Panama Banks Issuing New ATM Fees
Apr 18th, 2008 by Don Ray
There must have been a recent change, in ATM withdrawl fees here, in Panama. I recently started getting a “Cross-Border Fee Assessed” for all withdrawals made at ATMs. This is new for me as I haven’t received it in the last 5 years.
When I asked my Credit Union, about this new charge, I was told that it was attached by the bank controlling the ATM and was nothing new by my credit union. I just looked at my credit union account and Banco General and HSBC ATMS have both given the same charge of .008 per $1. So a $200 ATM withdraw now costs $201.60.
I’ve been using Banco General. My withdrawal slip will show $300 but when I get my bank statement it will show $302.40. It has been that way with me for 4 years.
Now that a penny is worth 2 cents because of the value of the metal content, I am going to start paying in pennies.
Interesting that you have been receiving this charge for four years and my charges started this month. Maybe I shouldn’t complain.
Still free for me with my US credit union. I get charged a $1 fee from Panama banks here and a day or two later my credit union issues a $1 credit. Been this way for a long time.
Maybe the Balboa/Dollar exchange rate slipped. Just kidding.
I assume that the “Cross-Border Fee Assessed” applies to ATM withdrawals only from accounts outside Panama. Is this correct? We are still charged eighty-five cents for usage of ATMs other than our bank’s, and nothing from our bank’s ATMs.
Dan
Hi Pantah, I wonder why your CU is doing that? I wish mine would. Maybe I need to move my account to your CU.
Hi Dan, Yes, it is for withdrawals outside the US. I just did some checking and a person I know that has an account in Costa Rica gets charged .004 per dollar withdrawal from a CR bank.
I’ve never received a charge in the past when I transferred form my US account at Banistmo’s atm but I’ll check when I get back next month.