How to get my Euros (or US$) from GER?

[t0bi]

Hello everyone,

I'm an exchange student from Germany and arrived not long ago in Buenos Aires. Before I came here, I read in several travel guides that I shouldn't bring Euros with me, because it may be dangerous. Now I am here and telling the locals what rate I get at the ATM made them laugh - and me mad.
Now I read a lot about how to get a decent rate out of my money, but couldn't find a really good way, or at least I'm not sure how to go on now.
Let me sum up what I know till now (maybe a little long, but probably also helpful if some else finds this post) and what my questions are. I'd appreciate if someone could help me.

Well so I don't have Cash-Euros anymore, but a VISA, EC and Online Banking. I'm longing for the 'blue' rate as stated at dolarblue net because they are way higher then the official ones. Therefore I either need Dollars or Euros here, to change them at Florida or some other place of trust (which I don't have) - or I use the Service Xoom com.

Xoom com unfortunately does only work with US funded Bank Accounts, that's what their support told me. So I can't use this, at least not until I know a person in the US I trust who 'passes my money through'.

Because of the Restrictions of "Cristina" it seems to me almost impossible to get Dollars in Buenos Aires - True?

Would probably sending Money via Moneygram be possible? Do they give out Dollars in the 1:1 amount I sent (that's the case in Germany) or will I get Pesos with the crippled exchange rate when using their service as well as I get when using an ATM? Has anyone experience with this?

What about travelling to Uruguay? I read, there are restriction to go there and I need to announce that I want to go there? At the moment, I still have the travellers Visum. Shouldn't I be free to leave the country everytime I want (like for example going to Uruguay) and come back with the maximum free amount of 9.999 US$ in my pockets?
I also read, that the Banks in Uruguay won't give out that much money at once. Is there a way to avoid this? I read about trying out several ATMs there, but actually I don't want to be running around all day looking for an ATM that gives me money.. So are there any hints on getting more money at once?
Also: how much is a short trip to Uruguay - because I'm afraid if it's rather expensive, probably even the better exchange rate wouldn't be worth it...

Well and the last Option I read about is transferring the money to somebody's Bank Account somewhere else who gives you the Dollar here in BsAs and by this kind of helping at their (in my opinion well reasoned) flight of capital. At first: I don't have such a connection and on the other hand, to be honest, I'm not very content about this way, because there is no way to be sure that I'll really get my money here.. Has anyone experience with this? Probably a way to make this a bit more secure is doing the online transaction in the Moment when the other guy sits next to you in a cafe and the money lies on the table or so. You know what I mean..

So this is how far I am until now, and as you can see I still don't have a really good way how to get a fair exchange rate.
I'd be happy if you could answer (some of) my questions and help me a bit. Did I probably forget something or left anything out?
Really, any help is appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Tobi

P.S.: Seriously - where does all the money go, that is exchanged at this joke of a rate?

 

[ElQueso]

First - Welcome to Argentina. Intended both ironically and honestly as well.

You have a good grasp on the few options available and the problems with each option. Hence the ironic part of the welcome. Life can be a bit frustrating here at times, particularly when you are first here, and particularly in this day.

Uruguay is the easiest option. However, it's a bit expensive when you count in the amount of money you will pay in tickets to cross the river, the fees from the ATMs and any other incidental expenses, as well a a whole day (or more) wasted trying to get money out. At least they don't futz around with the exchange rate there like they do here.

Things like MoneyGram and Western Union and such should work to get money here, but they will ONLY give you pesos now and ONLY at the official exchange rate, so you will be worse off than taking money out of the ATM because their fees (at least WU, not sure about MG) are higher than ATM fees and they usually give lower than the official rate on top of that.

I've stated many times on here that the best option (in MY opinion) is to find someone who can put you into contact with a private "cueva" who will accept a money transfer from your bank to one of theirs outside of Argentina and will give you either pesos at the blue rate or bills from your country (this I'm assuming - I have no problem getting dollars, but I don't know how easy other currencies are to get because I've never tried anything else. I'd think euros would be fine though).

