How to pay abroad: what each international payment platform costs Chileans

Knowing how to pay abroad weighs more and more on a travel budget. Chileans made 3.44 million trips abroad in 2025 and spent US$ 2,979.7 million, according to SERNATUR data compiled by Turespaña. With the observed dollar at CLP 994.29, the latest value published by the SII (October 27), every percentage point in fees adds up.

The payment method changes the final cost. Paying by card, with PayPal, with a digital wallet or by sending a transfer are not the same. We reviewed the official fees of the main international payment platforms and World Bank data.

CLP 994.29

Observed dollar

SII, October 27, 2026

4.5%

PayPal currency conversion

when paying from Chile

5.1%

Sending money from Chile

average cost, World Bank

Source: SII, PayPal and World Bank

View the data as a table

Observed dollar	CLP 994.29 | SII, October 27, 2026
PayPal currency conversion	4.5% | when paying from Chile
Sending money from Chile	5.1% | average cost, World Bank

How to pay abroad: the four most common options

Each payment method has its own cost. To decide how to pay abroad, these are the most common options for Chileans and how they charge:

Option	How it charges	What to check
Credit or debit card	Exchange rate on the day the purchase is processed, plus each bank's international use fee	Your bank's fee for purchases abroad and whether it charges maintenance in dollars
PayPal	No cost if there is no currency conversion; a 4.5% spread on the exchange rate when paying in another currency from Chile	The currency the purchase is charged in
Wise	Mid-market exchange rate and a fee shown before you pay	The fee for each currency and amount
Digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)	They use the card you have registered, with the same fees	That your bank allows the card to be used in the destination country

To compare against a reference value, you can check what each currency is worth today in InfoByData's currency converter, updated with data from the SII, the European Central Bank and other central banks.

International payment platforms: what each one charges

PayPal. Buying with PayPal "has no cost, unless it involves a currency conversion," according to its fee page for Chile, updated on October 28, 2026. When there is a currency conversion, PayPal applies a 4.5% spread on the exchange rate for payments from Chile. Converting money received carries a 3.5% spread, and all other conversions, 3.0%.

Wise. The platform says it uses "the mid-market exchange rate" and charges a fee it shows before each transfer, according to its pricing page. The fee depends on the currency and the amount.

Digital wallets. Apple Pay works in Chile and in 15 other Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Mexico. The wallet does not change the cost: the charge is made by the card you have registered.

Cards. Each bank sets its own fee for use abroad, so it is worth checking it in your contract or app before traveling. The charge uses the exchange rate on the day the purchase is processed, which may differ from the day you paid.

A key detail on how to pay abroad: when a shop or ATM abroad offers to charge you in Chilean pesos, that business does the conversion with its own exchange rate. This is called dynamic currency conversion. Choosing to pay in the local currency leaves the conversion to your bank or platform.

How much it costs to send money from Chile abroad

If instead of paying for a purchase you need to send money (to pay rent, a course or to help a relative), the cost is higher. According to the World Bank, sending money from Chile costs on average 5.14% of the amount (2023 data, the latest published). The United Nations target for 2030 is for that cost to stay below 3%.

From Chile5.14%

To Peru3.57%

UN target3%

To Colombia2.43%

To Brazil2.42%

Source: World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide (2023) and Sustainable Development Goal target 10.c

View the data as a table

From Chile	5.14%
To Peru	3.57%
UN target	3%
To Colombia	2.43%
To Brazil	2.42%

In money terms, with the observed dollar at CLP 994.29, the difference looks like this:

Cost	Per US$ 1,000 sent	In Chilean pesos
Average from Chile (5.14%)	US$ 51.40	CLP 51,106
PayPal spread when paying in another currency (4.5%)	US$ 45.00	CLP 44,743
UN target (3%)	US$ 30.00	CLP 29,829

The cost of sending money also varies by destination country: to Colombia and Brazil the average is close to 2.4%, and to Peru, 3.6%.

Before you travel: the exchange rate also counts

Knowing how to pay abroad is half the calculation. The other half is how much your destination's currency has risen. This summer, the Argentine peso and the euro are the currencies that became the least expensive for Chileans, as we showed in our analysis of exchange rates for vacations abroad.

In addition, more than 70% of Chileans who traveled abroad in 2025 went to a neighboring country, 7.6% to the United States and 6.3% to Europe, according to the same Turespaña report.

Fees can change at any time. Always check your bank's or platform's current terms before paying. This article is for information only and is not a recommendation of any financial product.