can get a maximum of 500 soles with a 2.20 US dollar fee. That fee remains the same for lesser amounts as well, so I usually take the maximum. I cannot access more soles from that ATM, but I can go to the Scotia Bank close by and withdraw more cash out of a different machine. I can however, withdraw the maximum soles and American dollars from the same machine as a second transaction. I found Globelnet was charging over (I think ) 10 soles, but it might have been dollars, so I only ever used them twice and not recently. I use a Visa travel card which is a debit card but is not connected to any of my bank accounts. This comes with two cards with two different pin numbers working the same account. I cannot lose any more than what I load into the card through Internet banking (The major Australian Banks are secure and not subject to the corruption through internet banking as has been debated on another post here) and if I lose a card or have it stolen, I am half a chance to get home and withdraw whatever money is still in the account with the second card. I think the only way you can beat the ATM withdrawal limit is if your bank has some sort of agreement with a Peruvian Bank.

Over the counter fees are still charged here as far as I know, however it is very minor compared to using an ATM. I think one of the reasons we use ATM´s is because once the machine reads your card it options an english version to use, but if your spanish is not brilliant and you have no-one to go into a bank to assist you, it´s a bit daunting to subject yourself to that sort of intimidation, as helpful as the bank staff might be.

[Philipc4u59]

Caliaa - All I can offer concerns my wife's American bank & mine (different institutions).

She uses a debit card issued by an American bank; using GlobalNet is charged $4.00 for withdrawl of $200 - I am not sure about the bank fees from her American bank (not BOA).

I use a debit card issued by an American bank; using GlobalNet, I am also charged the $4.00, plus I have a $3.00 fee + a small % of the withdrawl from my American bank (also not BOA) It can amount to over $12 to get $200!!!

I feel GlobalNet is guilty of "usuary" practices; charging more than a fai amount for banking services.
They even charge a lesser fee (than withdrawing) - for the account balance; OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Obviously, I don't use anymore!!! What a rip-off!!!

I have found Xoom,com works well if you affiliate with an American bank account; Xoom will also work with your card, but the fees are much higher. I usually calculate the total fees based on receiving soles or dollars; it is more expensive (by far) to receive dollars as Xoom makes extra profit issuing the local currency. Most of our expenses (rent, etc.) are in dollars.

For example, if the current exchange is $1.00 to 2.575 soles; they will pay you only 2.375 - which makes a difference as you can send up to $2.999 under current USA law. You would lose .20 soles per $1 withdrawn!

Xoom.com has a REFERRAL PROGRAM; BOTH you & the person who referred you (maybe ME?) will receive a $25.00 credit (good for maybe two small transactions in $$$ of $999 or less) - toward your fees. I would advise against using your credit to retrieve soles; you may have to use the credit on one (1) transaction - but I am not sure. The Xoom website is quite easy to navigate.

Good luck & glad to help...

Philip
[email protected]
271-3849; Surquillo

PS - former consumer advocate in the capital of PA - Harrisburg; if I don't know the answer (about finances concerning America); I know where & who to contact to get the RIGHT info!!!

PSS - you may have been affected by BOA's decision to charge excessive fees on customer's checking accounts under $10,000 (I believe); who keeps that amount of $$$ in checking??? They quickly rescinded the policy as so many customers threatened to move their accounts to their competitors. Be careful of BOA!

[Kelly]

I agree with Philip about Xoom - If you can open a dollars bank account in Peru, and deposit directly into it, you don't lose anything in exchange rates. The charge for me to transfer $2999 is $29.99, so it's $1 per ever $100.

If you can't open a bank account here, you can still pick the money up at a local bank; I assume the rate is higher for that, you'd have to check and see if it works out better for you.

What I like is that their transactions are very quick - I usually have money in my Peruvian account within 10 minutes (usually less).

[tomasb]

It's true, Scotia does not charge a fee on withdrawals. Since my American bank does not charge either, you never have to pay a fee. Someone told me about Scotia's practice when I moved to Peru last year. It has saved me mucho dollars.

[Aideon7]

I have accounts with USAA in the United States. When I need to access that money, I withdraw from Banco de la Nacion ATMs they have always given me a good rate or nearly so, although the only way I am able to check is to get on online and check how much money was debited to my USAA account and then do the math with the money I withdrew.

They do not charge fees for this, and as USAA does not charge fees either, it costs me nothing more than the potentially not perfect exchange rate.

For all of last year and about half of this year I could withdraw up to S/.1600 a day.
They have changed the policy though and I can only withdraw S/.400 a day. Which obviously isn't much but since its without fees, I stick to them.

