Currency rate to use for USD check to pay for services?

vmhatup

Member
Aug 18, 2009
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Banco Popular has two rates:
COMPRA - 37.75
VENTA - 38.10

I will be writing a check (in USD) for a service that I will be purchasing. The company is charging me in pesos for the service. So I need to convert the DOP amount in USD, and then write the check for that USD amount.

Which currency should I use?

Thanks.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Find somebody that will cash your check. I cashed a check this morning at 38 to 1.

HB
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Sorry scratch my above post, it should be the Compra price but that is currently 38 from what I just read.
 

vmhatup

Member
Aug 18, 2009
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Remember that they are charging me in pesos. So I need to convert that amount in dollars and then write a check to pay for the services.

What would be cheaper for me:

1) do what Hillbilly suggested? Who would do this in Santiago?
2) Or use the rate of Banco Popular (at 37.70) or any other bank, convert from pesos to dollars, and write the check in USD?

Thanks.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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Remember that they are charging me in pesos. So I need to convert that amount in dollars and then write a check to pay for the services.

What would be cheaper for me:

1) do what Hillbilly suggested? Who would do this in Santiago?
2) Or use the rate of Banco Popular (at 37.70) or any other bank, convert from pesos to dollars, and write the check in USD?

Thanks.

You can go to any cambio and ask the rate.... when you hear 38 (they usually use the calculaator to show you)... you're in business.

Calculate how much US $$ you need .... give the cambio the check and take the pesos to pay your bill.

Whenever I pay by check (in DRP), they always come back the next day to ask for more pesos.... to cover the amount the cambio charged to cash my check !!!

I pay the fee at either end........ so I pay in cash when possible
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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yahoomail.com
Casa de cambio!

REmember,you can't just walk into a bank and cash a check.IT will have to clear in the USA before they pay you,THAT can take weeks. Those of us who live here have a relationship at the exchange house of our choice. I have been using the same place since 1986. he will cash my personal check,in US dollars,on my US accounts for up to $100,000 dollars. No Fee!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

I"used" to take people I met here to introduce to the owner,not anymore! Too many wrote too many,,"bad paper"!
Guess they didn't realize they couldn't get "Home Free" just because they left the DR! :bandit::dead::dead::dead:
 

JuanDolioLiving

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Sep 7, 2010
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I say cash the check and get it in USD and then go to one of those exchange money places and change the dollars to pesos because the bank will give you the lesser exchange rate which is 37.75.
 

belmont

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Oct 9, 2009
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No Fee !!!!

I don't get it !

'Splain it to me Lucy...

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Wonder why the cambio will give you the same exchange for a check as they will for cash? Check out who has the last endorsement when you get the cancelled check back. Usually a business (like a pizzeria in the Bronx) that probably bought the check from the cambio for a premium. They are probably laundering some of their cash and are able to deposit a check to legitimatize it.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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"Duh Ya Think"/???????

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaah" :bandit::bandit::bandit:

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
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Please remember, when CCCCCCCCC and WWWWWWWWWWWW are in jail.

Put a hacksaw in the birthday cake

Aiding and abetting.....

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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Please remember, when CCCCCCCCC and WWWWWWWWWWWW are in jail.

Put a hacksaw in the birthday cake

Aiding and abetting.....

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

How about a real answer?
Unless one has a relationship with a cambista you are not getting the BID/OFFER price.
Without collateral or a "relationship" you are at the mercy of the banking douchebags.
So this is a two pronged question.

tamborista cambista
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
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Here's a story..... about how I met my cambista and lived happily everafter..:

I was having work done at mi casa and was paying the maestro by check.... i use my checkbook infrequently, preferring cash, but was using checks this time.

Everything was hunky dory.................. until the last check, for about $1400US written in pesos on ScotiaBank.

It seems my checks were the old format and their life came to an abrupt end just before my final payment.

The worker had taken the check to the cambista and got his money.......
Then the check came back.... unable to cash!! The cambista was high and dry.

The poor cambista had never met me- didn't know me- nada

BUT........ Cabrera is Cabrera and he began to do his homework.
He found people who knew me and got the messge to me.

