Trying to avoid paying crazy ATM fees while traveling in Chile. Anyone found ATMs that are free for foreign cards? Would love specific banks or locations if possible.
Chile’s ATM fees can be brutal, but there are workarounds. Banco de Chile is super expensives charged me 9,200 pesos per transaction for a 200,000 withdrawal. Banco Estado and Banco Internacional are the two banks which are the besst - estado charges 5500 for a 200,000 withdrawal and in fact in some bank branches i was also able to withdraw like 800,000 in 1 transaction with my Revolut card. Withdrawal limits were otherwise about 200,000 CLP per transaction, which is enough for a few days of travel. Banco BCI was 8000 and Santander charged around 8,500 CLP each time, so best to avoid unless desperate. ATMs are everywhere in Santiago and major cities, but in Patagonia, it’s better to stock up before heading out.
Scotiabank ATM in Chile didnt charge a fee with my Revolut card, but my friend using a different card did get charged. Seems inconsistent. i guess because my card is part of the global atm alliance network (i have a deutche bank card) so no fees for me. could withdraw only 200,000 in one transaction though.
I tried a bunch of atms and here is what i found:
Banco de Chile: 9,200
Banco Estado: 5,500
Falabella - did not take my Erste Visa card
Scotiabank: 8,000
Itau: 6,000 (but i only came across 1 atm on my whole 3 week trip)
Banco Consorcio: 5,000
Santander: 8,500
Banco Security: 2,500
Most atms had a 200,000 withdrawal limit.
Found this one atm called Banco BICE - charged me only 2,500 per transaction for a 200,000 withdrawal limit!!! guess this is the cheapest. but i did nt see a lot of them across chile. most common ones were Banco Estado with 5,500 fee and Banco de Chile (nearly everywhere especially at fuel stations and super marrkets) with a whopping 9,200 peso fee crazy.
Banco Consorcio was also good charged me only 5,000 pesos for a 200,000 peso withdrawal.
Most ATMs in Chile will hurt. Banco Estado is the most budget-friendly with a CLP 5,500 fee and 400,000 CLP limit. Some ATMs inside bank branches have CLP 800,000 limits. Other big banks like Santander and Banco de Chile charge high fees - 9,200 at Banco de Chile and 8,500 CLP at Santander and CLP 200,000 limit per withdrawal. I always use BancoEstado for bigger amounts - just be quick on weekends, machines get busy.
On my recent Santiago trip, Scotiabank was the only one I found with a zero-fee ATM option-although these are rare. Santader, Banco de Chile, and Banco BCI had English menus and loads of machines, but expect to pay around CLP 8,000 every time. Take out the max CLP 200,000 per go to beat the repeated charges, and always bring a backup card-some days systems hiccup.
Banco de Chile ATM was clean and showed fees clearly before confirming. A+!
Santander ATM had easy access. Quick withdrawal.