Dollars in Uruguay?

[Nortesur]

Is there any way to send dollars to yourself in Uruguay? I don't want to have to just use the ATM's because of daily limits, but to be able to send myself money in larger amounts and be able to pick it up in dollars. Is there a way to do this either with a cash purchase with card or with wire transfer? Can you send dollars to yourself with Western Union? Is there another service to do this either in Colonia or Montevdeo? I know Cambio Gales was recommended by some, however they no longer take any new clients without a personal introduction.

Has anyone tried sending via walmart2world service offered from Walmart in collaboration with moneygram to Uruguay? It appears the limit is 10k and the fee is $16 with USD pick up available.

 

[on the brink]

An aside: I have found that in Argentina, most places reject "marked" bills. Only totally clean, unmarked bills are accepted - no tearing, broken corners, writing, stamps, or stains of any kind.

Does anyone know why? In the States, having three corners of a bill is enough for a bank to replace it with a new one.

 

[Aztangogirl]

Whereas steveinbsas posted in the other thread Peso what level do you see it this year? that the receiver can set up the transfer as a guest without opening a WU account on line. Does it make a difference either way?

It does make a difference if you have a WU account. I earn points, so the fee for the transfer goes down. Right now it is $5. for $1000.. And since I use it every month, I get my transfer the same day. No waiting.

 

[another]

An aside: I have found that in Argentina, most places reject "marked" bills. Only totally clean, unmarked bills are accepted - no tearing, broken corners, writing, stamps, or stains of any kind.

Does anyone know why? In the States, having three corners of a bill is enough for a bank to replace it with a new one.

It's a local idiosyncrasy ( in this case a root of the word being 'idiocy' ). I've had the first shock 10 years ago and ever since tried to exchange one of those a few times out of curiosity, and the result is consistent rejection. Have to give argentina some merit - consistency is a rare commodity here. I attribute it to a 'banana republic' syndrom - they are paranoid, cause they are unsure of the rules out there in the big world? But what they are afraid of will remain a mystery - unless someone here has an close friend working somewhere high up in the local bank and can shed some light on it...

 

[on the brink]

I will make it my mission in life to find out WHY.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

I once asked at a cueva, why they only accepted crisp clean bills and was told that the customers who buy them expect them that way.

 

[another]

I once asked at a cueva, why they only accepted crisp clean bills and was told that the customers who buy them expect them that way.

cause they are used to their own currency always coming fresh from the press right:

 

[xantrk]

As far as I remember from the last cepo, Bitcoin always had a value around the Blue rate. There are now a number of exchanges you can use to transfer money via Bitcoin and cash out in Argentina at a very good rate (which will certainly save a trip to Uruguay to get dollars, which I used to do).

Currently I'm just using Western Union as that has a great rate right now. But I'm considering using Bitcoin in the future.

There is a site called Ripio, which is an exchange in Argentina. That's the one I've signed up with, but there are others.

You can buy $100, $200 USD or whatever of Bitcoin using an exchange outside the country using your foreign account, like Coinbase. Then send it to your Ripio wallet and cash out directly to your Argentine bank account or MercadoPago at the Blue rate.

It involves setting up an account on Ripio and another exchange outside the country, so it's not hassle-free. But once it's set up, it seems like a fast way to change money at somewhere around the Blue rate (for those who don't have physical dollars in the country).

And if you don't want to risk the volatility of Bitcoin, you could buy a stablecoin like DAI (which you can also sell on Ripio) which is always about $1 dollar.

Hi! I am also thinking about doing similar thing, but worried about the taxes? If this is a repeated task does it bring a need of paying income tax? Do you also use localbitcoins?

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Teach me....why Bitcoin over Western Union? Is the bitcoin delivery in Argentina in dollars?

 

[on the brink]

I once asked at a cueva, why they only accepted crisp clean bills and was told that the customers who buy them expect them that way.

... And they expect them that way because they know marked bills are rejected - a vicious circle.