Foreign credit cards purchases at MEP rate

[gracielle]

Will foreign tourists be required to show ID to use a Foreign CC? Seems unnecessary, since The system detects immediately the origin of a CC..?

YES....it is not about the "origin" of the card. Example: at Coto, the cashiers are required to ask for "ID" (be it a DNI or a foreign passport) when payment is made with a local or foreign credit/debit card. A receipt of the sale as well as a separate slip is printed out. The customer fills out and signs it authorizing the merchant to bill the card company.

 

[steveinbsas]

While ithe exact answer remains to be known, according to an Argentine lawyer who rarely misses an opportunity to plug his services, at least those who have citizenship cannot be deported...

...so those who only have residency should APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP

I don't there's been anyone deported for not payingactly taxes. If so al the verduleros would be in Bolivia now....

It looks like I should have used a smiley face in my previous post in case anyone missed the sarcasm.

PS: I doubt that an Argentine resident using the foreign credit card to get the better rate would be considered having committed a "crime" as serious as not paying taxes. They are't exactlally the same, so they might be treated differently.

Perhaps something is (or can be) built into the new CC páyment system to weed out the scofflaws. Even if it can't, I will continue to use only my Argemtine credit card in Argemtina. I do not want to reveal how I already spend (too much) money (buying beef and making fertilizer) in Argentina to prying eyes in the USA.

My SCS is probably already lower than I'd want it to be if I lived in the USA...or ever planned on returning (which I don't).

 

[gracielle]

Implementing this would take several months. I don't see this happening before 2023 if ever.

I think the gov't may implement quickly this particular "patch". Having said that, it will probably be a temporary benefit not intended to last beyond the summer of 2023. The text is supposed to be published tomorrow in the Official Bulletin.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Interesting conversation here about citizens and residents obtaining access to services intended only for non-citizens and non-residents and who might be watching. Let's forget for a moment how Argentina has been monitoring those within its borders with increasing sophistication since at least the 1980s and instead talk about Google. Yeah, good old, cuddly old Google who monitor virtually every card and phone transaction everywhere and sell the information on to whoever wants to buy it. Usually those who want to buy that stuff want to sell online advertising but governments buy that sort of stuff too and just how hard then would it be to know who might be abusing your shiny new transaction system?

 

[gracielle]

This MEP rate for foreign cards will include when taking pesos out of los cajeros automáticos, too? Or no?

That's a good question

The answer is NO.

 

[gracielle]

There is one possible way for the gov't to detect that an individual may not be a bonafide tourist should they choose to do so. This is by the use of discounts at point-of-sale offered by "Comunidad Coto" and similar ones thru Carrefour and VEA stores. I would not recommend using them concurrent with payment with a foreign credit/debit card. Your DNI was utilized to obtain them. Said stores have your DNI number as a permanent record on their software systems.

 

[Stafford]

When you think about supply and demand, I could see the blue rate jumping pretty quickly if this happens.

The supply of green backs entering the country would decrease in a meaningful way. However demand from Argentines looking to convert their pesos to dollars would not decrease. MEP would sink and blue would spike, relatively speaking.

I’m not an economist, but anyone else see this logic?

 

[Quilombo]

Nothing in the Boletin Oficial yet as of ~3AM; we'll see what the morning brings

 

[gracielle]

4 November 2022

Government tries to tempt tourists in search for dollars

Authorities to let tourists use their credit and debit cards to tap more generous parallel new exchange rate in bid to boost Central Bank reserves.

batimes.com.ar

 

[Redpossum]

4 November 2022

Government tries to tempt tourists in search for dollars

Authorities to let tourists use their credit and debit cards to tap more generous parallel new exchange rate in bid to boost Central Bank reserves.

batimes.com.ar

On the side of consumer controls, the data will be cross-checked with the Immigration authorities to verify that cardholders are really non-residents and not Argentines who have just taken out a credit card in Uruguay.