atm withdarawal

Hi all,
Whats the current maximum amount of Reais you can withdraw in one ATM transaction? Or does it vary from bank to bank? Arriving at Garulhos so any tips from there? British bank card.
Cheers

Depends mainly on your bank, but possibly also on the bank you're withdrawing at. For instance, I have a limit at Banco 24h machines, but not at my own bank on my Brazilian bank card. For my Dutch bank card other rules apply: if I recall correctly, I can withdraw up to 200 euros worth of cash per day, distributed over any machines that don't belong to my own bank (regardless of whether they are in NL or abroad).

Oi JRA,

I just returned from Brasil, and want to tell you that I have never had more problems using ATMs there in my life! My US-issued debit card has a limit of $500 dollars, per my bank. Yet, I was constantly told that I could not withdraw more than $800 reais in most ATMs, and was frequently only allowed $400 reais! Worse, after making a $400 reais withdrawal, I was not allowed to make further withdraws! Yes, it does seem to vary from bank to bank, and I seemed to have more success using Banco do Brasil ATMs. Good Luck!

JAC

I think you'll find a that a typical daily withdrawal for most foreign cards ranges between about R$600 and R$1.000 but as the others have noted the actual amount varies between the bank issuing the card and also local ATMs.

Thanks for the replies, v useful. Its as I suspected, and as it was last time I was in Brazil 10 years ago. Luckily we have more than one card between us. And souviajante, you should try Argentina if you think Brazil is bad!

A word of caution. When travelling in Brazil, it is highly advised to NOT get out large sums of money as there is every chance you may get robbed, being that you are a not a local.

Luckily it sounds like its impossible to withdraw large sums of money. And I don't think thios sort of scaremongering is particularly helpful, it surely depends on time and place? For example a small coastal town vs Rio/Sampa?

It's not scare mongering at all. I've lived in Brazil and this is the advice locals gave me.
Would you walk around your own country with large sums of cash in your wallet?
You have to remember that some developing countries have pick pockets , and that is a fact, not scare mongering. Being robbed can happen any where, I had a friend robbed on a bus recently.
Rio you have a greater chance of being relieved of your cash, because people watch and will follow you ( I was followed in Rio by two men) and take the moment that you are most vunerable. My friend got pick pocketed his camera and didn't even feel it. But sure, if you wanna risk it then it is up to you.

I think 'every chance' is a bit strong though, don't you? Sure there is a chance, I was mugged in Belem myself a few years ago. Then again, my wife was mugged at an ATM in London in broad daylight. Unfortunately I will need money for my trip so will need to go to an ATM, hence the question. Having been there several times, Im aware there are risks in Brazil that you wouldn't normally encounter in say, Singapore, but as we are in small coastal towns for most of the trip, I don't judge the risk to be very high. And as I said, it doesn't seem like you can withdraw large sums of money anyway,
Happy travels.

If that advice applies to all big cities, why are you singling out Brazil?

Should people be careful of their stuff? Absolutely. But I disagree with creating this image that Brazil is an extremely dangerous country. It's not. And especially the touristic areas are pretty safe. I would say the touristic part of Rio is no more or less safe than the touristic parts of Paris or NYC. And smaller places tourists are likely to visit are like small touristic sites worldwide: there will be a lot of hustling, but other than that pretty safe.

Also, Brazilians love to exaggerate ;)

A suggestion is simply to avoid ATMs which are visible from the street. Use ATMs in shopping centres for example.

Having said that, for many years I have used a couple of ATMS in Rio (Ipanema and Copacabana) which are visible from the street, so I'm not following my own advice. I do avoid using ATMs after dark, and there are areas where I would not think of using an ATM (not only in Brazil but also in many other parts of the world).

The signals are not that hard to see: if no one else is using an ATM, there's a good reason. If you see people lined up to take money out, using mobile phones, with handbags, etc., then it's reasonably safe.

I have never had any problems anywhere in Brazil associated with ATMs.

A word of caution. When travelling in Brazil, it is highly advised to NOT get out large sums of money as there is every chance you may get robbed, being that you are a not a local.

Really? OK then I will stop doing this. What's the maximum you recommend I should with draw at any point given that people are watching and following me all the time? Fifty reais? Twenty? Ten? I must say it must feel a little special, a bit like a celebrity, to know that you are being stalked at every waking moment.

Should I store the money in my shoe as your blog suggests? I can see my cash getting a bit malodorous but fortunately I spend much of my time just wearing havaianas.....oh hang on that might not work. Was that another piece of advice from your Brazilian friends? Presumably they told you all this in English cos I get the impression from said blog that your language skills aren't that high and after all "Brazilians just love the sound of English".

Brazilians also have well developed senses of humour, some of which you've clearly replicated in your blog. ;-)

@ The OP. In all seriousness there's probably no need to take out large amounts of cash. I say this from the point of practicality not security. Most places where you are going to make a substantial purchase will usually accept debit or credit cards. For pocket money, I see no reason not to take out the maximum you can and then store what you don't need for that day back in your accommodation. Otherwise you will be getting hit with multiple fees.

