Transferring money from overseas to Colombia with Bancolombia
Well the peso has fallen again so it was time to transfer some money again – at least this time I was more familiar with the process and it wasn’t as time consuming or painful as the last time. If you’re interested in also transferring money here are the processes that I went through.
1. Transfer money from your home bank account (via Internet if possible). You will need to enter your account number with Bancolombia, and the SWIFT Code of the bank is COLOCOBM. Sometimes your bank will ask for three more letters; in this case you use XXX, which is the Medellín head office.
2. Wait for the money to get to Bancolombia’s US Dollar account with Citibank in the US. It will take a day or two usually, so you have to call Bancolombia to check if it has arrived. The number is 3430000 if you are in Bogotá. I think if you wait a few days the bank will eventually call you, but you don’t want to wait that long.
3. Download and have the following forms ready:
b) Formulario 5
4. When the money is with Bancolombia in USD, you need to call the office where they buy and sell international currency (if your amount is more than US$5,000). The idea is that you “negotiate” the exchange rate. I’m not sure if they will change the rate but you could always ask. The phone number is 3535175 if you are in Bogotá.
NOTE: This office closes at 1pm and is open Monday to Friday. You are better not calling anytime close to 1pm, try for the morning definitely.
5. When you get the exchange rate they will give you a code to write at the top of formulario 5, which is the reference number for the exchange that you did.
6. You then call the international desk 2326520 (from Bogotá) and they will help you to complete the two forms. You can do this step before step 4 if you want.
7. Sign the two forms after completion and take them to your local branch of Bancolombia and give the forms to the service desks (not the cashiers). You need to go to a proper branch to do this, the branches in supermarkets won’t do.
8. The next day the money should be in your account.
I hope this has helped you!
This may apply only to some US banks – I noticed I could use my US bank debit/cash card at certain (not all) ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) in Cali, Colombia just as in the US – of course it magically spit out pesos instead of dollars, at whatever the current rate of exchange was at the time. This was subject to a $600 USD limit per day which was not a problem at all. So although the money was in a US account, it was readily available in Cali literally anytime I wanted to withdraw it, with no hassles whatsoever.