Send money to Chile from Canada
Grey converts your balance into Chilean pesos and pays them into accounts at Banco de Chile, BancoEstado, Santander Chile and BCI. Chilean transfers need the recipient's RUT alongside their bank and account number. The rate and the fee appear together before you confirm, and the peso figure your recipient will receive is on the same screen. Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance, so you send from US dollars, pounds or euro.
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Two Canadas send money to Chile
The older half of this corridor dates to the mid-1970s, when Canada took in a large number of Chileans who left after the coup. Those families settled mainly in Toronto, and two generations on the ties have not gone: a parent still in Santiago or Valparaiso, a share of a family property, a cousin's medical costs, a funeral to help pay for.
The newer half is work. Canadian mining companies are heavily invested in Chile, and the engineering, geology, environmental and legal services that follow them are run out of Vancouver and Toronto. That produces a steady flow of peso payments to contractors, field staff and professional firms in Santiago, Antofagasta and Concepcion, on invoices that are written in pesos and expected to be paid in pesos.
Both sides use the same route. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro on Grey, funded by money arriving from a client, an employer or a transfer of your own, and convert into pesos when the payment is due.
Three steps to a Chilean bank account
Sign up
The account is free and takes about five minutes to open with a valid identity document. Verify once and Chile joins more than 80 destinations you can pay.
Fund
Hold your balance in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro. Money arrives into it from a client, an employer or a transfer you make yourself.
Send
Enter the recipient's RUT, their bank and their account number. Read the peso amount, the rate and the fee, then confirm the transfer.
What sending pesos costs
The usual failure on this corridor is not overcharging, it is misdirection. Ask a bank to send Chilean pesos and you are often told to send US dollars and let the recipient sort it out. That moves the conversion, and the cost of it, to the person in Santiago, who has no say in the rate and finds out what they got only after it lands.
Grey quotes Canada to Chile into pesos directly. One conversion, on your side, priced in front of you, and a peso credit at the other end that matches what the invoice or the family agreed.
Why the peso figure does not move after you confirm
The rate on screen when you confirm is the rate applied to the transfer. Nothing is recalculated while the money settles.
That matters where the amount was negotiated. A contractor in Antofagasta quoting a peso figure for a month of work, or a clinic in Santiago quoting for a procedure, needs the exact number. You can confirm it in Vancouver and it is still the number on the Chilean statement.
Grey compared with a wire from your Canadian bank
Interac e-Transfer is no help outside Canada, so the bank route to Chile is an international wire from RBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC. The cost of those wires is a well-worn complaint here, but the more specific problem is that they usually travel as US dollars. The Chilean bank converts on arrival, at a rate the recipient did not agree to and you never see, and deducts its own charges from what is left. Grey converts into pesos before anything leaves, shows the rate and the fee beforehand, and lands a domestic peso credit at Banco de Chile or Santander Chile. It can be tracked from confirmation to settlement rather than chased through a branch.
What the recipient sees in Chile
A peso deposit in the account they already use. They do not need a Grey account, they are not charged by Grey, and there is nothing for them to collect.
Bank account by RUT
Banco de Chile, BancoEstado, Santander Chile and BCI are all reachable, along with other Chilean banks. You need the RUT, the bank and the account number.
It looks domestic
The credit appears on the statement as a peso deposit the recipient recognizes, rather than as an incoming foreign payment waiting to be converted.
Two Grey accounts
If the person in Santiago also uses Grey, a GreyTag transfer between you is instant and free, with no account details to exchange.
How the balance gets funded
Pesos are sent out of a funded balance. For Canadian senders there are three routes into one, and a Canadian dollar balance is not among them.
Client invoices
Independent consultants and engineering firms invoicing outside Canada can be paid into their Grey balance, which removes a step before the Chilean payment.
Employer pay
Pay arriving in US dollars, pounds or euro can land in the matching balance and stay until the peso payment is scheduled.
From you, or by GreyTag
Fund the balance with your own transfer, or receive a GreyTag from another Grey user, which lands instantly and costs nothing.
With money in the balance, a Chilean payment is one conversion and one confirmation, both priced before you agree to them.
Why money goes from Canada to Chile
Contractors and field crews
Drillers, geologists, surveyors and site staff on projects run from Vancouver or Toronto, invoicing in pesos from Antofagasta, Copiapo or Santiago. Paid in pesos, on the invoice figure.
Professional services
Chilean law firms, accountants, environmental consultants and translators working for Canadian companies. Regular, dated invoices where the peso amount is agreed in advance.
Family in Santiago and Valparaiso
Money from Toronto to a parent or an aunt, a contribution to household costs, help with a medical bill, a share of the upkeep on a family property held since the 1970s.
Students and long stays
Rent and living costs for a Canadian student at a Chilean university, or for a relative spending a year there. Landlords and institutions quote in pesos and want pesos.
Four patterns account for most of this corridor, split between the family side and the working side.
Five reasons this route works on Grey
One round of setup, then a short routine each time.
Open a free account, verify with a valid identity document, fund a balance in US dollars, pounds or euro, and save the recipient's RUT and account details once. After that, paying Santiago or Antofagasta is a rate to check and a confirmation to give. Transfers are encrypted and trackable from end to end, and support sits in the app if a payment needs looking at.
FAQs
Why does Grey ask for a RUT when I send to Chile?
Chilean banks identify accounts by the holder's RUT. Grey needs it alongside the bank name and account number to credit the pesos.
Which Chilean banks can Grey pay into from Canada?
Banco de Chile, BancoEstado, Santander Chile and BCI, along with other Chilean banks, using the RUT and account number.
Will my contractor in Antofagasta receive pesos or dollars?
Pesos. Grey converts on your side at a rate you see beforehand, so the invoice amount is what reaches their Chilean account.
Can I hold Canadian dollars on Grey before sending pesos?
No. Balances are held in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, and convert to pesos when you send.
Does my family in Santiago need a Grey account?
No. The pesos arrive as a deposit in the account they already hold, and Grey charges them nothing to receive it.
Is the peso amount fixed when I confirm the transfer?
Yes. The rate is locked at confirmation, so the peso figure shown on screen is the figure credited in Chile.
Can Interac e-Transfer reach a Chilean bank account?
No. Interac e-Transfer stays inside Canada. Grey converts your balance into pesos and credits a Chilean account instead.
Does the credit look like an international payment in Chile?
No. It appears on the statement as a peso deposit, the way a domestic transfer does, with nothing for the recipient to collect.
Can I pay a Chilean law firm or consultancy through Grey?
Yes. Professional invoices are settled in pesos into the firm's account, with the rate and fee shown before you confirm.
How do I fund the balance I pay Chile from?
Through a client, an employer, a transfer you make yourself, or a GreyTag from another Grey user, which is instant and free.
Can I send to Chile and Brazil from the same account?
Yes. One Grey balance pays both, each in its own local currency, alongside more than 80 other destinations.
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