[caliaa]

I agree with Philip about Xoom - If you can open a dollars bank account in Peru, and deposit directly into it, you don't lose anything in exchange rates. The charge for me to transfer $2999 is $29.99, so it's $1 per ever $100.

If you can't open a bank account here, you can still pick the money up at a local bank; I assume the rate is higher for that, you'd have to check and see if it works out better for you.

What I like is that their transactions are very quick - I usually have money in my Peruvian account within 10 minutes (usually less).

Thank you all, I'll try Scotia.

I had a terrible experience with Xoom when they "lost" over $1000 I sent to Peru. It took them over a week to find it and during that time I read a bunch of comments about people telling similar stories. Never again. Besides, Western Union is cheaper than Xoom in some cases (I send about 1500 dollars last year and I was charged $10).

[Philipc4u59]

Caliaa,

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience with - Xoom; I too had a bad experience with them, I had to wait 24 hours for my money (they coded in - incorrect info on my first transaction). No problems since.

I liked they took full responsibility for the error (very uncommon for larger companies); & gave me a full credit for the next transaction fees. As Kelly points out; I close the computer & walk to Interbank - 7 minutes & the money is available. FAST..................................

I would welcome the opportunity to know more about Western Union & your specific transaction; in May of 2012, I compared rates for WU & Xoom - Xoom was about 35% cheaper than WU for the same dollar amount transaction. Maybe rates have changed, as I notified WU that they had stiff competition in Peru.

Is it so easy to get your money as with Xoom; I will even pay a bit more for - NO HASSLES OR PAPERWORK!

Thanks for sharing; is this your first time in Peru???

Philip

PS - in my post suggesting Xoom; the difference in actual vs. received soles should be 0.20 soles (not 2 soles). Sorry, the "." on this computer sticks at times...

PSS - I wish you would explain to my Peruvian wife that; yes, indeed a wire transfer (at my bank $30) would be cheaper than small withdrawls of $200 each. She needed to have money really quick & was concerned about any paperwork that needed to be done. Why can't she accept that maybe "I" know better about finances; it is probably a "mind set" as she is an international expert in her field of education & doesn't want to accept that SOMETIMES, she doesn't know ALL THE ANSWERS!!!

Please, don't inform her of my comments; or I will be sleeping with the dog in the enclosed patio...

Philip

[Kelly]

Philip - I made the change on your other post. There should be a button on the top of your posts - top right - that says "edit".

[Philipc4u59]

WOW! I am so IGNORANT of computers & anything electronic.
Now I can make corrections - w/o taking Kelly's valuable time; I still can't get the copy & paste procedure...

Philip
PS - any computer classes locally; now that I finally have the time to pursue...

[caliaa]

I'm glad you got a credit from Xoom, they didn't give me anything
I'll try Xoom next time I receive money, but if I need an urgent transaction, I'll stick to WU.

From what I gather, WU charges $14.00 for $2500 but it takes three days. Xoom charges $12.99 (for dollars) or $4.99 (soles) for same day deposit/cash. I guess, depending on the exchange rate and the amount of money, getting soles instead might be OK.

[caliaa]

FYI. I just found a coupon code for Xoom. It's Octexchange. But I think it expires today (10-31).
I just sent 1000 and apparently I was charged $0.00 for the transfer from my bank.

I would welcome the opportunity to know more about Western Union & your specific transaction; in May of 2012, I compared rates for WU & Xoom - Xoom was about 35% cheaper than WU for the same dollar amount transaction. Maybe rates have changed, as I notified WU that they had stiff competition in Peru.

Just go to the website (http://www.westernunion.com) and enter the information on the right box. I'm sending from the US to Peru from a bank account. In the end, I ended up using Xoom because of the coupon code.

'Money Transfer I Western Union'.jpg

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[viernes]

Walk into a bank, queue up, then withdraw money as a credit/debit card transaction. BCP point blank refuses every time I ask and tell me it is impossible, but BBVA is fine with it. They'll ask for ID either way, and usually take a photocopy, but you can withdraw whatever is the maximum per-transaction amount on the card. Mine comes out at about $4000 US.

I second this. Banco Continental always works well. Everyone once in a while there is a teller that doesn't know what to do, but they always get someone to figure it out. I've withdrawn pretty large amounts this way.

[jfabian1363]

i have bank of america and they let me take out 700 dollars a day in peru. scotia bank doesnt charge me at all so i make sure to go to them however it is annoying as they only let you take 100 out at each transaction so i have to keep putting my card back in until i get the amount i need. but it def beats the 10 bucks all the other banks were charging me!