How to Use Efecty in Colombia: Cash Bill Pay, Domestic Transfers, and Online-Order PINs

The electricity bill is due, your landlord wants cash, and your Colombian bank account is still three weeks away. This is exactly where the corner payment counter earns its keep. Efecty is the red-and-yellow network most Colombians use for exactly these jobs, and you can use it in pesos with no bank account. One catch up front: for sending or collecting a giro, a tourist passport is not the document Efecty's help page names for foreigners. Details below. Everything here reflects Efecty's published pages as accessed on 18 October 2026, so recheck the point locator, fee, and any PIN expiry at the counter.

What Efecty is, and what it is not

Efecty is the public brand of Efectivo Ltda., a postal-payment operator. It moves cash pesos inside Colombia, collects bills, sells top-ups, and runs a merchant PIN product called e-Efecty. A national giro (a cash money order between two people) falls under Law 1369 de 2009 and is not a check, a wire, or a currency trade.

Three things it is not:

• Not a bank. Efecty's help page names the Superintendencia de Sociedades as overseer and, for postal payments, MinTIC, the CRC, and the SIC.
• Not an exchange house. Efecty's help page says it does not exchange foreign currency. Convert dollars first at a bank, ATM, or transfer service, then walk in with pesos. Our ATM fees guide helps with getting cash first.
• Not an international remittance channel by default. Western Union is offered at some points as a separate service, asking for a 10-digit MTCN plus the sender's name, origin, and amount. Its international answers name the cédula de ciudadanía, so do not assume your foreign ID will work. Ask first.

If you can pay online through your own account, that is usually less hassle. Efecty is the fallback, and honestly, a very good one.

Pay a bill in cash

Bring the paper bill or the reference number. Tell the cashier the company, confirm the convenio (the agreement that lets Efecty collect for that company) matches the name on your bill, pay the amount due, and keep the orden de servicio, your payment receipt.

Efecty's help page says paying public and private bills and services carries no extra charge to the user. It lists more than 450 convenios covering mobile and fixed phones, gas, water, power, subscription TV, schools, and more. That is a big list, not a promise: your particular utility may not be on it, so ask before you queue. If the utility supports it, the online utility payment guide covers the digital route.

Honest downside: lines at month-end can be long, and points differ in hours. The help page gives typical hours of Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., but some points open evenings or Sundays and others do not. Check the locator for your specific point.

Send a domestic giro

A giro lets you hand cash to a clerk in one place and have a named person collect it somewhere else. Pickup can be immediate because points are online. You get a prueba de admisión (proof of sending); the recipient gets a prueba de entrega.

What the sender needs

• An original cédula de extranjería issued by Migración Colombia (your foreign resident ID card). Efecty's help page names this for foreigners; a Colombian passport is a different document meant for Colombians.
• The recipient's full name, ID number, and phone, plus the destination point.
• Cash. Minors cannot send.

First use registers your identity and a fingerprint. Staff may not send or collect a giro for you. If biometrics fail, Efecty's quality document says the customer gets a PIN and must show the original ID each time.

Limits, fees, and windows

• One national giro must be between $5,000 and $3,000,000 COP.
• The sending fee is real. I will not print a table: use Efecty's giro calculator or the in-branch tarificador, which show it on the day.
• A giro of $1,500,000 or less can be collected at any Efecty point. Above that, it is collected only at the point the sender named, unless the sender authorizes another.
• The recipient has 30 calendar days. Then Efecty puts it back at the sender's disposal, and the help page allows up to three months from sending before Law 1369 article 52 treats it as unclaimed (rezago).
• Recipients must be 14 or older; ages 14 to 17 use an original tarjeta de identidad.
• Heavy monthly sending can trigger a declaración de origen de fondos. Efecty's own documents give different cutoffs, so just sign what the clerk presents. Don't split transfers to dodge it.

If the recipient has not collected, the sender can ask to change the beneficiary or return the principal. The sending fee is generally not refunded unless Efecty failed to provide the service. Tracking uses the giro or admission number plus the printed verification digit.

Border exception, narrow: at points in Maicao, Ipiales, Cúcuta, Arauca, and Leticia, a giro of $200,000 or less can be collected with the neighboring country's original ID plus a 150% photocopy left at the point.

Pay an online order with a PIN

Many Colombian web shops offer Efecty at checkout. You choose it, receive a PIN or purchase code, then pay that amount in cash pesos at any point before the merchant's expiry. Keep the orden de servicio; Efecty notifies the merchant. The expiry is the merchant's, not a universal Efecty rule.

Mercado Libre is a handy example. Its payment help page says to choose "efectivo en puntos de pago," pay at Efecty within up to 7 days, and use one payment method per purchase. It also says contraentrega and PayPal are not offered there. A help snippet suggested the deposit credits at once but may take some hours to show, so do not panic if the order status lags. I couldn't confirm that timing, so keep your receipt.

Compare this with paying by card: foreign cards bring their own quirks, covered in our foreign card payment guide.

Rent, domestic workers, and what a giro does not do

Cash sent to a landlord, a domestic worker, or family is simply a giro to that person. It is not a bill convenio, it creates no lease or formal rent receipt, and it is not a social-security payment. If you employ a domestic worker, pension and health contributions go through a separate system; read the domestic worker social security guide. Keep your prueba de admisión as your record, and ask the landlord for a written receipt.

Checks before you hand over cash

• Match the company name on your bill or checkout to the convenio the cashier pulls up.
• Never give cash to someone outside the counter offering to "do the giro" for you.
• Keep every receipt until the payment shows on the other side.
• If the point's story does not match your receipt, call the contact center published on Efecty's service pages.
• Efecty's help page says postal-payment complaints get an answer within 15 business days, citing Law 1369 and CRC Resolution 3038.

Coverage claims on Efecty's own pages vary, from thousands of points to over 8,000 in more than 1,000 municipalities, so use the point locator rather than trusting a headcount.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Can I use Efecty with only a foreign passport?

For a national giro, Efecty's FAQ names a cédula de extranjería issued by Migración Colombia, not a visitor passport. The passport it lists is a Colombian one. Ask the point before you go if you only hold a passport (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ How much can one giro be, and what does it cost?

One national giro must be between $5,000 and $3,000,000 COP. The sending fee is whatever Efecty's calculator or the branch tarificador shows that day, so check it before you commit (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Does Efecty charge to pay a utility bill?

Efecty's FAQ says paying public and private bills and services has no extra charge to the user. Confirm the cashier selects the convenio matching the company name on your bill, and do not pay a stranger's reference (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Can someone else collect the money for me?

No. The named recipient collects with their own original ID and fingerprint, and staff may not collect on anyone's behalf. If the recipient cannot go, the sender can ask to change the beneficiary before collection (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Where and how soon can a giro be collected?

Points are online, so payout can be immediate. A giro of $1,500,000 or less can be collected at any point; larger amounts stay at the named point unless the sender authorizes a change. The recipient has 30 calendar days (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ How do I pay a Mercado Libre order in cash?

Choose "efectivo en puntos de pago," then pay the PIN at Efecty within the up-to-7-day window on Mercado Libre's FAQ and keep the receipt. That FAQ also says it does not offer contraentrega (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ What if a PIN or giro is never paid or collected?

A merchant PIN expires on the merchant's date. An uncollected giro can be returned to the sender or the beneficiary changed before collection, and after the published windows it can fall into rezago under Law 1369 (verify with the official source, as accessed).