www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I was in CR until 10/9 and I was getting 580 colones per dollar from the ATM. This is FYI

Testing new limits...

Is it an aberration?

Or will it soon burst through 600 and all hell breaks loose?

People were saying I was crazy to say December...

Stay tuned and keep as much of your money in dollars as you can...

If you have big cash in colones that you don't need for operating capital, get the hell out now!!!

Stay tuned....



https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/co ... USD&To=CRC

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

The CR National Bank is pouring a lot of dollars into the economy, about a million and a half, but I don't think that will do it. A much as I like cheap pu*sy I feel really bad for the struggling lower class. Almost all real estate sales and mortgages are written in dollars. There is a little talk of the government adjusting those mortgages but that won't happen either.

[quote="tom_kat"]The CR National Bank is pouring a lot of dollars into the economy, about a million and a half, but I don't think that will do it. A much as I like cheap pu*sy I feel really bad for the struggling lower class.


Yes, agreed, me too, that's why I'm helping out as many single moms as I can...

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

Whoaaaaa Nelly!!!


https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/co ... USD&To=CRC

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

My friend, once again I beg to ask the question: Why do you keep looking at the xe.com currency converter?????? NO WHERE in Costa Rica (that I am aware of) can you get that rate when you go to actually exchange money!!! As of today the BEST rate offered by any of the 14 banks and 23 other financial institutions here that offer to change money is 593 (Scotiabank). Other major banks: 592 (BAC), 591 (BCR), 590 (National).

That said, I do believe that you just might have been correct when you predicted it would hit 600 before the end of the year (How about sometime in November???)

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

BB57,
The sky is falling.
Regards, 911 Driver
P.S. Predicktions are like assholes, everyone one has one, and some of them stink.

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The happy hour is a device either for getting rid of social obligations hurriedly en masse or for making overtures toward more serious social relationships, as in the etiquette of whoring.- Brooks Atkinson

I know that, but the point I'm getting at is the graph below it, I can't cut and paste the graph by itself. I'm a graph watcher, it's showing an upward trend that has been established, and continues to rise, I said 600 by December, now it looks like November.

Also the conversion calculations were always in the .0017's and now it's in the high .0016's, that's another "milestone".

I was looking back over my atm withdraw info and I usually take out 100k colones, about 6 months or more my bank deductions were like $178 for 100k, last one I did last week it was $171, 7 bucks better now in just a little over 6 months.

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

Pre-dick-tions...(Predictions)

Are you inferring we're "dicks"???

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

xe.com is a good indicator of the relative value of currency because it's based on market rates. No, you can't get that rate at a bank, because that would be like a retailer selling all of his product at cost. You can just about guarantee that the rate shown at xe will split the buy/sell rate at your local bank, though (buy lower, sell higher than market rate).

Seraph

(new to the board -- been going to CR, Panama, Colombia, Brazil since 1991)

BRILLIANT!!!

I SECOND THE MOTION...

Now...ON TO 600!!!

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

An old saying goes....there are 3 types of people.

1. Those who make things happen...

2. Those who watch things happen...

3. Those that say "What the hell just happened????" (And these are the types of people who sit back and criticize those who make things happen...)

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...

It may be a "good indicator" if you only come here once or twice a year, but the rates between xe.com and the local banks (and between the local banks) are also highly variable from day to day. If you live here and are changing thousands of dollars a year (I have lived here almost 14 years and Netgems lives here now!) I still see no reason to even bother when it is just as easy, or more so, to just go to the "Tipo de cambio anunciado en ventanilla" and on one page you can see (and compare) the exact UP -TO - DATE (minute) rates of ALL BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS here in Costa Rica. To the occasional short time visitor this may (or may not) be of importance, but to most of us living here and changing thousands of dollars a year it can be very important! The difference between the highest bank rate and the lowest right now is about 3 points. On just $20,000 changed a year that is about $135! Or looking at it another way, about 4 MP sessions. Now if you have millions of dollars and are not worried about a couple hundred a year, my question is "Why would you be bothering with looking at the exchange rate in the first place"????

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!

Definitely agree on checking the bank rates (comparing rates) before you exchange. After all, it doesn't matter what anybody's rate is -- not even the bank's rate. All that matters, if you're exchanging, is how much the person standing in front of you is going to give you for $100... right now.

On the other hand, xe (and other exchanges... not to single out just xe) are market rates. The bank rates will quickly follow the market rate or the bank will get its lunch ate. Why check those market rates? Because it's a decent forecast on where the bank rate is headed. If I am heading into town next week, that's where the market comes in... a peek into the future. Even when I lived in CR (2005-2008), market rates and charts gave a good heads up on where the currency is headed when the banks open after the holiday, weekend, etc. The market is what you check when you're anticipating an exchange. No... it's not a foolproof tactic, or everybody would do it. But it does give you a little bit of an edge. Somebody just checking a bank rate today has no idea what the Colon has been doing since January, or how it's trading now. note: neither do I... haven't been watching the Colon lately, but I hope to be in CR July 2019

On any given day that the banks are open, you can bet that the bank's buy/sell rates split the market rate. If they don't, you can literally make free money by exchanging cash. No bank is going to let that happen unless it's due to a monumental mistake.

Mainly, though, xe.com is just a good source for trip planning. Checking today's rates for a trip next week at each and every bank just isn't intuitive for most travelers. Check the exchange today and it's got BCR and BN both right in the center of the split. Or just sign up for email alerts and get the day's close every day.

One thing you can tell by checking some of the bank rates earlier today, vs. xe.com, I noticed, is that some of them must really want U.S. Dollars badly. I wonder why?

As always, YMMV and do what works for you... I will.

Hey Netgems!!! Your December prediction for the exchange rate to go over 600 will be a little late!!

And, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TODAY??????????

CLOSING TODAY: 614-615 COLONES TO THE DOLLAR DEPENDING ON THE BANK AND A COUPLE ARE EVEN HIGHER--ONE IS 617!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have colones and want dollars you will have to pay c627 to c630 to get one dollar!! My rent has gone down this week by $40 a month!!!! Everywhere I have lived since moving here the rent has been in dollars so as the rate went up, my rent went up. Not really because the dollar did not change and my money is in dollars but when the landlord changed my dollars to colones he got more !! Now I pay in colones so when the rate goes up, I have to use fewer of my dollars to get the colones to pay the rent!! Love it!!

Sadly the answer to my earlier question about what happened today is: Costa Rica's economy and indebtedness is getting worse with no solution in sight!! In the long run this is going to hurt all of us, especially us who live here. Inflation is going to go thru the ceiling!!

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Old and retired but still bang, and bang, and bang!!!