Pay in Pesos, Not Dollars: How Dynamic Currency Conversion Works in Colombia

If you pay with a foreign card in Colombia, sooner or later the terminal will ask a question: pay in dollars, or pay in pesos? It looks like a courtesy. It is a product, and it is sold to the merchant. Choosing dollars, or having it chosen for you, typically costs several percent more than the same purchase in pesos.

TL;DR

• Always choose Colombian pesos (COP). “Pay in your currency” is Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), a conversion done at the terminal at a rate the terminal’s payment provider sets.
• Colombia’s two big acquiring networks sell DCC to merchants and pay the merchant 1% of every DCC sale. The gap you pay is bigger than that 1%. In our co-founder’s case it was about 7%.
• Visa and Mastercard rules say the currency choice must be yours; the terminal must not apply DCC by default.
• Take the terminal in your own hand, choose pesos, read the receipt before you walk away. Check which currency you were actually charged in.
• The same prompt exists at ATMs. Choose pesos there too.

What DCC Actually Is

Dynamic Currency Conversion lets a card terminal convert your purchase from pesos into your home currency at the moment of payment. Instead of your own bank converting the amount later at its rate, the terminal’s payment provider converts it now, at a rate it sets, with its margin built in. You see a tidy number in dollars or euros, and it feels safer than a number in pesos. It is almost always the more expensive option.

Why the Terminal Nudges You Toward Dollars

This is the part most travel guides skip. Colombia’s two main card-acquiring networks both sell DCC to merchants as a product. Redeban markets it as “Paga en tu moneda” and lists it as DCC: built into the terminal, Visa and Mastercard, up to 150 currencies, free for the merchant, and the merchant “recibira un ingreso adicional del 1%” on each DCC purchase, paid monthly. Credibanco’s DCC page says the same: the merchant receives 1% of the value of every purchase made with DCC.

So when a cashier flips the terminal to dollars, or reads the prompt fast, there is a small commercial reason behind it. Nobody has to be a villain. The incentive is simply built into the product.

The 1% is the merchant’s slice. The conversion itself is done by the payment provider at its own rate, and that is where most of the cost sits. The merchant’s 1% incentive is not the customer’s total conversion markup. Our co-founder’s experience below illustrates the difference; it is not a promised or typical saving.

From Vojta, WanderWallet co-founder, currently in Colombia: “This has happened to me at Carulla more than once. The terminal asked dollars or pesos, I chose pesos and declined the conversion, and the receipt still came back in US dollars. When I compared it with the rate my card would have used, the difference was about 7%. It is not a rumor. Travelers describe the same thing in Colombia forums and Facebook groups constantly, and some say they now avoid certain supermarket chains because of it.”

Conversion and Card Fees Are Different Costs

DCC uses the conversion rate offered by the terminal’s payment provider. If you choose COP instead, your issuer processes the foreign-currency purchase under your card’s terms. Your issuer may also charge a foreign-transaction fee, so check those terms separately.

Declining DCC avoids the terminal’s conversion. It does not necessarily remove your card issuer’s fees.

The Rules Are on Your Side

Visa’s Colombia consumer page says merchants and ATMs must give you the option to accept or reject the conversion and must not choose on your behalf, must show both amounts, the rate, and any markup, and must not steer you with colors or font sizes. If you are pressured, Visa’s advice is to decline.

Mastercard’s 2025 DCC guide for merchants is blunter: “No specific currency conversion method may be implemented as the default option.” If the cardholder does not explicitly choose, the transaction must be processed in the local currency. “Automatic DCC is not permitted.” Both options must be equally prominent, the terminal may not re-offer DCC after you chose pesos, and receipt wording like “choice is final” is prohibited.

At the Till: How to Actually Decline It

The currency prompt is meant to be answered by you, not the cashier. Ask for the terminal: “Me lo pasa, por favor.” When the prompt appears, choose pesos, COP, or “sin conversion.” Do not choose anything that says USD, EUR, “tu moneda,” or “con conversion.”

Then read the receipt before you leave. Check the transaction currency, not just whether a COP amount appears. A DCC receipt can show both currencies and the conversion rate.

The Same Trap at ATMs

Colombian ATMs present the same choice on screen, usually after the local ATM fee warning. Choose pesos (“sin conversion” or “continuar sin conversion”). Then your own bank converts at its rate. The ATM’s local fee is separate and applies either way; the amount changes over time, so check the screen rather than any number you read online.

What Colombian Merchants Are Doing Instead of Cards

A quiet shift is underway that makes all of this avoidable. Colombia’s central bank launched Bre-B, an instant-payment system, in late 2025, and by 2026 card terminals across the country can show a Bre-B QR code at checkout instead of taking a card. Pay the QR and there is no card in the loop and no conversion prompt.

Until recently that was a locals-only option, because paying Bre-B needs a Colombian bank or wallet account. WanderWallet now gives visitors that access: scan the Bre-B QR, see the total in pesos and the final cost shown in WanderWallet before you confirm, and pay. Read how our co-founder pays in Colombia day to day, or follow the step-by-step how-to.

Related Guides

• How I Pay in Colombia: Bre-B Transfers and QR – Vojta’s day-to-day experience in Medellin.
• How to Pay in Colombia With WanderWallet – exact in-app steps for direct transfers and QR.
• What Is Bre-B? – the Colombian payment system behind all of this.

Facts and quotes checked September 2026 against the Redeban and Credibanco product pages, Visa Colombia, and Mastercard’s 2025 DCC guide. The approximately 7% difference is Vojta’s personal experience, not a typical savings claim.