Now, how am I going to repay him with no functioning checks?
I drove to Nagua (nearest ScotiaBank) and got the cash equivalent ........... and ordered new checks at the same time.

My new best friend, upon meeting me with a handful of pesos gave me the full Dominicano treatment....
Hand shakes and bear hug on the main street.

I now get a good rate from my new friend.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Whenever I pay by check (in DRP), they always come back the next day to ask for more pesos.... to cover the amount the cambio charged to cash my check !!!

If your check is in DRP from a DR bank, the suppliers have absolutely no right to charge you more if you pay by check. Simply refuse. They have an option to cash the check in the bank on which it is drawn (e.g. Popular, Progreso, BHD, Leon, etc.) or deposit it into their own account in any DR bank and wait for the check to clear.

I get 90% of payments from my clients in check, and I do go cash them at their bank, when they are made to me. Some checks made to the company are deposited on my business account and pass the bank clearing process (checks made to businesses cannot be cashed). If THEY want a convenience of cashing your perfectly legal DR check in a casa de cambio, and they get hit with a fee, it's THEIR problem. They can go check the cash to YOUR bank or deposit the check at THEIR bank. Nobody is asking them to go through casa de cambio. Period! Refuse to being screwed; you are paying THEIR expenses they incur for THEIR convenience. I have yet t see ONE Dominican that pays one peso more because he is paying with check!
 
Last edited:
Feb 7, 2007
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It seems my checks were the old format and their life came to an abrupt end just before my final payment.
The worker had taken the check to the cambista and got his money.......
Then the check came back.... unable to cash!! The cambista was high and dry.

I am sure it happened but I am unsure why they were unable to cash that check. The old check format expired last August 18th (2010), I think, and I THOUGHT that was the end of it, (it was like the 3rd extension by Superintendencia de Bancos, and at that time according to reports 99.5% of all entities using checks, personal or business, already had new check formats on hand, or ordered and printing). Then, my bank circulated a memo in MARCH this year saying that NO MORE old checks accepted period. That means, that between August and March, the odd old-format checks were still being accepted.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
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I am sure it happened but I am unsure why they were unable to cash that check. The old check format expired last August 18th (2010), I think, and I THOUGHT that was the end of it, (it was like the 3rd extension by Superintendencia de Bancos, and at that time according to reports 99.5% of all entities using checks, personal or business, already had new check formats on hand, or ordered and printing). Then, my bank circulated a memo in MARCH this year saying that NO MORE old checks accepted period. That means, that between August and March, the odd old-format checks were still being accepted.

You are correct about the extensions.....my check hit in mid-February.
The two before it (in the 5 days prior)went thru before they shut things down "for good"
They refused that check...... I had just return to RD in January and must have missed all the back and forth about the new format.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
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If your check is in DRP from a DR bank, the suppliers have absolutely no right to charge you more if you pay by check. Simply refuse. They have an option to cash the check in the bank on which it is drawn (e.g. Popular, Progreso, BHD, Leon, etc.) or deposit it into their own account in any DR bank and wait for the check to clear.

I get 90% of payments from my clients in check, and I do go cash them at their bank, when they are made to me. Some checks made to the company are deposited on my business account and pass the bank clearing process (checks made to businesses cannot be cashed). If THEY want a convenience of cashing your perfectly legal DR check in a casa de cambio, and they get hit with a fee, it's THEIR problem. They can go check the cash to YOUR bank or deposit the check at THEIR bank. Nobody is asking them to go through casa de cambio. Period! Refuse to being screwed; you are paying THEIR expenses they incur for THEIR convenience. I have yet t see ONE Dominican that pays one peso more because he is paying with check!

Ya, ya, ya..... you're right - I know it.

One small snag is there is no ScotiBank in Cabrera - it means driving to Nagua to cash the check.
I guess thats why he went to Miguelito ( my cambista)

I'd rather 'switch' than fight.... so i gave him the few pesos to cover him
Just my style..... keeping good in the neighborhood..... trying not to be the Gringo *sshole.

So far, its worked for me............ I dunno ??!!