I can understand how this may seem a bit dangerous or suspicious. I've been doing it for quite a while, and when I first started doing it I had the same doubts as you have expressed.

But these guys who do this are serious businessmen. They don't screw around. I've never been ripped off in any fashion. I was pushed out of one location a couple of years ago when AFIP started putting pressure on transactions such as these - the place started raising their percentage I had to pay them until it got to the point where I didn't want to pay it, which is what they were after. Sometimes Argentinos have a hard time coming right out and saying "No." But they NEVER robbed me (as far as saying they never recieved the money and I never saw it again) NEVER gave me ANY counterfeit bills (although I've gotten a counterfeit 100 pesos note from an ATM once).

 

[fuccolini]

Well and the last Option I read about is transferring the money to somebody's Bank Account somewhere else who gives you the Dollar here in BsAs and by this kind of helping at their (in my opinion well reasoned) flight of capital. At first: I don't have such a connection and on the other hand, to be honest, I'm not very content about this way, because there is no way to be sure that I'll really get my money here.. Has anyone experience with this? Probably a way to make this a bit more secure is doing the online transaction in the Moment when the other guy sits next to you in a cafe and the money lies on the table or so. You know what I mean..

i use this method and not had a problem. besides, there is never a way to be 100% sure about anything, especially in this country. i live in mendoza

 

[Rich One]

First - Welcome to Argentina. Intended both ironically and honestly as well.

You have a good grasp on the few options available and the problems with each option. Hence the ironic part of the welcome. Life can be a bit frustrating here at times, particularly when you are first here, and particularly in this day.

Uruguay is the easiest option. However, it's a bit expensive when you count in the amount of money you will pay in tickets to cross the river, the fees from the ATMs and any other incidental expenses, as well a a whole day (or more) wasted trying to get money out. At least they don't futz around with the exchange rate there like they do here.

Things like MoneyGram and Western Union and such should work to get money here, but they will ONLY give you pesos now and ONLY at the official exchange rate, so you will be worse off than taking money out of the ATM because their fees (at least WU, not sure about MG) are higher than ATM fees and they usually give lower than the official rate on top of that.

I've stated many times on here that the best option (in MY opinion) is to find someone who can put you into contact with a private "cueva" who will accept a money transfer from your bank to one of theirs outside of Argentina and will give you either pesos at the blue rate or bills from your country (this I'm assuming - I have no problem getting dollars, but I don't know how easy other currencies are to get because I've never tried anything else. I'd think euros would be fine though).

I can understand how this may seem a bit dangerous or suspicious. I've been doing it for quite a while, and when I first started doing it I had the same doubts as you have expressed.

But these guys who do this are serious businessmen. They don't screw around. I've never been ripped off in any fashion. I was pushed out of one location a couple of years ago when AFIP started putting pressure on transactions such as these - the place started raising their percentage I had to pay them until it got to the point where I didn't want to pay it, which is what they were after. Sometimes Argentinos have a hard time coming right out and saying "No." But they NEVER robbed me (as far as saying they never recieved the money and I never saw it again) NEVER gave me ANY counterfeit bills (although I've gotten a counterfeit 100 pesos note from an ATM once).

Hola El Queso... what % you pay to your contact, to give you pesos locally at the blue Rate, against a US bank-to-bank transfer.
Thanks

 

[t0bi]

I've stated many times on here that the best option (in MY opinion) is to find someone who can put you into contact with a private "cueva" who will accept a money transfer from your bank to one of theirs outside of Argentina and will give you either pesos at the blue rate or bills from your country (this I'm assuming - I have no problem getting dollars, but I don't know how easy other currencies are to get because I've never tried anything else. I'd think euros would be fine though).

I can understand how this may seem a bit dangerous or suspicious. I've been doing it for quite a while, and when I first started doing it I had the same doubts as you have expressed.

