Has anyone successfully transferred US dollars directly into your US dollar bank account in AR

[FrankPintor]

I've done 2 transfers from Schwab into my Banco Piano dollar account. The first was a small trial amount as I'd never done it before, As I had to sign some forms before it could be posted to my account, I don't know exactly how long it took to actually arrive. My second transfer, a substantial amount, was done on 7 July and still has not shown up though Schwab says all was perfect on their end. How long do suchwires normally take?

If, by wire transfer, you mean SWIFT transfer, then it takes 15 mins or so, unless there's a public holiday in the originating, receiving, or intermediary bank countries..

My understanding is that the originating bank only knows that it sent the money, it doesn't know whether the receiving bank account number is correct. The first the originating bank would know of any problem is if the money came back (or if you asked for an investigation).

In most cases the funds would have arrived, and the receiving bank is waiting for authorization from their exterior commerce department to put them in your account. I would expect Banco Piano to be a bit more proactive, though.

 

[Utopos]

Thanks Frank. I'm confused though. I made an International Wire transfer from Schwab using the Banco Piano SWIFT code. The Schwab receipt for the transaction said completion would be by July 14 (sent on July 7). I've spoken with Schwab's 'Move Money' department multiple times and have been told wires can take up to 10 business days. Apparently not all SWIFT transfers are swift. How can I transfer dollars from Schwab to my Banco Piano dollar account without it taking forever?

Added: As I had sent a prior transfer successfully, I was able to "resend", just changing the amount. As the information for both transfers are identical, this is how Schwab knows the receiving account info is correct.

 

[FrankPintor]

Thanks Frank. I'm confused though. I made an International Wire transfer from Schwab using the Banco Piano SWIFT code. The Schwab receipt for the transaction said completion would be by July 14 (sent on July 7). I've spoken with Schwab's 'Move Money' department multiple times and have been told wires can take up to 10 business days. Apparently not all SWIFT transfers are swift. How can I transfer dollars from Schwab to my Banco Piano dollar account without it taking forever?

Putting a "value date" that far out seems very unusual to me, these days the "value date" on the transfers I receive is just the next day (even that is most likely due to the time difference between originating and sending countries), and if it's not the next day, it's because of public holidays at some point in the transaction chain, for example I had a transfer from Europe delayed because of a public holiday in the US, where the intermediary banks generally are.

I have had funds held up because the thieving intermediary bank decided the transfer looked suspicious to them, but that would not seem to be your case. If you have your bank investigate, they can tell you if that's what's happening.

I think the 10 business days thing is just banks covering their asses, obscuring their inefficiency, or whatever. I regularly have SWIFT transfers arrive the same day, as long as it's in the same time zone and I do it early enough in the day. I might be exaggerating with my "15 mins" but the MT103 document is basically like an email or a telegram, sent electronically. There's a nice explanation of the processes involved here: https://tools.statrys.com/blog/how-long-does-a-swift-transfer-take

Added: As I had sent a prior transfer successfully, I was able to "resend", just changing the amount. As the information for both transfers are identical, this is how Schwab knows the receiving account info is correct.

OK, got it, that doesn't leave much room for error.

 

[Silvie]

Thanks Frank. I'm confused though. I made an International Wire transfer from Schwab using the Banco Piano SWIFT code. The Schwab receipt for the transaction said completion would be by July 14 (sent on July 7). I've spoken with Schwab's 'Move Money' department multiple times and have been told wires can take up to 10 business days. Apparently not all SWIFT transfers are swift. How can I transfer dollars from Schwab to my Banco Piano dollar account without it taking forever?

That’s the message I usually get when I do the transfer but I usually get a notification from Comercio Exterior of the Receiving bank the following day (I don’t deal with Banco Piano) asking me to process the “liquidación” through online banking. Just contact Banco Piano, office of comercio exterior and check with them

 

[LuckyLuke]

Thanks for the great info and advice, Luke. Do you remember what was the code you used when receiving the transfer, "A07 P10 etc.."? As long as you provided sufficient document supporting the fund it won't get pesified i assume? Did you have to get the bank statements etc officially translated?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by A07 vs P10.

Here is the breakdown on the swift code I was given:

Código SWIFT	NACNARBANEU
Código SWIFT (8 caracteres)	NACNARBA
Nombre del banco	BANCO DE LA NACION ARGENTINA
Dirección del banco	AV ARGENTINA 82, NEUQUEN, NEUQUEN, Q8300AYN
Código de la sucursal	NEU
Ciudad	NEUQUEN
País	Argentina

No I did not need to provide any translations. However, since I consolidated funds from various IRA accounts into the source account prior to the wire, I did need to show the origin of those transfers with corroborated IRA statements for them to ensure I wasn't laundering funds.

