News on Citibank ATM

[Guest Jake]

This past week initiated a new deal at the semi-famous Citibank ATM next to Blockbusters in Copacabana. For the first time they are charging their own service fee (in addition to whatever your home bank might charge) of R$6.00 - at least on transaction of R$300 or more, I haven't yet tested on a smaller amount but will. Not sure if this applies to those with Citibank cards, U.S. or Brasil. Have a Citibank account here but don't use for this purpose.

 

I have not experienced a service fee in any of the other brasilian banks to date and, as small as the amount is ($2.25), it makes this ATM the most expensive instead of the least - although it remains one of the only that will honor daily ATM withdrawal limits set by your U.S. bank instead of their own (maybe HSBC also, haven't tested).

 

Similar subject, the ATM exchange rate, after being stable for a period of time around R$2.90, dropped to R$2.71 a few weeks ago, rebounded to R$2.77 and is now back down to R$2.70. As said earlier, for the first time in my experience the parallel market - in many of the cambios (money changers) - is now higher.

[Guest Jake]

This past week initiated a new deal at the semi-famous Citibank ATM next to Blockbusters in Copacabana. For the first time they are charging their own service fee (in addition to whatever your home bank might charge) of R$6.00 - at least on transaction of R$300 or more, I haven't yet tested on a smaller amount but will. Not sure if this applies to those with Citibank cards, U.S. or Brasil. Have a Citibank account here but don't use for this purpose.

 

I have not experienced a service fee in any of the other brasilian banks to date and, as small as the amount is ($2.25), it makes this ATM the most expensive instead of the least - although it remains one of the only that will honor daily ATM withdrawal limits set by your U.S. bank instead of their own (maybe HSBC also, haven't tested).

 

Similar subject, the ATM exchange rate, after being stable for a period of time around R$2.90, dropped to R$2.71 a few weeks ago, rebounded to R$2.77 and is now back down to R$2.70. As said earlier, for the first time in my experience the parallel market - in many of the cambios (money changers) - is now higher.

[trilingual]

The cambios were the ONLY place to change money in the bad old days of hyperinflation, artificial officla exchange rates and new-currency-of-the-week! Once the real replaced the previous currency the difference between the official rate (the one you get at ATMs) and the parallel rate (the one you get at cambios) became minimal. The difference is still only abut R$0.20 centavos on the dollar, so it's probably not worth bringing dollars (or euros) in cash unless you're planning on changing large amounts of money, when the difference becomes significant.

 

I use a U.S. Citibank debit card, but haven't been to the Citibank ATM since Jake's recent trip, so I don't know if they're charging this on Citibank's own cards. I used a different U.S. card at a Bradesco branch today, and there was no extra charge by Bradesco. However, at Bradesco you're limited to R$600 a day (although I'm not sure if this is true for cards issued by other banks; I haven't tried to get more yet.)

[trilingual]

The cambios were the ONLY place to change money in the bad old days of hyperinflation, artificial officla exchange rates and new-currency-of-the-week! Once the real replaced the previous currency the difference between the official rate (the one you get at ATMs) and the parallel rate (the one you get at cambios) became minimal. The difference is still only abut R$0.20 centavos on the dollar, so it's probably not worth bringing dollars (or euros) in cash unless you're planning on changing large amounts of money, when the difference becomes significant.

 

I use a U.S. Citibank debit card, but haven't been to the Citibank ATM since Jake's recent trip, so I don't know if they're charging this on Citibank's own cards. I used a different U.S. card at a Bradesco branch today, and there was no extra charge by Bradesco. However, at Bradesco you're limited to R$600 a day (although I'm not sure if this is true for cards issued by other banks; I haven't tried to get more yet.)

[trilingual]

I used my U.S. Citibank card to withdraw money today from the Citibank ATM in Blockbuster on the corner of Av. Copacabana and Figueiredo Magalhães, and there was no service charge to use the machine. So they may only be charging customers of banks other than Citibank. This may be a good reason to move your banking business to Citi, if you travel to Brazil (or Argentina) a lot. In Brazil you can dial 0800-891-0460 to reach Citi back in the U.S. toll-free if you need anything that can't be done at an ATM or online. That's come in handy a few times!

 

Now that BofA has bought Fleet Bank it also owns Fleet's subsidiary in South America, BankBoston. However, BankBoston ATMs in Brazil don't accept BofA cards, at least not so far. If anyone has a successful experience using a BofA card in a Brazilian BankBoston ATM, please post it here so BofA customers can have a convenient, same-bank place to get cash in Brazil.

 

HSBC is the third world-wide bank option here in Brazil. If you bank with HSBC you should have no problems using their ATMs in Brazil, although I don't know what their withdrawal limits are.

 

Banco Real is owned by ABN-Amro, but I don't know if their ATMs accept ABN-Amro cards from outside Brazil. Again, any reports would be welcome.

[trilingual]

I used my U.S. Citibank card to withdraw money today from the Citibank ATM in Blockbuster on the corner of Av. Copacabana and Figueiredo Magalhães, and there was no service charge to use the machine. So they may only be charging customers of banks other than Citibank. This may be a good reason to move your banking business to Citi, if you travel to Brazil (or Argentina) a lot. In Brazil you can dial 0800-891-0460 to reach Citi back in the U.S. toll-free if you need anything that can't be done at an ATM or online. That's come in handy a few times!

 

Now that BofA has bought Fleet Bank it also owns Fleet's subsidiary in South America, BankBoston. However, BankBoston ATMs in Brazil don't accept BofA cards, at least not so far. If anyone has a successful experience using a BofA card in a Brazilian BankBoston ATM, please post it here so BofA customers can have a convenient, same-bank place to get cash in Brazil.

 

HSBC is the third world-wide bank option here in Brazil. If you bank with HSBC you should have no problems using their ATMs in Brazil, although I don't know what their withdrawal limits are.

 

Banco Real is owned by ABN-Amro, but I don't know if their ATMs accept ABN-Amro cards from outside Brazil. Again, any reports would be welcome.

[world traveler]

I am a customer of HSBC and used there ATM's in RIO, was charged $2.50 per withdrawl, I was quite surprised, but according to my HSBC branch, free withdrawls from other HSBC branches are only valid in North America.

 

World Traveler

[world traveler]

I am a customer of HSBC and used there ATM's in RIO, was charged $2.50 per withdrawl, I was quite surprised, but according to my HSBC branch, free withdrawls from other HSBC branches are only valid in North America.

 

World Traveler