Foreign credit cards purchases at MEP rate

[SVBA_97]

Hi:

Quick question from a Canadian expat about to arrive for 3 months. Do any other Canadians know if Canadian credit cards, ie. Visa, also benefit from the MEP rate (obviously exchanged to the Canadian exchange rate which is now about .735 per 1 US dollar)? I have both Canadian and US credit cards but was wondering if any other Canadians had any experiences using their Canadian credit cards? Thanks. Jay (of Toronto)....

Hi Jay, yes was just there in November and can confirm it is the MEP rate with a Canadian Visa, only used once though for a very small purchase to test... I would suggest testing before going all out on a big purchase. I would still bring USD and exchange for pesos. The credit card rate will never be as good as the blue.... but it's a good option to have.

 

[joftoronto]

Thanks SVBA. That's great news. Yes I always bring the crisp $100 US billetes for my local blue dollar exchange place but it's nice to know that I will get the MEP rate when I book the remise at the airport (although my Portero is always wanting to pick me up....)

 

[carride]

With Visa I get the MEP rate from Dolar Hoy, minus 7%.

The. VIsa calculator often shows between 4-7% less than DolarHoy Venta of MEP. Today it is even better, only 3.5% less. MEP 907.67 and Visa 876.07

 

[joftoronto]

Hi All.

Does anyone know of any places that exchange at the blue dollar rate on Sunday? Either Palermo or the Centro that they trust. I arrived to late do to delayed flights yesterday to do any exchanges and we leave early tomorrow morning outiside the Capital Federale for 3 days...

 

[Rich One]

Hi All.

Does anyone know of any places that exchange at the blue dollar rate on Sunday? Either Palermo or the Centro that they trust. I arrived to late do to delayed flights yesterday to do any exchanges and we leave early tomorrow morning outiside the Capital Federale for 3 days...

Check Berlin Cambios,Av. Sta. Fe 3209, at Alto Palermo, or inside Shopping Mall. Rate ..! for turista.

 

[SinPulgas]

Hi All.

Does anyone know of any places that exchange at the blue dollar rate on Sunday? Either Palermo or the Centro that they trust. I arrived to late do to delayed flights yesterday to do any exchanges and we leave early tomorrow morning outiside the Capital Federale for 3 days...

I sent you a message.

 

[AdrianB]

So it seems like Visa always updates their rate for the day early while Mastercard does it much later(I think around 3pm ET). For example if you look at the Mastercard website right now the rate is still exactly the same as yesterday and you will be charged this rate for transactions made before the new rate is published.

So if you have both Visa and Mastercard you can check to always use the best rate at the time. If the dollar increased in value Visa is probably going to have the better rate but if dollar went down in value then probably Mastercard rate from yesterday that still applies is going to be better.

The differences can be significant. I tested this on Monday and it was around 90-100 pesos between the cards.

 

[on the brink]

Tried my US-issue VISA card yesterday. Checked my account today, and saw that it was exchanged at 1.67% below my local cueva rate. Not bad at all.

 

[AdrianB]

Tried my US-issue VISA card yesterday. Checked my account today, and saw that it was exchanged at 1.67% below my local cueva rate. Not bad at all.

This is because right now Dolar Bolsa and CCL are the same/higher than the blue rate. Otherwise cards were 15% worse than blue.

 

[obiwanderkenobi]

I'm 99.99% certain the answer to this is a big, fat, resounding, NO, but figured it doesn't hurt to ask....does anyone have experience using Discover here in BA, and also receiving the MEP rate? The reason I ask is that I have a Discover cash back card that gives me 5% cash back in a predetermined spending category that rotates on a quarterly basis. The spending category for Q1 2024 is restaurants, so it'd be pretty sweet to find a few local restaurants that take Discover and get a little extra money back. But obviously it's moot if no one accepts Discover and/or Discover still processes transactions at the official rate.