So I dont change US dollars in the dr.
Do you guys who do get the same exchange rate, or less or more, when sending from abroad ?
I notice it when i send myself CHF ( picked up in DOP ) that the exchange rate is better compared to when I change them here.
50.21 to the CHF as opposed to just under 50 here.
Strange no ? Considering the dr needs foreign currency.
The transfer services such as Xoom.com offer worse exchange rates, and I am better off bringing USA dollars to an
agencia de cambio. Many dominicanos in USA know that it is better to send dollars to a family member, and despite the transfer fee, that is better than sending dollars for pesos, because the exchange rate is where the transfer company cleans up.
The best rates are available but the delay is a factor, by depositing a USA dollar cheque into a dollar account in the Dominican Republic (if you can manage to open one with all the bureaucratic obstacles) and now you can withdraw dollars and bring them to wherever you get the best rate. Some
agencia de cambio are licensed and legit whilst others are informal but still decent. If you left your passport at the hotel bring your dollars to an
agencia de cambio, not a bank. There is no opportunity for money laundering because you are only exchanging banknotes for banknotes, not depositing anything.
One time I exchanged dollars and later read about the
Banco Central cracking down on the informal ones, but these are like, a pharmacy that needs dollars to pay invoices so they open an exchange window to buy the dollars that the customers received in their
remesas. Others are peddlers just trying to make a few pesos on the split between buy and sell rates.
