Central Bank is working to enable dollar debt cards

[MilHojas]

Central Bank working to enable dollar debt cards

Argentina’s Central Bank is working with banks and credit card companies to enable debt cards denominated in dollars.

www.batimes.com.ar

Apparently, they now call 'credit cards' 'debt cards,' likely weighing the chances of paying them off.

 

[antipodean]

Central Bank working to enable dollar debt cards

Argentina’s Central Bank is working with banks and credit card companies to enable debt cards denominated in dollars.

www.batimes.com.ar

Apparently, they now call 'credit cards' 'debt cards,' likely weighing the chances of paying them off.

It is about debit cards linked to USD bank accounts (which in Argentina are issued by two credit card companies Visa and MasterCard) and would function just like a Visa or MasterCard debit card linked to an ARS bank account today.

This story is clear as day in Spanish language media. Seems the editor of the BAtimes should be more diligent in their spell checking.

 

[carride]

It is about debit cards linked to USD bank accounts (which in Argentina are issued by two credit card companies Visa and MasterCard) and would function just like a Visa or MasterCard debit card linked to an ARS bank account today.

This story is clear as day in Spanish language media. Seems the editor of the BAtimes should be more diligent in their spell checking.

It is an article from Bloomberg news, that has been shared with the BATimes partner. The article only mentions Debit cards. Is there something else I missed that is incorrect?

 

[antipodean]

It is an article from Bloomberg news, that has been shared with the BATimes partner. The article only mentions Debit cards. Is there something else I missed that is incorrect?

"Argentina’s Central Bank is working with banks and credit card companies to enable debt cards denominated in dollars."
"Argentina’s Central Bank is working with banks and credit card companies to enable debt cards denominated in dollars, bank chief Santiago Bausili said in a post on X."

They missed an "i'" two times in the sub-header and first paragraph - they never actually mentioned "debit" cards in their article.

 

[LuckyLuke]

The million dollar question is at what exchange rate...and why? What items are priced in dollars except real estate (which nobody wants en blanco)? The merchant has everything priced in pesos, why would anyone use their dollars to buy bread?

Ironically, getting rid of the cepo and forcefully closing any brecha through devaluation makes the USD useless in domestic commerce. The only benefit I could see would be merchants offering discounts on USD purchases so that they can later pay foreign suppliers in USD without having to wait in line for requests to the government for import currency. This would probably only benefit the wholesale sector anyway, not your local store.

Why doesn't the government just get rid of the Dolar Turista while we are at it, since this is the actual benefit of a USD debit card. Oh wait, we can't have that...

 

[carride]

They missed an "i'" two times in the sub-header and first paragraph - they never actually mentioned "debit" cards in their article

Jaja. Good catch.

 

[ArgentinaVet]

The million dollar question is at what exchange rate...and why? What items are priced in dollars except real estate (which nobody wants en blanco)? The merchant has everything priced in pesos, why would anyone use their dollars to buy bread?

Ironically, getting rid of the cepo and forcefully closing any brecha through devaluation makes the USD useless in domestic commerce. The only benefit I could see would be merchants offering discounts on USD purchases so that they can later pay foreign suppliers in USD without having to wait in line for requests to the government for import currency. This would probably only benefit the wholesale sector anyway, not your local store.

Why doesn't the government just get rid of the Dolar Turista while we are at it, since this is the actual benefit of a USD debit card. Oh wait, we can't have that...

At no exchange rate. Businesses can choose to prices their items in dollars and take dollar payments directly to their dollar denominated accounts. This is the entire point, to take the current under the mattress dollars (which are unproductive, dead money) and get them into circulation/ into the system for productive uses and to get the economy moving again.

 

[antipodean]

The million dollar question is at what exchange rate...and why? What items are priced in dollars except real estate (which nobody wants en blanco)? The merchant has everything priced in pesos, why would anyone use their dollars to buy bread?

Ironically, getting rid of the cepo and forcefully closing any brecha through devaluation makes the USD useless in domestic commerce. The only benefit I could see would be merchants offering discounts on USD purchases so that they can later pay foreign suppliers in USD without having to wait in line for requests to the government for import currency. This would probably only benefit the wholesale sector anyway, not your local store.

Why doesn't the government just get rid of the Dolar Turista while we are at it, since this is the actual benefit of a USD debit card. Oh wait, we can't have that...

If the official and parallel rates converge, it would be like in 2018 when using a foreign currency debit/ credit card to pay amounts in pesos was effectively the same as the only rate that mattered was the official. In those days I personally almost always used a foreign card for transactions in pesos as it was just more convenient for my situation at the time.

The dolar turista (for Argentine cards
in pesos doing transactions in foreign currencies) is slated to end when the PAÍS tax is removed at the end of the year.

 

[LuckyLuke]

At no exchange rate. Businesses can choose to prices their items in dollars and take dollar payments directly to their dollar denominated accounts. This is the entire point, to take the current under the mattress dollars (which are unproductive, dead money) and get them into circulation/ into the system for productive uses and to get the economy moving again.

I don't know that anyone with dollars under the mattress who watched them go from 200% the value of a peso to 0% would be happy about putting them to use...but you are right, they may as well do something with it now it has no current "hedging" value.

 

[A Antares]

I don't even try anymore to keep up with all the nebulous gimmicks, exchange rates, schemes, hocus pocus and chicanery of the Argentino economic system. It's like watching W.C. Fields selling snake oil out of a carnival wagon. No sane country runs it's monetary policy as Argentina does. Thus, the nine defaults.

I use a financiero for either dollars or pesos and WU as a backup for pesos. The exchange rate is whatever it is. I don't care. It's the cost of being here and not worth quibbling over. Sometimes I get a good deal and other times not. Over the long term, it eventually balances out.

It's not worth the mental aggravation of trying to squeeze an extra 0.5% or 1% out of an exchange rate or credit card transaction. BCRA policy is, and has been, a basket case for decades, a national Three-card Monte hustle that reminds me of the Khan El Khalili bazaar in Cairo. No thanks. Life is short. And time is money.