Payment Methods at Habla Ya | Different ways you can pay for your Spanish Program

Which forms of payments do we accept?

At Habla Ya we know that it's not easy to pay for something that you haven't seen, in a far distant country, miles and miles away: that is why you can PAY UPON ARRIVAL!

We accept the following payment methods:

Cash
Debit & Credit Cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express...)
Direct Deposit to our Bank Account and International Transfers
Checks (Local, Travelers Checks & International)
Money Wire Transfer by Western Union

Unfortunately, at the moment, PayPal account holders in Panama cannot receive money so PayPal is not on option for us.

For Spanish lessons and family home stays no deposits are required.

For eco-adventure tours, certain lodging options and flights we do need a credit card to secure reservations.

And please remember that we also need your Online Registration Form because we do get completly booked!

Cancellations for Spanish lessons and home stays can be made at any time before a program starts without incurring in any type of penalty. For more information about refunds once a program has started please view our cancellation policy.

Eco-adventure tours can be cancelled at least 1 week in advance and not incurr in any type of penalty. If a cancellation for an eco-adventure tour ocurrs within 1 week, a 50% penalty is charged to your credit card. If a cancellation happens within 24 hours of the starting time of a tour, then 100% of the cost of the tour is charged to the customer's credit card.

Each lodging option has its own cancellation policy and we will send them to you before you make your booking.

Panama is a dollarized economy. This means that for practical matters our local currency is the U.S. Dollar (though we call it Balboa). All payments should be made in U.S. Dollars. Prices throughout this website are shown in this currency.

Cash

You can pay all of your fees in cash upon arrival. Boquete has plenty of ATMs where you can withdraw money from if you are traveling with a debit or credit card with a valid PIN number. Within a 1 km radius of our school there are about 5 cash points and a similar amount of banks.

Cost wise it is obviously more convenient to travel with a debit card because many banks do not charge anything for withdraws made in Panama, others allow a certain amount of withdraws per month without any charge and others will charge you around $3 per transaction which is 0.6% per transaction if you withdraw the maximum amount allowed per transaction ($500). On the other hand, if you use your credit card you will probably get charged 3% per withdrawal.

We recommend asking your bank how much they will charge you for using your debit card outside of the country. We also recommend that you let them know that you plan to use your debit and/or credit card while traveling so that it does not get blocked for security reasons when you are trying to use it.

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Credit & Debit Cards

We accept VISA, Mastercard, Dinners and America Express as forms of payment.

For those amounts that are paid directly to us (Spanish lessons, eco-adventure tours and home stays) an extra charge will be added to your bill if you decide to pay with your debit or credit card. Visa, Mastercards, Dinners and International Debit Cards will incur in a 3% extra charge and American Express in a 5% extra charge. Sistema Clave cards will incur in a 2% extra charge. This is what our bank charges us.

We are a small business and cannot afford to not receive a small percentage of the income that we have genuinely earned and hand it over to a bank and to a credit card company. In order to not charge this extra percentage, our prices would have to be increased and it would not be fair to charge everybody for this extra charge (you can pay with cash to avoid this 2% - 5% extra charge). Customers are given the option to pay in cash upon arrival (no deposit is required) without incurring in this cost as we think it's fair to leave our prices lower for those who decide to pay in cash.

You can pay for your Spanish Course, home stay and/or eco-adventure tours in full with a debit or credit card and the extra charge detailed above will be added to your bill.

You can also pay for the following accommodation options with a credit or debit card and NO EXTRA CHARGE charge will be added to your bill: Isla Verde, Boquete Garden Inn, Valle Escondido Resort, Golf & Spa and also for The Panamonte Inn & Spa. The rest of the low-budget hostels offered through us do not accept credit cards and need to be paid in cash, OR you can pay us (we will add the extra percentage to the bill) and we will pay them.

We recommend asking your bank how much they will charge you for using your debit card outside of the country. We also recommend that you let them know that you plan to use your credit card while traveling so that it does not get blocked for security reasons when you are trying to use it.

Direct Deposit to our Bank Account

To make a deposit to our bank account the following information is provided:

Our account number is 03-48-01-060111-1. Our bank is BANCO GENERAL, S.A. - PANAMA, and or company name is: Tourism Generation, Inc.

Electronic money transfer to:
CITIBANK, NEW YORK, N.Y.
SWIFT CODE CITIUS33
ABA 021000089
for final credit to the account of:
BANCO GENERAL, S.A. - PANAMA
ACCT 10951934
SWIFT CODE BAGEPAPA
For Final Credit to: TOURISM GENERATION, INC.
Account number: 03-48-01-060111-1

VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE TAKE NOTE: An intermediary bank in the U.S.A is used to make the transfer to Panama. Please specify that the final credit is for Tourism Generation, Inc., account number 03-48-01-060111-1. YOU ALSO HAVE TO ADD OUR PHYSICAL ADDRESS AND ALSO YOUR OWN ADDRESS. Our address is Central Avenue, Los Establos Plaza, 20-22, Boquete, Chiriquí, Panamá.

Checks

We accept checks from any local bank (from bank accounts within Panama) at no extra cost, on or before the day your course starts.

If you would like to pay with an international check (from a bank account outside of Panama) or a travelers check, we need to receive the check at least 15 days before your course starts and you have to add $5.35 to the total cost of your course to cover the processing fees imposed by the banks in Panama.

Checks from international banks (foreign to Panama) take around 15 days to clear and local banks charge $5.35 to process them.

If you would like to pay with a local or international check check please write the check to TOURISM GENERATION, INC.

If you live in Boquete you can bring the international check to our office at least 15 days before your course commences.

If you live outside of Panama please send the check by mail at least 45 days before you plan to study with us. You can post it to the following address:

Julio J. Santamaría B.
Apartado 0816-00204
Panama, Panama

If your course starts within less than 45 days but more than 25 days you can also send the check by DHL or FedEx. With these services a check normally takes 3 business days to reach us. Please send using the following information:

Julio Javier Santamaría Barría
Telephone 730 - 8344
Habla Ya Language Center, Boquete
Chiriqui, Panama

Please note: once you have sent it to us, please let us know writing us an email to . If the funds for the check have not cleared before your course starts, you will have to select another method to make your payment.

Money Wire Transfer by Western Union

You can make an online wire transfers to Panama using Western Union. If you decide to use this method to make your payment please address payments to:

Julio Javier Santamaría Barría
Cédula 8-749-2495
Boquete, Chiriqui
Panama
Telephone 730 - 8344

Please note: once you have sent the funds please write us an email to letting us know that you have made the payment.

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