www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I'm thinking about setting up an account with epassporte. I would have an ATM card, and want to be sure I can use it in CR.



I assume that the ATH's around San Jose display the Visa logo, but could anyone confirm this?

Also, has anyone happened to use epasspote?

Visa is the most widely accepted credit/debit card in Costa Rica

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

I think 5% or $5 per $100 is a little steep to load the card.

Am not familiar with epassporte but it sounds similar to the Visa Electronic debit card, issued by Scotia Bank in Costa Rica, except there is no charge to load it since it is not a pre-paid card. The card has no raised numerals or letters on the face and can only be used at electronic terminals.

It can be used at ATM machines in CR.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

careful with epass:

http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?t=764666

Thanks for responses guys...I agree that five dollars per one hundred is an insane amount to load the card, but it is the only way for a mobile person (i. e. without a permanent address) to get money out of sports and poker sites so I need to learn about it.

It doesn't quite smell right to me, so I'm trying to go into using it with my eyes as wide open as they can be.

YMMV that link wasn't working when I clicked it. What does it say?

If you chose to use epassporte and you travel a bunch, make sure of 3 things:
1) let them know in advance when you plan on using the card outside of the country. If you don't (even as an ATM card) you may not have access to your funds.
2) Avoid buying gas, resturant meals, hotel reservations, and anything else where they put a hold on a larger amount of money than you actually spend. For epassporte, they will wait the full 30 days before they release the funds back to you.
3) Have a method of getting all or most of your money out of the accounts quickly. Not only do we have to worry about people gaining access to your account via hacking, but with the U.S. government shutting down a lot of these e-money companies. You may wake up one morning and find that epassporte has been raided, and you won't have access to your money.

Do the online poker places charge $5 per $100 to load an epassporte card? If they do, they're ripping you off. epassporte charged me $5 per $100 when I would put money in my own account from a credit card. However, when I am paid by my sponsors (I run adult websites) the sponsors only charge a $1.50-2 few for putting money in my epassporte account. They actually charged me less to put the money in epassporte than they do to just mail me the check (which takes and additional week MINIMUM, usually 2 , to get the money). Last time I checked, you could move your money from epassporte to a regular bank checking account either for free or a small fee.

Consider getting a bank account in Costa Rica, or where ever you hang your head the most. You could easily transfer your money from epassporte into your bank account with few problems.

Hope This Helps.

I've never heard of epassporte, but i did check out the website and i was not impressed. epically 5, as I said before, by the 5% loading fee. there are many other optiond that seem much better. the first that comes to mind is the green dot service that is now available at walmart. you can load up to $5000 on it at a time for a charge of, i think $3.95 or some such ammount. the website is https://www.greendotonline.com but you can get them almost anywhere now. they have a list of stores where you enter your zip code and it comes up with about 200 places for every one i have ever tried.

another option is a secured credit card, and i have had some good luck with the bank of america card. you pay $29 per year for the card and they open a special account for you that you deposit from $300 up to $5000 into and you cannot touch that money until you close the account. simply put, that is your credit limit. you use the card, and you pay the bill, you don't touch that money, and neither do they.


hope this helps.


another option