Expert: MRZ - 3/12/2009

Question
My wife was born and raised in Colombia came to the states 24yrs ago. Her mother has become ill and we need to move down there to Bogota.  What procedures do I need to do to get my state retirement check and Social Security check deposited in a bank.  Is there any banks in Bogota that accepts direct deposits.

Answer
Hi Ron,
First of all my apologies for the delay in my answer, I was out of town and forgot to mention it online.
There are a couple of ways to handle this. There is no Colombian bank that will allow you to receive a direct deposit in Colombian soil. However, there are Colombian banks that have presence in the U.S. and will take a direct deposit for you. You can open an account with them and transfer your money to a Colombian account once you are allowed to do it. Check this one for instance:
http://www.bancolombiamiami.com/miami/preFrecuentes/preFrecuentes.asp
The catch here is that for exchanging currency any bank will charge you a 3% fee for every transaction, plus any fees associated with ATMs.
I think that the best way, is to have a Paypal account, have it linked to your U.S. account and transfer money to from Paypal to it, which is free and withdraw money in Colombia, which has a $1 fee for every ATM withdrawal, pretty cheap. There is no 3% fee for currency exchange. Only inconveniences are that it takes 3 to 4 days to transfer money from Paypal to bank account and that Paypal has a low limit for withdrawals, I think $400 USD. But you can use your card as a debit/credit card at any location that accepts cards, plus you get a 1% credit for every transaction when you use your card this way.
So for me Paypal is the best so far.
Let me know if you have any questions. By the way our agency helps folks moving to Colombia, that includes shipping household items if your wife wants to take advantage of the low customs tax for Colombian nationals moving back to the country. You can email us at info@colombianpossibilities.cm or call us at 703.652.3850
Thanks
Marta