Present USD to CUC rate?
Replies: 42 - Last Post: Oct 6, 2012 6:58 PM Last Post By: johnabbotsford
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15
I am not saying you do not get the money you are referring to Chef. I mean when you get your monthly bills (or whatever the periodicity) if they charged you nothing for numerous withdrawals then you are almost unique.My experiences with 90% of those I deal with are reflected in # 12 post:
Sometime later my bank adds a fee of $3.50 which appear as a separate item.
But for our actual (accurate) balance such tax (or fee) should be accounted into the ATM transaction
16
My point was only that you did not need to figure in anything to know exactly what you were getting, B. I like it that way. I would note that when many posters here compare the actual cost of using most cards, that transaction fee is left out.I'll use a California-based comparative...........I am more than willing to pay $10 for a burrito, if it includes the chips and salsa. When they charge me $6 for the burrito and then another $2 for chips and salsa, it's unlikely I will go back again.
17
Jorge, what I said is exactly what I meant. I receive NO extra charges from my bank.Remember it is a Guatemalan bank and a dollar account. They also do not charge to have an account, there is no minimum balance and many other things that are typical with US bank accounts. When I take out 100 CUCs my charge is $103!!!!!!!!! period. Nothing more.
18
#15 not sure what point you are labouring here - maybe it's an english thing.Virtually anybody who regularly uses a credit/debit card for travel knows if their bank charges Forex and/or ATM fees.
And if that is the case what those fees are exactly.
In my case with my preferred card - flat fee of $3.50. In Chef's case zero. I might add I have a Mastercard that also has zero fees and is my prefered card outside Cuba in ATM's but given my laziness in avoiding queues and given Mastercard's not operating in CUban ATM's I use the $3.50 Visa.
Very easy for virtually any traveller to shop around to find a debit/master card with negligible or zero overseas transaction fees btw.
But back to the issue .....What most first time travellers to Cuba who use such cards want to know is what the CUBAN bank charges for such transactions are.
And as we know whether you exchange cash, use an ATM, withdraw over the counter or pay a bill with a card the Cuban bank charges are effectively the same.
19
Just sent a remittance via WU and I continue to be impressed by how much better they have gotten at it. The hour-long process only took 25 minutes. I have a "gold card" now so I am "in the system" and no longer need to provide the same information time and time again. In my part of the world, remittances to Cuba are still so unusual that some specific person has to be found in the WU office who has done it to handle the process and, if circumstances permit, it is always used as a "training moment" for almost anyone else in the office that is not otherwise occupied.Interesting to note is that they use an exchange rate of 97:100, CUC to USD, and I think there is some unanimity (a word not often used here) that that is as good as it gets. They add their fee of about 8%, but it has become a very attractive option for smaller amounts.
23
And as we know whether you exchange cash, use an ATM, withdraw over the counter or pay a bill with a card the Cuban bank charges are effectively the same - viz 3%.Speaking in the megalomaniacal "we" form again?
You can call it whatever you want to call it but there are no bank fees on any receipt I have ever gotten for the use of the CT card, either at a bank or cadeca or when using an ATM. That was the point I was making, chef. That it could be said to be "rolled into" the exchange rate is possible, if not probable, but when others compare cards that DO have a bank fee with the CT card, it makes it an unfair comparison, methinks.
24
Smilcu, when you say, "ATM debit and credit cards from "the land of the former free" don't work in Cuba." And add that "It is a prostitutocracy, not a democracy," would you be referring to the US or to Cuba?As I'm certain you know, the reason US credit cards don't work in Cuba is because the US government does not allow US banks and other financial institutions to honor charges made in Cuba.
25
There are not many USD ATM cards that work in Cuba. Since the exchange rate is 1 to 1 then the Cuban bank fees are 3%. (97 CUCs per $100). I have no additional bank fees on my end.If you have a card from a currency that is not exchanged in Cuba, COPs or AUDs for example, you pay the Cuban bank fee of 3% for USD plus some exchange rate fee depending on your bank and currency. At least I think that's how it works.
27
But John, don't your AUDs have to be changed into USD to be useable (withdrawn) in Cuba?28
Mate - as per #13Purely a paper conversion - i get the same ATM receipt from the Cuban bank as you do i.e. I take out 100 CUC and the receipt says 103CUC (with the 3% Cuban bank fee).
Therr are only exchange fees if exchanging actual paper money.
My Oz bank statement immediately registers 103USD and is converted by Visa to - at today's rate - $101AUD. That's what 100CUC costs me plus the $3.50 flat fee (which is why I try wherever possible to only withdraw a minimum of 400 CUC - so cost is today $404AUD plus $3.50). A week ago 400 CUC was costing 396 AUD.
If go inside the Cuban bank and use my Mastercard there is no $3.50 fee.
Claro? If not save it for our next cerveza face to face!
