Before Traveling to Costa Rica

Before traveling to Costa Rica or any European country or Latin county for that matter. You should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages to withdraw money from ATMs abroad.




The major disadvantage when using ATMs abroad are the costs that this entails.

Many people are not aware of all the charges that can be found by using an ATM in another country, charges for taking money in a foreign currency; you will pay for that too. A fixed charge for the exchange of foreign currency and usually a small charge for using an ATM that is not link to the bank or Credit Union of your credit or debit card.



Withdrawing money from an ATM in Costa Rica is expensive if you have a U.S. bank, the bank charges a high percentage for each $ 400.00-$ 500.00 Dollars you can pay between $ 12.00 - a $ 20.00 USD. That means that by the time you do five transactions you've already spent between $ 60.00 and $ 100.00 dollars, money that could have used in something else more important. Do you want to keep this money in your packet?

Then, The best thing you can do is go to your bank and credit card company and get all the necessary information before traveling.



Many banks offer currency exchange services; this is a great service because it allows the tourist to get a bit more prepared to their destination. Another alternative is to open a bank account in a credit union, they usually charge only 1% of the transaction much less than other banks that charge 3% to 5%.


In my personal opinion banks take advantage of us. We let them save our money, in turn they use it to penalize us for using their service with high fees. So, if you are going to travel to Costa Rica or anywhere else make sure to do your homework be smart there are other ways you could stretch your money.