Complete novice to B.A - need advice and knowledge please! :)

[lucymay]

Hi there!

Am moving to BA 26th July for 5 months from uk. Will be studying in university here.

Q1) My flatmate and I are looking for an apartment at the moment and vast majority want payment in US dollars, however according to all the estate agents it is very difficult to get hold of dollars. Why? [ we can only afford to pay monthly- otherwise we would just bring the dollars with us!]

Q2) Should I open a bank account here? If so where is the best place/ simplest option?

Q3) Where do I go to get a new sim for my phone so i can make cheap calls within the country instead of using my british sim phone?


I hope there is someone who can help us =]
GRACIAS

 

[LaurenW]

Hey! Welcome to BA. All of your questions are already addressed in many threads. Check the past few pages of recent posts.

1) Bring dollars with you as you can't get them here. Or if you go to Uruguay take them out of ATMs there. You are going to really be glad you brought them though - they go a lot further (6 pesos/dollar vs 4.5 in the atms). try to negotiate a deal in pesos for the apartment if your situation is really complicated. They may make you pay the black market rate for the price in pesos, so it would be better for you to just bring the cash with you.

2) Don't open a bank account... too complicated for just 5 months. Check out the threads on xoom.com for getting easy and above-market rate legal access to cash pesos.

3) You can get a phone and sim card every 5 blocks. Just look for the signs of the major carriers of Claro, Movistar, and Personal. I have a blackberry internet plan but I've heard Movistar has the best pay-as-you-go plan (and you can add credit in any kiosk on pretty much every block).

 

[steveinbsas]

Lauren, your answer was great but the op made it clear that she and her flatmate have access to their funds on a monthly basis and can't bring enough dollars to cover the full five month's rent in advance.

This means that they will have to withdraw pesos at ATM's from their accounts at the "official" rate and change them to dollars each month at the "blue market" rate in order to pay their rent.

That means they may have to pay significantly more in rent each month than they planned...and should change their plans accordingly.

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

Also, with regard to xoom.com-- I'm quite sure you need an American bank account.

 

[LaurenW]

yes completely right Steve. Also I just realized from another thread that xoom only works for Americans (or to clarify, norteamericanos, yanquis, people from the USA). So it may be even more difficult for you with the dollar situation unfortunately. Perhaps there are other better ways to send money for Brits that I am not familiar with!

 

[nicoenarg]

If you're withdrawing money from ATM at the official dollar rate and if your account is in Pounds then consider the following:

1) Convert pounds to dollars at whatever the going rate is.
2) Convert dollars to pesos @ 4.2 to compensate for all the fees
3) Convert pesos back to dollars @ 5-6 which is the blue market rate.

If you know what you're getting into after those calculations, you should be fine.

 

[genialf]

There are plenty of rentals in pesos, especially after the restrictions. I had to move recently die to this and i found a lot more options in pesos than i did 8 months ago when I first got to BA.

 

[el_expatriado]

Hi there!

Am moving to BA 26th July for 5 months from uk. Will be studying in university here.

Q1) My flatmate and I are looking for an apartment at the moment and vast majority want payment in US dollars, however according to all the estate agents it is very difficult to get hold of dollars. Why? [ we can only afford to pay monthly- otherwise we would just bring the dollars with us!]

Q2) Should I open a bank account here? If so where is the best place/ simplest option?

I hope there is someone who can help us =]
GRACIAS

Welcome to the crazy world that is Argentina. Don't worry, there are plenty of ways to get dollars here as long as you have dollars abroad. That is not a big worry. The people who have problems are people who earn their salary in pesos here in Argentina and then need to get dollars. If you already have dollars, pounds, euros, or anything else you can get dollars here.

The issue that people have is that you can't use any of the "normal" methods that people usually use... i.e. credit cards, bank wires, ATM machines. If you do any of that, they give you pesos here and at a really bad exchange rate. The system is set-up to prey on unsuspecting tourists.

The only thing you should do before your trip is make sure you can do bank wire transfers from your account in the UK via the internet. Just send me a private message through this board when you get here and I can refer you to someone who will accept your wire transfer abroad and give you the USD here that you will need to pay your rent.

Many rental agencies that are geared towards foreigners (i.e. Apartments BA) will also have a bank account outside Argentina that you can send the funds to. That's probably the easiest way of doing things in fact. And if you do it that way you don't have to actually get the physical USD bills here in Buenos Aires.

Again, don't hesitate to send me a message if you need help. You'll be fine here, but just get used to the fact that things in Argentina don't work like "normal".

 

[Cordobese]

Agreed...just find a real estate agent that has Paypal or banks outside Argentina. Cant blame anyone for not wanting the peso!

 

[lucymay]

There are plenty of rentals in pesos, especially after the restrictions. I had to move recently die to this and i found a lot more options in pesos than i did 8 months ago when I first got to BA.

Hello there! Which agents did you find the most helpful for this?