Has anyone used XOOM before?
- Thread starter jp
- Start date
Sleuth
Registered
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2008
- Messages
- 1,196
- Likes
- 682
BXpat said:
Sorry, should have said started the transfer today. It looks like because of the amount, there are some additional security steps for the first time:
Your payment is currently in the electronic check (eCheck) bank clearing process. Your bank may take up to four (4) business days to complete this process.
To speed up the process, enter the exact amount charged to your bank account below. You can find the exact amount on your online bank statement. This amount will be slightly less that the original transaction amount.
During the eCheck process, your bank account is being verified, debited, and payment is being credited to Xoom. Your bank may take up to four (4) business days for this process. Bank account payments are periodically verified to ensure the security of the account and to protect our customers and their financial information. Upon completion of the eCheck process, this transaction will be transferred for further processing before being made available to the recipient.
So I might have a few days to wait. The test transfer of $25 that I did went through right away.To speed up the process, enter the exact amount charged to your bank account below. You can find the exact amount on your online bank statement. This amount will be slightly less that the original transaction amount.
During the eCheck process, your bank account is being verified, debited, and payment is being credited to Xoom. Your bank may take up to four (4) business days for this process. Bank account payments are periodically verified to ensure the security of the account and to protect our customers and their financial information. Upon completion of the eCheck process, this transaction will be transferred for further processing before being made available to the recipient.
superfresh
Registered
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2012
- Messages
- 5
- Likes
- 0
I haven't had much luck .. There web site says it takes 15 minutes .. but two days later my transaction still has not gone through and the haven't sent any updates to what's going on
superfresh said:
When I called they were relatively helpful.
Try to give them a ring (877) 815-1531 use Skype.
Can you provide more data points...
Fund with Debit Card, Credit Card, Bank Account?
Did you do a direct deposit or cash pickup? To which bank/location?
I hope your issue is resolved soon. I've complete two bank funded direct deposits to Citibank ARG and have had no issues. Except it took more like 12 hrs to complete instead of 15 minutes.
JamesKTusa
Registered
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2010
- Messages
- 86
- Likes
- 76
Hi All,
Normally I hit the ATM's every week or two to get pesos (using my fee-free Fidelity or Schwab ATM card of course!), but yesterday I decided to try Xoom. It took 5 hours in total, and it worked flawlessly.
I changed (as a test), US$300 + US$10 fee, to get 1511 pesos (4.88ARS/USD). I don't have a bank acct here (never needed one, have resisted those fabulous discounts). And I didn't opt for the Xoom option of using a credit or debit card, which incurs a higher fee than a direct transfer from my USA bank. Nor did I opt for the Xoom option of extracting dollars (yes dollars!) from a local Banco Frances.
An hour after placing the order on internet I received a phone call via my MagicJack phone from Xoom-USA verifying I was legit, my identity, etc., plus a local phone call from Xoom-Arg rep (in Spanish) confirming the transaction and informing me when/where I could pick up the pesos, plus two emails confirming status of the approval/transfer. All very legit, I like to see such crosschecks, gives me warm-fuzzies. (All except the part about my having to go to the MORE Retiro place on Libertad near SantaFe instead of the more convenient (to me) Palermo sites on Oro y Segui and Charcas y Diaz). I went there before 6pm (when they close), needed only my USA passport, no CDI or anything else requested. Walked out after 3 minutes with pesos en panza.
This week their base rate is 5.037 ARS/USD, with a fixed US$30 fee (for US$1000+ conversions, otherwise ~3%), so if you change US$3000 you'll be charged a 1% fee, netting you 4.99 ARS/USD, not too bad. This week. The rub for me is that it would take me 2-3 months to burn through US$3000 worth of pesos and by that time the peso will have seriously depreciated more, so I'll limit myself to US$1000 or US$2000 transfers for now and live with the slightly lower rate of 5.036 minus 3% or 2%. (Over the last 9 months the peso has been depreciating about 3 centavos per month against the dollar, e.g. 4.30 to 4.33).
I suppose from the Argie GOB perspective Xoom is just another casa de cambio, exploiting the 5+ peso/US$ exchange rate currently available worldwide (except for inside of Argentina). Remember you're tapping into dollar sources outside of Argentina, i.e. selling dollars afuera from your (hopefully) proven, legal bank accounts and buying pesos with them inside Argentina, so you're not doing anything undesirable to the GOB, i.e. you're not extracting/hoarding dollars or sending them offshore.
Note: I noticed the Xoom peso/USD rate jumped a whopping 0.1 from 4.93 to 5.03 on Sunday night April 15. Surely there will be similar big jumps in this and the blue rate due to the investor community ranting over the YPF confiscación, so I advise change only enough pesos that you'll burn over a month, nada mas. I also advise doing it together with another extranjero to pool resources and benefit from the lower proportional commission (and you can 'bodyguard' each other, a bit).
Please stay tuned and share your experiences.
