I received my DNI not too long ago. Recently, I went to get a credit card with Santander however they advised that they do not issue credit cards to people with temporary residence (as detailed on the back of my DNI). I am not eligible for permanent residence yet.
Both Reba and Naranja came back as not being able to offer me their credit cards, I am assuming because I have no credit history.
How do you get a credit card as a temporary resident?
Are there any banks that issue credit cards to temporary residents with or without credit history and/or a secured credit card?
What's the easy way to build credit history here? Some type of insurance or mobile plan?
To obtain a credit file in Argentina is any registration required with any company like Veraz/Equifax?
Surely another other person who has immigrated to Argentina has faced this issue.
From my own experience and contacts at various banks: Hard if not imposible without knowing someone / investing a huge amount at a bank to make an exception. Even then they will need to see your pay slips or Argentine tax returns to prove solvency. Foreign documents count for nothing unless the money is declared in Argentine on an AFIP return or at least remitted to Argentina and recorded by an Argentine accountant and escribano on a statement of income.
Apparently there is some vague/ implied BCRA rule that temporary residents can’t have access to consumer credit so most banks don’t dare. Banco la Nación takes it even further and their security guards often won’t even let temps in the door to even
speak to someone about opening an account there! (They literally told me at three different branches to come back after 3 years once permanent as temp foreigners are forbidden from opening an account - this was a few years back mind you)
That said Wilobank DO send you a mastercard credit card - but good luck getting a limit beyond a few hundred pesos as a temp. Perhaps someone else here succeeded in making it useful?
Also MercadoPago will give temps a small credit line to pay in installments using MercadoLibre.
All depends on the income and employment status linked to your CUIL I suppose - which financial institutions cross check and have access to - if you’re not here working or earning en-blanco, it may be even more difficult to get if not.
Another important thing to consider is that now days the government are cracking down on access to dollars. To open a NEW dollar account (or buy or sell dollars officially) you need a Certificado Negativo from ANSES that says you have made your tax returns and have not received any form of subsidy, never refinanced consumer credit or exceeded your dollar limits or committed some other public financial transgression. You can check online at ANSES but it must actually say in big red letters “unable to emit certificate” on the certificate (logic go figure...) For this reason there are understood to be less than 400.000 people in Argentina who can actually get this certificate and thus buy dollars or open new USD accounts. This impacts eligibility for any Bundled product that includes USD accounts by default, such a premium and private banking packages.
