Cash Or Azimo?

[brixtongirl]

Hello everyone,

My husband and I are moving to BA for a few years, er, this weekend. Woop! We are coming from the UK. We have the option of bringing in 15,000 USD in cash between us (so below the 10K/person limit). We've got a remise booked straight to our accommodation and I'm confident that we can safely handle the cash. I just wanted to check that people think the extra hassle of this is worth it, say compared to Azimo, which seems to be the best way to wire electronically from the UK. I'm just about to transfer our £ into $ and had a sudden 'I had better check this is really worth it' moment.

Thank you, and apologies for the naive question!

 

[jbeas176]

there are plenty of people on the forum that can answer your question far better than I can but, I always bring cash in and change as I need to. works 100 % of the time. you are smart to use a remise at the airport. don't walk to the street to get a cab. its the only point of vulnerability when arriving. as for azimo, I don't know what that is. anything that is transferred, if not done correctly, can come under the eye of government regulations and or delays. welcome

 

[jbeas176]

azimo is listed as a part of western union. I would not do that. I believe the government would hold 35% for tax reasons. I also believe you could get that back after a year. everything I just said needs verification. wait for others to respond.

 

[jbeas176]

just used the search function on this site for azimo. glasgowjohn states azimo is good. good luck.

 

[estebandepraga]

Cash is KING! bring 19,990 between you both in USD and that will hold you for a good while only crisp big bills!
and welcome to Argentina ane be aware of the heat and humidity and possible summer blackouts!

 

[French jurist]

Just to shed a different light on the story, and not knowing if the OP knows really well the local idiosyncrasy (don't know judging from the post):
For those who've lived here since a few years. Would you bring 15.000 USD in cash in a local accomodation (what is it? temporary rental, hotel, permanent house?), which represent 200.000 pesos that you will keep for XXX weeks in the place you live?

Sounds a bit worrying (when you go out for dinner, etc.)

 

[ElQueso]

I would definitely bring 15,000 USD down with me in place of trying to find a way to get it down to me later.

Most hotels and many apartments have safes to put the money in. If they didn't, I'd go buy one (less than $100) and hide it somewhere in the room. Sure, there may be a bit of possibility of losing it, but it should be a very small probability if one is careful.

And as the OP says, they feel confident about their ability to keep the cash safe.

100% from me, bring the money down.

 

[Churchill]

azimo is great for us brits, if you can bring USD all the better, but i would echo what frenchie said about having that sort of dosh lying around.

 

[French jurist]

Most hotels and many apartments have safes to put the money in. If they didn't, I'd go buy one (less than $100) and hide it somewhere in the room.

How can you hide & seal this?!

At worst, remove a door from the hinges, dig out a hole beneath the door, put the money/seal & replace, but using a safe would be the last thing I would do.

 

[ElQueso]

I have one in my office, in fact (though it's black), sitting in a relatively small cabinet space with a lot of books in front of it. Of course, I control who enters my apartment and when...

But maybe you're right about the safe standing loose. However, it would be a relatively painless operation to buy a safe and then ask permission to bolt it to the wall (something most guys could accomplish in less than an hour at a price more reasonable than Azimo will charge, I'd think - and I know someone who did exactly that) and I'm betting the owner of the apartment (even if it's a temporary rental) would be tickled pink to be able to offer something like that to the next renter if he doesn't already offer that.

If the OP feels like they can safely hang on to their money, they've probably already scoped out where they're staying and have verified that there is already a safe inside, or have some other option available.

Personally, I would much rather have as much cash with me as I could carry if I were moving here so that I could get moved in and settled into a new life without having to worry pretty soon after moving about how I'm going to get money here. Then they would have (presumably) at least a couple of months to get the money thing sorted out. As long as I felt I could take care of my money, of course.