Somehow (warning: rant to follow), I think whenever I stumble across something good like this, it goes away when the Argentines (inevitably) figure out how to screw it up. Or when the yankee owners of Xoom realize they can't turn a profit here due to the peso instability and dollar craving.
ciao chau,
Jim
Normally I hit the ATM's every week or two to get pesos (using my fee-free Fidelity or Schwab ATM card of course!), but yesterday I decided to try Xoom. It took 5 hours in total, and it worked flawlessly.
I changed (as a test), US$300 + US$10 fee, to get 1511 pesos (4.88ARS/USD). I don't have a bank acct here (never needed one, have resisted those fabulous discounts). And I didn't opt for the Xoom option of using a credit or debit card, which incurs a higher fee than a direct transfer from my USA bank. Nor did I opt for the Xoom option of extracting dollars (yes dollars!) from a local Banco Frances.
An hour after placing the order on internet I received a phone call via my MagicJack phone from Xoom-USA verifying I was legit, my identity, etc., plus a local phone call from Xoom-Arg rep (in Spanish) confirming the transaction and informing me when/where I could pick up the pesos, plus two emails confirming status of the approval/transfer. All very legit, I like to see such crosschecks, gives me warm-fuzzies. (All except the part about my having to go to the MORE Retiro place on Libertad near SantaFe instead of the more convenient (to me) Palermo sites on Oro y Segui and Charcas y Diaz). I went there before 6pm (when they close), needed only my USA passport, no CDI or anything else requested. Walked out after 3 minutes with pesos en panza.
This week their base rate is 5.037 ARS/USD, with a fixed US$30 fee (for US$1000+ conversions, otherwise ~3%), so if you change US$3000 you'll be charged a 1% fee, netting you 4.99 ARS/USD, not too bad. This week. The rub for me is that it would take me 2-3 months to burn through US$3000 worth of pesos and by that time the peso will have seriously depreciated more, so I'll limit myself to US$1000 or US$2000 transfers for now and live with the slightly lower rate of 5.036 minus 3% or 2%. (Over the last 9 months the peso has been depreciating about 3 centavos per month against the dollar, e.g. 4.30 to 4.33).
I suppose from the Argie GOB perspective Xoom is just another casa de cambio, exploiting the 5+ peso/US$ exchange rate currently available worldwide (except for inside of Argentina). Remember you're tapping into dollar sources outside of Argentina, i.e. selling dollars afuera from your (hopefully) proven, legal bank accounts and buying pesos with them inside Argentina, so you're not doing anything undesirable to the GOB, i.e. you're not extracting/hoarding dollars or sending them offshore.
Note: I noticed the Xoom peso/USD rate jumped a whopping 0.1 from 4.93 to 5.03 on Sunday night April 15. Surely there will be similar big jumps in this and the blue rate due to the investor community ranting over the YPF confiscación, so I advise change only enough pesos that you'll burn over a month, nada mas. I also advise doing it together with another extranjero to pool resources and benefit from the lower proportional commission (and you can 'bodyguard' each other, a bit).
Please stay tuned and share your experiences.
Somehow (warning: rant to follow), I think whenever I stumble across something good like this, it goes away when the Argentines (inevitably) figure out how to screw it up. Or when the yankee owners of Xoom realize they can't turn a profit here due to the peso instability and dollar craving.
ciao chau,
Jim
Sleuth
Registered
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2008
- Messages
- 1,196
- Likes
- 682
joemama said:
Talked to two people tonight who got the money with only their passport. They did also have to provide home address, source of funding and reason for transfer.
Also, it seems like there is a problem with some More Money locations - a lot of the listed ones no longer exist. The main one seems to be Libertad (between Santa Fe & Marcelo T. de Alvear).
coolhunter
Registered
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2011
- Messages
- 35
- Likes
- 6
Does anyone know of a similar site for paying into Argentine bank accounts from UK bank accounts? I was absolutely gutted when I found out this only works with US based accounts.
It seems the only other options are paypal, western union, or wire transfer (which is a crappy option since most transfers get stopped by the central bank).
It seems the only other options are paypal, western union, or wire transfer (which is a crappy option since most transfers get stopped by the central bank).
superfresh
Registered
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2012
- Messages
- 5
- Likes
- 0
Xoom seemed like a legit company .. but their partner MORE money services seems shady
I wouldn't use this service. I tried and it sounds very easy. 15 minutes you will have the cash.
Four days later the transaction was still being processed. I was using their partner MORE money services and their questions seemed really shady. They wanted to know
*the receiver's occupation (why .. that is irrelevant)
*which location they were going to pick it up (they offer 3 location on their site it's up to the person picking up the money .. if you only have one location don't list 3 on the site .. telling someone where and when you are going to pick up cash seems like a great way to get robbed),
*how much (shouldn't they already have this information?)
I wouldn't use this service. I tried and it sounds very easy. 15 minutes you will have the cash.
Four days later the transaction was still being processed. I was using their partner MORE money services and their questions seemed really shady. They wanted to know
*the receiver's occupation (why .. that is irrelevant)
*which location they were going to pick it up (they offer 3 location on their site it's up to the person picking up the money .. if you only have one location don't list 3 on the site .. telling someone where and when you are going to pick up cash seems like a great way to get robbed),
*how much (shouldn't they already have this information?)