Best U.S.-based bank for expats in Argentina

[oaktown]

Hi,
We are moving to Argentina this fall. I think Citibank is the only U.S.-based bank with a location/ATMs in Argentina. Do any of you have recommendations and/or warnings about specific U.S.-based banks in terms of accessing one's money while living in Argentina? In particular, I'm thinking about exchange rates, use of ATMs in Argentina, wire transfers, etc. Does it make sense to open an account with Citibank while we are still in the U.S.? Have others had good or bad experiences accessing their money from specific U.S. banks while in Argentina? Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and advice.

 

[Somewhereinba]

Citibank is closed in Argentina - it was bought out by Santander Rio. No bank here has any relationship to the outside world, even HSBC. Pick a bank based on customer service access (helps to have someone in the bank to answer your queries). ICBC,HSBC,Banco Frances, Santander Rio are the main ones here.

 

[Neil]

Hi,
We are moving to Argentina this fall. I think Citibank is the only U.S.-based bank with a location/ATMs in Argentina. Do any of you have recommendations and/or warnings about specific U.S.-based banks in terms of accessing one's money while living in Argentina? In particular, I'm thinking about exchange rates, use of ATMs in Argentina, wire transfers, etc. Does it make sense to open an account with Citibank while we are still in the U.S.? Have others had good or bad experiences accessing their money from specific U.S. banks while in Argentina? Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and advice.[/QUOTE

Opening an account at a local bank is difficult/impossible for most non-resdidents. Please search this forum for the many topics related to banking ...

Transferwise is preferred by many as a means to send money to a local bank account vs. A traditional wire transfer.

 

[sts7049]

yup, no US based banks here. you will have to open a local account.

as far as accessing your money in the US, it's not difficult. you can either do as mentioned above to transfer money in, keep US credit cards while you are here (paying them with money from your US account), stuff like that.

 

[oaktown]

Thanks for the info, especially about Citibank, as I hadn't known they had closed. And about using Transfer Wise. Although I'd be interested to hear whether anyone has done large transfers with them--i.e. the amount of money one might need to purchase real property.

I probably wasn't entirely clear. I don't need to know about local banks for banking in pesos. My husband is Argentine and has a huge family there, so we can rely on them for recommendations about local banks. I was hoping someone had information about which U.S. bank gives the best exchange rate US$ to AR Pesos and/or has low foreign transaction fees/fees for using a foreign ATM. The last time I lived in Argentina, I opened an account at Citibank in the US and used Citibank ATMs to extract pesos in Argentina in order to avoid foreign transaction and non-Citibank ATM fees. Then I learned that Citibank's exchange rate was much worse than the exchange rate I got on my Bank of America account. I ended up closing my Citibank account and going back to using my BofA card. So, does anyone especially like their U.S. bank for taking out money at ATMs in Argentina--i.e., the exchange rate is good and/or the bank charges a smaller fee for using foreign ATMs? Thanks.

 

[oaktown]

Having searched the forum, it looks like Charles Schwab is the best option because they refund ATM transaction fees:
https://baexpats.org/threads/which-...-card-fidelity-or-charles-schwab.40798/page-2
Has anyone had any negative experiences with Charles Schwab that would make me re-think this?

 

[sts7049]

you will want to find another way to get pesos for "spending money" than using ATMs here. because ATMs have rather low withdrawal limits, and charge insane withdrawal fees. to my knowledge most US banks don't reimburse for international ATM fees. i think schwab does.

 

[Neil]

Regular bank wire transfers from north America to arg. Are now quite inexpensive, as low as .05% of the total amount. However you must provide details as to the origin if the funds and the reason for transfer ie. Property purchase offer etc...

 

[ben]

Regular bank wire transfers from north America to arg. Are now quite inexpensive, as low as .05% of the total amount. However you must provide details as to the origin if the funds and the reason for transfer ie. Property purchase offer etc...

There are people (some on the forum) that can get this done for about the same fee or slightly higher, no questions asked.
You wire money in the US, receive cash here in USD or pesos.

 

[Johnny]

USAA also reimburses for ATM fees, though there is a monthly limit.