Foreign credit cards purchases at MEP rate

Quilombo said:
One of the frustrating things about news outlets in Argentina is they often report government comments about implementing things as fact as opposed to actually confirming said actions have taken place. I checked every day this week, and there's no mention in the Boletin Oficial that this has been implemented, which absolves the payment processors/banks from having to act yet as they legally haven't had to change anything.
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It obviously hasn't happened yet:
Fiscal said:
paid for my Starbucks today with chase sapphire. $1130 pesos was $7….
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This equals $161.42 pesos per dollar.

Did they ask for ID?

Did you provide your passport?

PS: I just checked my Santander Rio account and their "official" rate is $165 per one USD:
 
you folks seem to forget where you live. it's argenitna. did anyone actually believe the system would be up and running on Friday as they said?! I claimed it won't kick in for a month or two....it has not even been published in BO yet. Still think it would be a couple of weeks. Also no one seems to claim that banks or VISA/MC/Amex networks will be forced to exchange at MEP (maybe they will), they could very well chose to operate at official rate for the time being until IT is set and running...the example with VAT in UY is similar but not identical it's not a tax in the AR context but a conversion rate. Remains to be seen what solutions they come up with.
 
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dsp27 said:
you folks seem to forget where you live. it's argenitna. did anyone actually believe the system would be up and running on Friday as they said?! I claimed it won't kick in for a month or two....it has not even been published in BO yet. Still think it would be a couple of weeks. Also no one seems to claim that banks or VISA/MC/Amex networks will be forced to exchange at MEP (maybe they will), they could very well chose to operate at official rate for the time being until IT is set and running...the example with VAT in UY is similar but not identical it's not a tax in the AR context but a conversion rate. Remains to be seen what solutions they come up with.
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This is the doc from BCRA
 
jlynch said:
This is the doc from BCRA
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Nos dirigimos a Uds. para comunicarles que esta Institución adoptó la siguiente resolución con vigencia a partir del 4.11.2022: 1. Exceptuar del requisito de liquidación en el mercado de cambios previsto en el punto 2.2. de las normas de “Exterior y cambios”, en la medida que se ingresen dentro de los plazos normativos establecidos, a las siguientes operaciones de servicios: 1.1. los cobros de consumos efectuados a partir de la vigencia de la presente por no residentes mediante tarjetas de débito, crédito, compra o prepagas emitidas en el exterior. 1.2. los cobros por cualquier tipo de servicio turístico en el país contratados por no residentes a partir de la vigencia de esta Resolución, incluyendo aquellos contratados a través de agencias mayoristas y/o minoristas de viajes y turismo del país. 1.3. los cobros de servicios de transporte de pasajeros no residentes con destino en el país por vía terrestre, aérea o acuática, contratados a partir de la vigencia de la presente Resolución. A los efectos del registro de estas operaciones se deberán confeccionar dos boletos sin movimiento de pesos, el boleto de compra se realizará por el concepto de servicios al que corresponda el ingreso y el boleto de venta bajo el concepto “A10. Débito/crédito de moneda extranjera en cuentas locales por transferencias con el exterior.”. Asimismo, les informamos que posteriormente les haremos llegar las hojas que, en reemplazo de las oportunamente provistas, corresponderá incorporar en las normas de referencia. Saludamos a Uds. atentamente. BANCO CENTRAL DE LA REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA

Just as I thought, it allows the use of the MEP to liquidate the funds. It does not oblige. So since it gives VISA/MC and Amex an edge they would likely implement this at some point. But then again, they have a complete control of how much of a spread they charge in terms of commission. So I wouldn't expect that an XE that close to MEP. But let's see...
 
steveinbsas said:
While it may not be taxable or criminal for a resident or citizen to use a foreign payment method (aka credit or debit card), if the purpose of this new "scheme" is to offer only legit tourists the better exchange rate, is it actually possible for the system to be designed (if it isn't already) so that only the tourists will receive that conversion rate when making said purchases, while residents and citizens would only/always receive the official rate?
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If this were to work out, would it be using any bank’s ATM?
 
dsp27 said:
... Exceptuar del requisito de liquidación en el mercado de cambios previsto en el punto 2.2. de las normas de “Exterior y cambios”, en la medida que se ingresen dentro de los plazos normativos establecidos, a las siguientes operaciones de servicios...
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I don't see anything here about MEP or exchange rate, sorry.

I think it says that if, for example, there is a tourist agency that sells to foreigners and receives profit in USD accepting foreign cards, they don't have to convert it to peso.
 
lunar said:
I don't see anything here about MEP or exchange rate, sorry.

I think it says that if, for example, there is a tourist agency that sells to foreigners and receives profit in USD accepting foreign cards, they don't have to convert it to peso.
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Indirectly. The only other market apart from the FX is the MEP. This is what I think. YMMV.
 
I used a Chase Hyatt card today at Le Pain Quotidien in Recoleta to buy a Medialuna. $512 pesos and the pending charge is showing as $3.25 which is exactly the same as the official rate on the xe app. One hopeful thought is that the charge will correct to the MEP rate once it goes from pending to an actual charge. Otherwise it's not in effect yet.
The cashier tapped my card and that was it. No request for an id or dni number
 
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