On a budget and looking for free ATMs in El Salvador - Any top banks?
There is only one fee-free ATM in El Salvador and that is Hipothecario. All others have a fee - Banco Agricola charged 5.5$, Davivienda 5.65$ and Banco Cuscatlan 4$. Withdrawal limits were between 300 and 500 dollars. Some ATMs in small towns didn’t work at all with my HSBC debit card. My advice: use big bank ATMs in malls or airports.
El Salvador uses USD, so no conversion headaches. The most reliable ATMs for foreign cards are Hipothecario, Banco Agrícola, Scotiabank, and Davivienda. Only Hipothecario is free though. I used my Wise Visa at Banco Agrícola in San Salvador, with a withdrawal limit of $300 and 5.5$ fee - its not cheap but all atms i used work properly. Banco Industrial wanted to charge me 5.65$ and Banco BAC will charge 7.91 dollars so I would never use it!!! Machines are easy to find in malls and gas stations. If you’re traveling on a budget, withdraw at Hipothecario as they seem to be the only one without fees for foreign debit and credit cards.
Hipotecario offers no-fee transactions, 500 dollar withdrawal limit. Small air-conditioned ATM room behind a glass door. Very convenient and discreet.
Same Hipotecario ATM - no issues withdrawing with international cards. Zero fees. Most expensive was Banco BAC with 7.9 dollar fees and Promerica with 7 dollar fees. what a scam.
Hipotecario ATM works flawlessly with foreign cards. Used multiple times with both Visa and Mastercard.
Hipotecario Bank in El Salvador has 0 ATM fees - always a good find!