Experience suggests to me that the prospect of having your card cloned by a chupa-cabra device is far more likely than being mugged. I've experienced it, so has my wife and both from ATMs located in a bank. That said, even that's not a common experience. It does pay to keep your ATM receipts however.

Brazil has and at the same time hasn't changed that much in the past decade, so don't panic.

Actually IF you can READ i said that you probalbly would not carry around that much money at home, as at home you also have every chance of being mugged. It's all about travelling smart and being safe, which usually applies when you're in your own country. It's applying common sense. I WOULD not walk around with $800 in my purse at home either, because it's not a smart thing to do.

. Was that another piece of advice from your Brazilian friends? Presumably they told you all this in English cos I get the impression from said blog that your language skills aren't that high and after all "Brazilians just love the sound of English".

My language skills? I actually speak both languages, yet was teaching conversational English to my friends. Is that alright with you, Mr High and Mighty?

You must have a LOT of time on your hands to go and read my writing and then use it to insult me. Wow.

As I said - you have a higher chance of getting
mugged in any developing country. I'm not singling out Brazil. My friends got robbed in Vietnam. It's just about applying common
sense.

So when you visited the school you mentioned in your blog and had all your remarks translated into Portuguese for the students of the school you were visiting by your friend, that was for their benefit? Part of their conversational English training?

I had a good read of your blog and as far as I can tell you haven't mastered the language. That's evident by some very basic errors. Nor would it appear that you've spent more than five minutes in the country, at least judging by the rather facile revelations, some of them simply wrong, contained therein.

Still, it's a free world and an open forum, opine away to your heart's content.

Minnie, Im sure you mean well, but I have been to Brazil several times(though not recently, hence my question) and have travelled extensively in developing countries, so, yes I know its not a good idea to carry large sums of money in places with areas of deprivation. However, as you claim to have lived in Brazil, pehaps you could answer my original question, or did you find a magical way to live without money,
Thanks.

The "fun" starts when you have to pay your rent in cash that you want to withdraw from ATM's with your foreign credit card, especially in Rio where rent is high.

I found out that Itau has a 1500 Real limit ... but than had to realize they can not handle modern credit cards, often dysfunctional or did bill me but not spit out any cash, not worth the trouble, safer to go for HSBC (if they are still there by now) and live with 1000 or less per withdrawal.

Some locals said you can actually just do another withdrawal right after the first one, in other words it's not a daily limit but just a per-withdrawal limit, but i never put this to the test myself.

Banco do Brasil does not even accept foreign credit cards.

One other option for you may be to go into the bank, and, if you have the time to wait in line, ask the teller to make a withdrawal for you with your card! I did that a few times when I needed a larger amount.

A few weeks ago I used by foreign credit card several times at various ATMs from the Banco do Brasil.

Banco do Brasil does not even accept foreign credit cards.

They do. Maybe not your particular card but they most certainly do.

For more than the last 10 years I had been able to use a British bank card to withdraw Reais equivalent to the normal UK daily limit at ATM's in Brasil. Actual limit varies depending on which UK bank.
However, about a year ago the daily limit was suddenly reduced to R$500 (about £90). This is at Banco do Brasil.
Note that ATM machines vary and some cards don't work in some machines but ATM's normally have stickers with logos of cards that work.
Remember also that ATM's here are generally inside banks or public places like shopping centres and airports so security is better than if they were the hole in the wall type outside in the street like UK.
Another good thing is they normally recognise a foreign card and automatically give choice of language.
Arriving Guarulhos there's a row of ATM's as soon as you come out of arrivals, I've used a UK card in them many times without problem.

I doubt you'll get an answer, she wouldn't answer mine either. I suspect she has decamped, permanently. Buggered if I know why people post links to their blogs and then get bent out of shape when someone actually reads them. In this case it was mostly palpable nonsense of the sort you see repeated second or third hand on travel forums. I doubt she's spent more than a week in the country and if she has, she must have lived in a bubble.

Yeah, everybody would be best just stay at home, don't travel, in fact don't go out into your street, live your life on facebook.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I recently needed to withdraw a fair amount of cash from Brazilian ATMs and I thought that this info could help someone else even if it's too late for the OP.

I tried all the different ATMs I could find and found that Santander was the best for me. Santander allows me to withdraw a maximum of R$1500 at a time and I can withdraw multiple times in a day up to my home bank's daily limit. They impose an additional fee of R$12 per transaction which is better than the R$24 charged by others like 24horas and Banco do Brasil.

In practice this allowed me to withdraw R$12 000 in one notedly risky visit to an ATM. These charges seem the same for VISA and Mastercards. My cards are issued in South Africa so I don't know if that makes a difference.

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