Expat Community > Paraguay

ncgk
Joined 2015
Posts: 1

ATM Charges, NOT Paraguay's Fault

9 years ago

I've been reading a lot of complaints on this forum about how Paraguay rips people off when they withdraw money from ATMs, but the fees I've seen mentioned are the exact same ones you pay in any other foreign country. For example, that 3% you paid is the card's "foreign transaction fee." You basically are paying that because your withdrawal is a foreign currency exchange; your ATM card ("debit card") is based in US dollars (or whatever) but you're withdrawing Paraguayan guaranis. On the bright side, by getting your money from an ATM, you're receiving the "inter-bank rate," which is about the best exchange rate you can get. It's the same as the foreign transaction fee you pay to use a credit card abroad. But you can avoid paying that 3% fee on a "debit card" ATM withdrawal, as I'll explain in a minute.

As for the $3 or $5 or whatever fee, that's an ATM fee, and is charged by the bank (or whatever financial institution the ATM is owned by, even if it's in a 7-Eleven) for the privilege of using their ATM. It's similar to how you may incur out-of-network fees for using an ATM that doesn’t belong to your own bank when you're in the U.S. And there's a way to get out of paying that, too.

What you need is a debit card with a bank that doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee. They do exist. For example, Schwab Bank offers a free checking account with no minimum balance that offers an ATM card with NO foreign transaction fees, AND Schwab reimburses you at the end of each month for any of those foreign ATM fees you were charged. ALL of them! Of course, to open the account you are required to also open the Charles Schwab Brokerage account, but that is also free, and you never have to use it or even put any money in it. By the way, you can do everything online with Schwab.

Schwab Bank isn't the only Bank that charges 0% foreign transaction fees. You can go to this URL to see Nerd Wallet's list of foreign transaction fees charged on various debit cards: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/debit-card-foreign-transaction-international-atm-fees/

One more thing. Someone was complaining about a POS fee. Well that doesn't have anything to do with Paraguay either. That's a fee you pay to make a PURCHASE. You pay a POS fee any time you use a debit card as a debit card in the U.S. too! When you buy something in the U.S. the store asks "debit or credit?" That means, if you say "credit" they run it as a credit card, and you don't pay any fees. If you say "debit" you may pay POS fees (which stands for "Point-Of-Sale" fee.)

So if you want to BUY something with a card, use an ACTUAL CREDIT CARD. Just make sure you're using a credit card that DOESN'T CHARGE FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEES either. (NerdWallet has a list of credit cards -- generally known as international credit cards -- on a list here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/no-foreign-transaction-fee-credit-card/)

I hope that this was helpful. I just hate to see people suffering financially for things that have nothing to do with the country they're in, but rather, with the cards they're using and how they're using them. Good luck.

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