Dear Terryo:
I'm late to this party, and I'm not Canadian, but hopefully I can help a bit.聽 [Please forgive me for being a Yank, it is a genetic condition bequeathed by my parents.聽 馃榿]
Nevertheless, I'll try to add some value.
First, as made clear by the wide range of responses, there's probably several dozen ways to accomplish what you asked about.聽
>> The most honest answer is "it all depends."聽 聽Currency exchange rates change each and every day, even minute by minute.
>> The depots generally are regarded as providing the best exchange rates if you have cash in your hand right now -- certainly better than DR banks.聽
>> But, you DO NOT want to be flashing large wads of cash and doing multiple exchanges a day -- if only as a matter of personal safety & security.聽 聽
Like DDMcGee and others, we prefer to use ATMs from our local DR bank to draw pesos as needed.聽 Don't聽 stress about the exchange rates, it's all funny money anyway.
>> But, you'll need to take care you're using an ATM from your bank, or the network your bank uses, to avoid ATM-specific fees.
>> Be aware that ATMs will have withdrawal limits per-transaction, day and sometimes month.
>> Also, if your accounts have seen low usage for a long while, a sudden spate of cash withdrawals in a short period may trigger fraud concerns and freeze your ATM card for a week or month.聽 [This happened to us during our March trip to the DR.]
>> The wise expat thus plans several different ways to exchange or withdraw funds.聽 Credit card backups with no currency or ATM fees are recommended.聽 ALWAYS have some cash (pesos) with you.聽
>> Personally, we make sure to end each trip with at least DR$10k pesos to save as seed money for starting the next trip.聽 聽
>> Airport ATMs are readily available as you arrive at SDQ, but ATMs can all go down at once due to power failures or loss of the GPS timing signal.聽 聽
>> DO NOT EXCHANGE MONEY AT THE AIRPORT, unless you're truly desperate.聽 Worst of all exchange rate options.
We prefer to use specific credit cards to charge expenses...my American Express card, for example, gives better exchange rates than ANY other source I've seen, and guarantees ZERO foreign currency or ATM fees.
>> Often those bennies come with premium credit cards so you might see annual fees -- but in my experience, well worth the fees.聽 Make sure you read the fine print.
If you are transferring larger sums (more than a couple thousand) to your DR bank, I've found MoneyCorp to provide the best exhange rates and lowest additional fees (usually zero).聽 Moneycorp makes their money by offering a slightly lower exchange rate...yet it is always better than what the banks offer.
>> MoneyCorp, an international service, has created several subsidiary corporations (e.g., MoneyCorp USA) to simplify聽 transfers for customers.聽 That"s been helpful to us, as our smaller, rural-based banks and credit unions have conniptions at sending direct wire transfers to places like Panama and the Dominican Republic.聽 Your mileage may vary.聽
For small transfers, I've personally found Remitly offers the overall good pricing -- though not always the best each time.聽 Remitly's app also has a superb user interface design, and absolutely the best tracking/status system I've seen.
A very useful tool is the Monito website, which essentially is the Priceline or Kayak of money transfer services.聽 It compares current pricing for a number of transfer services and recommends聽 the top few at that moment聽 However, Monito doesn't transfer funds itself.聽
At minimum, install a currency rate app on your phone, so you can learn the current daily exchange rates before you exchange funds.
GENERAL WARNING:聽 Lots of wires or transfers to Latin America countries will bring attention from your national taxing or financial crimes folks.聽 That's especially true for Panama, for historical reasons.聽
>> Since you're simply transferring or wiring amounts typical for vacation or residency, you shouldn't actually see much impact
>> However, if you are transferting large sums on a regular basis -- say, you're purchasing or building a home -- you should expect occasional unexplained "delays" of the wire.聽 Our best guesstimate is that the Feds place a hold on such transfers until a human being reviews it.聽 This may add an additional day or two, but sometimes adds a whole week.聽 PLAN ACCORDINGLY.聽 Don't make your wires or transfers at the last minute.
Okay, I hope some of that is helpful to you.聽 If not, perhaps it will be helpful to other readers in the future.
Best wishes,
Jim
RusherExpat
Hi , can anyone tell me the easiest way to exchange Canadian currency while on an extended stay
in D.R.
Don鈥檛 want to exchange twice into U. S. and then to Pesos , or聽 can you just use a credit card when
needed at an ATM machine, don鈥檛 want to have lot鈥檚 of cash on hand just enough for a weekly
budget. T.I.A. TERRY.
|
|
|
