Greets,
How safe are the ATM's in Antigua, Pana & San Pedro? I always use ATM's inside of banks, but I've read that ATM's inside Banco de America Central branches are sometimes buggy. Any suggestions of safe ATM's within banks in these 3 towns and any ATM's within banks in these 3 towns to stay away from?
Apologies if this topic has been asked before, but I wasn't able to find a thread on this topic.
Thanks! : )
In San Pedro I use the ATM by the bank, not the 1 by the dock. I haven't had a problem with it, lots of visits. When I get home I empty my travel account and change the password, just to be safe.
Lately I have not heard about problems with ATMs. There used to be years ago. In Antigua we still avoided the ATMs in touristy places (like the parque central) but I think we are now just being paranoid. We used the ATMs at grocery stores, drug stores and had no problems last year. In Pana we used the main ATM on the main tourist street Calle Santander. No problems. We do make sure our account is not linked to any of our other accounts and has not too much money in it. And of course we monitor the account when we get home. There used to be a problem with unauthorized withdrawals. Inconvenient and a bit scary for sure but normally your bank will refund the money.
I've used Banco Industrial for the past 4 years with no problems. Their ATM's charge $2 per transaction. A few years ago BAC (on the west side of the park) was a big problem. With folks having their accounts "looted" from within the Bank, so I've been told. I lost $136 with the funds being withdrawn rom an ATM in Bogata Col. My Bank quickly took care of the problem and reimbursed me in a few days.
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