Atm Fees

[r2d2]

Just tried it again, my 2 Dutch debit cards and even one Dutch Credit Card (Mastercard, though in NL these are deducted automatically at the end of the month, so. they are more like a delayed-debit card) all did not work in several Banelcos.
They only worked in Banco de Nacion, where the limit was 1000 pesos, with a charge of 83,40 pesos (!) in addition of the 2 euro or so my Dutch bank will charge.
So that was a one-time experiment for now.

The good news is that I just made a debit payment in a shop, against the official (good) Euro rate, without any local costs and only 0,15 Euro bank costs, so it seems that is the way to go now.

Sometimes the issuing banks reject the transactions if you do not have a travel notification on the card. So you might maybe try that. Also do your cards have chips?

 

[Patagone]

Sometimes the issuing banks reject the transactions if you do not have a travel notification on the card. So you might maybe try that. Also do your cards have chips?

Cheers; you are correct aout the travel limitations, but I have mine enabled for all continents/countries (they all work in Chile for example and also work in Banco Nacion). All cards have chips, which were used when paying debit in a shop.

 

[r2d2]

So the issue might be that your cards have chips but the ATM's you tried in Argentina were not equipped with a chip reader.

 

[Lucy_indisquise]

Hi,

this post is a bit older but the problem persists.
Has anyone found a ATM/Cajero that doesn't charge ridiculous fees?

 

[glasgowjohn]

Hi,

this post is a bit older but the problem persists.
Has anyone found a ATM/Cajero that doesn't charge ridiculous fees?

they all charge too much unless you are with soem bank that refunds you..

 

[Rich One]

Cheers; you are correct aout the travel limitations, but I have mine enabled for all continents/countries (they all work in Chile for example and also work in Banco Nacion). All cards have chips, which were used when paying debit in a shop.

A purchase with a CC with Chip at a merchant will go through without problems, because it also has magnetic strip. An ATM extraction is a Different ISSUE old ATM's can't handle Chips.

 

[WienerDog]

Hi,
actually all ATM are now (starting 1 of May) charging additional 85 Pesos for each withdrawal. Or did someone find a ATM where you must not pay?

 

[Lucy_indisquise]

Hi!
That exactly what I mean or am looking for. It's ridiculous how expensive the charge is.

 

[Ceviche]

It's ridiculous how expensive the charge is.

Not only in Buenos Aires. Recently, I withdrew 1300 Singapore dollars in Singapore and was charged almost 40 usd as ATM fees combined with all charges

 

[ElQueso]

Hi!
That exactly what I mean or am looking for. It's ridiculous how expensive the charge is.

Welcome to Argentina

It's only about $6 USD, or around 3.4% on max withdrawal at 2500 pesos - not really all that much (taken in context that we are in Argentina, not the US or Europe), until you think about the fact that there is such a small limit on withdrawals. That's what makes it unreasonable. But after the insanity of the last 3-4 years, it's not a bad thing to get a few K pesos out of the ATM for convenience sake now and then, these days.

I'm hoping they'll up the limits on withdrawals when they issue the larger bills. As I understand at least one of the problems, they have to limit the amount per transactions as well as the number of transactions, with a higher price per transaction to help discourage repeat withdrawals, because the machines only dispense 50 and 100 pesos notes (mostly 100s now, certainly) and larger transaction limits require more bills in the machine, which only hold so much cash. They would be filling the cash machines all day if you could take a lot more out.

So I guess they should be able to have as much as 5 times more money in machines if they are loaded with 500 pesos notes (although I understand they may not be as quick to arrive as the 200 peso notes). Maybe they could double or triple the limit on transactions, which makes the desire for multiple transactions less and they can maintain a higher transaction price to discourage multiple transactions, although both the discouragement and need for discouragement will have abated somewhat because doubling the amount per transaction but quintupling the amount in the machines leaves room for growth (with 500 peso notes, of course).

I don't know, some change is in order, but for most Argentines, I don't think this is an onerous limit. It hits more people with money and 2500 pesos is more than many (if not most?) Argentinos are likely to pull out in a week, much less over a day or two. It sure does hurt tourism, though, to some extent.