ATM fees

[Guest Gringo]

last month, november 2002, the ATMs were paying 3.6, cash 3.4, and travelers' checks 3.2. could someone please explain about the bank fees involved in using an ATM in Brasil?

thanx

[ohgwm226]

In my experience, the only fee was the usaul fee my bank charges for using ATM of a different bank. In my case $2 per transaction. When I was recently in Rio, exchange rate of the bank in the airport was $1= 3.5 Real. The ATM rate was 3.7.

[Guest Jake]

There IS fluctuation going on with the real. In the last month it has run from about 3.55 to 3.83 and may bounce around a little more until Lula takes office as President (Jan l) and has a little time in office without taking any extraordinary actions (like defaulting on the national debt or doubling the taxes of businesses and/or higher income citizens) to pay for his ideal social programs.

As has been said by many people, the ATMs always deliver by far the best exchange rate and any fees charged are only by YOUR bank. Credit card purchase conversions, incidently, are also at very favorable rates in my experiences on all the major cards.

[trilingual]

Currency exchange rates in Brazil, as previous posters, said, have been bouncing around. The current unsettled political situation adds some additional variables to the equation, but in general the real gains in value around the beginning of the tourist high season, when there are lots of foreign tourists coming into the country laden with dollars to exchange. With a glut of dollars in the market trying to buy local currency, the value of the real increases. Once the summer tourist season is over, there aren't as many dollars floating around. They become scarcer and it takes more reais to buy them, so the real consequently fall in value. Whatever the actual rate of exchange or the name of the currency in use that particular year, this has been a pretty consistent pattern in the twenty years I've been going to Brazil. It's something to keep in mind if you're thinking of buying an apartment or making some other expensive purchase in Brazil. It could be worth your while to wait until the low season when the dollar goes farther.

 

Right now, the real is edging upward both because of high season and because, so far, Lula hasn't lived up to the fears of overseas investors that he was going to expropriate private property or some such. Today it was around R3,57 to the dollar, and it may go higher before the summer is over. Chances are it'll start dropping again after Carnival. Brazil still isn't out of the economic woods yet, and inflation has started to rear its ugly head again. The new government is going to have a real tightrope walk to manage the economy carefully so inflation doesn't get out of control while spending money on preventing hunger and narrowing the yawning gap between rich and poor. Even if they're successful, once Carnival is over the dollar will probably strengthen again, and we could see R$4 = US$1 in the coming year. Stay tuned. . .