Banco LAFISE Costa Rica Exchange Rate API: CRC Buy and Sell Rates as JSON

Banco LAFISE Costa Rica is the Costa Rican bank of the Central American LAFISE group. Its home page shows the day’s buying and selling prices for the US dollar and the euro. This guide shows how to read that board as JSON: what the rates mean, how they compare with the Banco Central de Costa Rica official rate and with other banks in Costa Rica, and the calls that return them.

What the LAFISE board shows

• 2 currencies against the Costa Rican colón: EUR and USD. Every value is CRC per 1 unit of the foreign currency.
• The buy / sell pair. Costa Rican banks post a buying and selling price in colones per US dollar, and some per euro, with a spread of a few percent. The Banco Central de Costa Rica publishes a daily reference rate. The Banco Central de Costa Rica official rate is shown next to each row.
• USD on 15 November 2026: LAFISE bought at 436 and sold at 454 CRC, a spread of 4.04%. The Banco Central de Costa Rica official rate was 448.37, so the bank's mid sat -0.75% from it.
• The bank's own timestamp. The page prints a last-updated stamp (2026-11-15 on the board above), returned as bank_updated_at next to our captured_at.
• Every day's board is kept permanently, from 14 November 2026. Read one past day with ?date=, or a range for one currency with the /history endpoint (paid plans).

Spreads across the board

On the 15 November 2026 board the spreads were USD 4.04%, EUR 13.81%. Spread is (sell − buy) ÷ mid: what a round trip through the bank costs, before any fees. The API returns it on every row as spread_pct, so you can rank currencies or alert when a bank widens its board.

USD at LAFISE and other banks in Costa Rica

USD on the 4 boards AllRatesToday reads in Costa Rica, all captured on 15 November 2026 (the Banco Central de Costa Rica official rate was 448.37):

LAFISE had the 3rd narrowest USD spread of the 4. One call to /api/v1/bank-rates/cr returns every board in the table at once.

Get the board (REST)

You need an API key; the free key works. The full board:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/cr/lafisecr" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

What comes back (the 15 November 2026 board, first three rows):

{
  "bank": "lafisecr",
  "name": "Banco LAFISE Costa Rica",
  "country": "cr",
  "quote_ccy": "CRC",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-15",
  "basis": "Buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:53:08.774Z",
  "rates": [
    {"ccy":"EUR","buy":466.52,"sell":535.72,"mid":501.12,"spread_pct":13.809,"official":495.72,"vs_official_pct":1.089},
    {"ccy":"USD","buy":436,"sell":454,"mid":445,"spread_pct":4.045,"official":448.37,"vs_official_pct":-0.752}
  ],
  "disclaimer": "…",
  "attribution": { … }
}

One currency, with the row fields at the top level:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/cr/lafisecr?ccy=USD" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

{
  "bank": "lafisecr",
  "name": "Banco LAFISE Costa Rica",
  "country": "cr",
  "quote_ccy": "CRC",
  "bank_updated_at": "2026-11-15",
  "basis": "Buy / sell",
  "captured_at": "2026-11-15T11:53:08.774Z",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 436,
  "sell": 454,
  "mid": 445,
  "spread_pct": 4.045,
  "official": 448.37,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.752,
  "disclaimer": "Retail buy/sell rates as displayed on each bank’s own website at capture time, quoted as home currency per 1 unit of foreign currency. Indicative only: banks change these through the day, apply them at the counter or in-app, and they are not official or reference rates. For the rate a regulation names, use the central-bank endpoints.",
  "attribution": {
    "source": "Board rates published by Banco LAFISE Costa Rica on its own website, collected by AllRatesToday",
    "bank_url": "https://www.lafise.com/blcr/",
    "url": "https://allratestoday.com/bank-exchange-rate-api/cr/lafisecr/",
    "terms": "Public pages that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com"
  }
}

The board as it stood on a past day:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/cr/lafisecr?date=2026-11-14" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

One currency over a date range, one row per day (paid plans; add &format=csv, xml or xlsx for a file):

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/cr/lafisecr/history?ccy=USD&from=2026-11-14&to=2026-11-15" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

JavaScript

npm install @allratestoday/sdk

import { AllRatesToday } from '@allratestoday/sdk';

const client = new AllRatesToday({ apiKey: 'art_live_your_key' });

// Banco LAFISE Costa Rica's USD row
const r = await client.bankRates('cr', { bank: 'lafisecr', ccy: 'USD' });
console.log(`LAFISE buys USD at ${r.buy}, sells at ${r.sell} CRC`);

// The board as it stood on a past day
const past = await client.bankRates('cr', { bank: 'lafisecr', date: '2026-11-14' });
console.log(past.snapshot_date, past.rates.length);

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/bank-rates/cr/lafisecr",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"},
    timeout=10,
)
r.raise_for_status()
for row in r.json()["rates"]:
    print(row["ccy"], row["buy"], row["sell"], row["spread_pct"])

Board rate or official rate?

The Banco Central de Costa Rica rate is the one tax, accounting and customs rules in Costa Rica name; nobody transacts at it. LAFISE's board is the price a customer actually gets. The API puts both on every row: official is the central bank's rate for the same currency and vs_official_pct is how far the bank's mid sits from it. Use the board to show customers a real price, compare banks for a remittance, or keep a dated record of what the bank quoted; use the Banco Central de Costa Rica endpoint when a rule asks for the official rate.

FAQ

Where do the Banco LAFISE Costa Rica rates come from?

From the bank's own public rates page (https://www.lafise.com/blcr/), read hourly. AllRatesToday does not change the numbers: each row is the buy and sell price LAFISE shows, with the mid, the spread and the Banco Central de Costa Rica rate added.

Are these the official CRC exchange rates?

No. They are LAFISE's retail prices for customers. The official rate in Costa Rica is the Banco Central de Costa Rica rate, which the API returns as official on each row where the central bank has one, and in full from the central-bank endpoint.

How often is the LAFISE board updated?

AllRatesToday reads the page every hour. The bank's own last-updated stamp is returned as bank_updated_at, so you can tell a fresh read of an unchanged board from a new board.

Can I get LAFISE rates for a past date?

Yes, from 14 November 2026 onward; every day's board is kept permanently. Add ?date=YYYY-MM-DD for one day: the response is the board captured that day, or the nearest earlier day within five days, with date_requested and snapshot_date added. For a range, /history?ccy=USD&from=…&to=… returns one row per day as JSON, CSV, XML or XLSX on paid plans.

Do I need an API key?

Yes. Commercial bank boards need an API key; any plan works, the free key included, and each call counts against the plan. Public pages or widgets that show the rates need a visible link to allratestoday.com.