 

[Silvie]

Those are codes provided by the office of "comercio exterior" of the receiving bank, they are the ones who clarify all these doubts.
I understand A07 means the money is coming from a savings account abroad belonging to the same person receiving in Argentina, called "cuenta espejo" when the names are the same.

 

[FrankPintor]

Those are codes provided by the office of "comercio exterior" of the receiving bank, they are the ones who clarify all these doubts.
I understand A07 means the money is coming from a savings account abroad belonging to the same person receiving in Argentina, called "cuenta espejo" when the names are the same.

Good catch. This is a partial list of the most-used codes: https://ayuda.bancogalicia.com.ar/n4/cuales-son-los-codigos-de-concepto-que-mas-se-usan

I had to use code S22 when I was bringing in my self-employed earnings by SWIFT up to the USD 24k per year limit "El código S22 en transferencias internacionales en Argentina se refiere a "Otros servicios empresariales", específicamente a servicios profesionales y técnicos prestados desde el exterior. Este código se utiliza para identificar y clasificar este tipo de transacciones al recibir fondos del extranjero".

The banks seem to be sticklers about their codes, if it's wrong, the transfer won't be deposited to the receiver's account.

Editing to add a more complete list of codes: https://www.bbva.com.ar/tablas/conceptos_habilitados_BCRA.pdf

 

[Utopos]

Shortly after posting here yesterday (16 July), I received an email from Banco Piano. It said they had received my transfer on 7 July and will release the funds when I drop by to sign for them. Gee... thanks. And I do so love sitting in standstill traffic for the 3-1/2+ hour round trip to simply to sign my name.

I went to Banco Piano central this morning and received profuse apologies for the unnecessary delay. I should have been notified within 24 hours or sooner. It was simply human error, which I accept as genuine. I also learned a few things, which prompt a few more questions.

The Schwab wire transfer does not go directly to Banco Piano, despite the fact I used its Ave. San Martin SWIFT code. No, it goes to their Bank of America account in NYC. A trivial detail except for the fact that BoA then charges $35 US. before passing the funds along to Banco Piano, which then charges 3%. Humm...

-What are normal fees on the Argentina end of a wire transfer?
-Though Banco Piano does not charge for a dollar account, it seems to make up for it in other ways. BBVA said it charges $45 US/ mo. for a dollar account (after a 2-year grace period?) Do any banks provide a dollar account without fees/hidden costs?

Aside from moving dollars for a real estate transaction, I'm trying to obtain pesos for our living expenses. Western Union fees has been costing me $140/mo, and with the relaxed restrictions now it seems cheaper to wire dollars and sell them to the bank for pesos when necessary (I don't live near Ave. Cambio Cambio). Suggestions are welcome.

Gracias all!

 

[srpez]

I’ll share my setup for transferring dollars from the US to Argentina en blanco as a monotribuista that I've been using for the last few months:

In Argentina, Santander offers free peso/dollar accounts as long as you make at least three transactions per month. According to comments I've read online from Argentine freelancers, they also have the least complicated process for receiving SWIFT transfers. Today I wired $1000 USD from the US and received $1000 USD in my Santander account, minus just $2.42 USD that they subtracted, in pesos, from my peso account. According to their fee calculator (visible for clients on the website at Menu | Cobros del exterior | Calcular comisiones), they are currently charging $2.42 USD for amounts up to $1,000 USD; $7.56 USD for $1,001; $39.32 USD for $10,000; and $393.25 USD for $100,000.

In the US, HSBC offers free wire transfers for Premium customers, which you can get if you can transfer and maintain $100,000 in cash or investments, plus they'll pay you a $1,000 sign-up bonus.

The process for sending money is straightforward: I log in to HSBC, initiate the transfer, and download the receipt as a PDF. A few hours later, Santander notifies me that the transfer is ready to be liquidated. I then log into my Santander account, go to "Cobros del exterior," attach the HSBC receipt, and attach proof of the source of funds (in my case, a sales invoice generated through ARCA's monotribuista portal). By the end of the day, the dollars are in my account.

Once the dollars settle in Santander, I transfer them to Cocos Capital, which offers a 4% APY on dollar balances invested in their "Dólares Ahorro" fund until I'm ready to convert them to pesos. They also pay 32% for pesos in their "Pesos Daruma" fund and provide competitive rates for currency conversion. As of today, with the official MEP at $1,280, Cocos will sell your dollars for pesos at $1,273.49.

So, starting with $1,000 in the US a few hours ago, I have (1000 - 2.42) * 1273.49 = 1,270,408 pesos in my account today, which beats Western Union and MoneyGram, although it does require you to qualify for HSBC Premier to get the free wire transfers.

Alternatively, someone mentioned in another post that Macro Bank has removed all fees for dollar transfers, which could be even cheaper, but their handling of SWIFT transfers may not be as user-friendly as Santander's.

I'm pretty happy with this setup, but am very interested in hearing about what everyone else is doing!

 

[Silvie]

These are commissions charged by Santander