But these guys who do this are serious businessmen. They don't screw around. I've never been ripped off in any fashion. I was pushed out of one location a couple of years ago when AFIP started putting pressure on transactions such as these - the place started raising their percentage I had to pay them until it got to the point where I didn't want to pay it, which is what they were after. Sometimes Argentinos have a hard time coming right out and saying "No." But they NEVER robbed me (as far as saying they never recieved the money and I never saw it again) NEVER gave me ANY counterfeit bills (although I've gotten a counterfeit 100 pesos note from an ATM once).

Thank You ElQueso! This sounds good. Seems like I should give that a try. Pesos at the blue rate are just fine, didn't need another currency yet. So what's is the right way to try to get to such a cueva? I mean, can I just ask some people and there is a good chance to meet someone who knows sthg like this? Or is it a rather confidential question?
Unfortunately there is no option for personal messaging in this forum I guess. I'd appreciate if you could help me a bit - here's one of my Mail-Adresses: tobiba [ät[ bund ]dot} us.

Another problem is, that I almost don't speak Spanish, strange question, I know, but are these guys speaking a bit of English?

Still looking forward to every hint!

 

[earlyretirement]

Thank You ElQueso! This sounds good. Seems like I should give that a try. Pesos at the blue rate are just fine, didn't need another currency yet. So what's is the right way to try to get to such a cueva? I mean, can I just ask some people and there is a good chance to meet someone who knows sthg like this? Or is it a rather confidential question?
Unfortunately there is no option for personal messaging in this forum I guess. I'd appreciate if you could help me a bit - here's one of my Mail-Adresses: tobiba [ät[ bund ]dot} us.

Another problem is, that I almost don't speak Spanish, strange question, I know, but are these guys speaking a bit of English?

Still looking forward to every hint!

IMHO, the best way is to get to know someone there locally. People are absolutely crazy, IMHO to vouch for a total stranger they met off an internet board. And also crazy if they accept a recommendation based on some stranger from a message board.

I've met people that referred someone to their cueva and it turns out that person was involved in some illegal activity and it brought a lot of heat on the exchange house. It also caused them to get majorly pissed off at the client that recommended them.

I think you have to be crazy to recommend or vouch for someone you don't know anything about. Same thing as people that take referrals blindly.

Get to know someone and make friends with them locally. And when you do decide to use that cueva, I'd suggest you go there and see how long they have been in business.

Argentina is an easy place to get burned and the judicial system there doesn't work so you just have to be careful.

 

[ElQueso]

Yeah, tobi, sorry, I forgot to mention what earlyretirement mentioned below. That's the one drawback to the good way of doing it. I know I made it sound simple, but I've written about this so many times I reckon I left that off by accident.

The guy I work with will accept my recommendation. The problem is, as early says, if something happens with someone I recommend, they will stop doing business with me as well. It's not like it's overly difficult to find a place if you've made contacts, but it takes some time and effort and for all I know they may have a list somewhere...

And not only Argentine contacts who speak Spanish. Obviously, some of us expats have these contacts as well.

It's just that you are an unknown quantity and this is a black (well, "blue") market. Although technically not illegal in and of themselves (the cuevas), Cristina and AFIP can cause a lot of problems. The guy I know is very very concerned about that. He only took my word that I was not engaged in anything illegal, as far as where the money comes from, but made it very clear the consequences of referring someone to him that puts him in jeopardy with the government.

No offense whatsoever, but for all I know you are working for the government and trying to put the sting on some of these places.

I feel bad for saying that. I'm really a fairly trusting guy until someone screws me, but there's just not enough context on a forum like this to make me feel comfortable in making the recommendation at this time.

 

[French jurist]

What about travelling to Uruguay? I read, there are restriction to go there and I need to announce that I want to go there? At the moment, I still have the travellers Visum. Shouldn't I be free to leave the country everytime I want (like for example going to Uruguay) and come back with the maximum free amount of 9.999 US$ in my pockets?
I also read, that the Banks in Uruguay won't give out that much money at once. Is there a way to avoid this? I read about trying out several ATMs there, but actually I don't want to be running around all day looking for an ATM that gives me money.. So are there any hints on getting more money at once?
Also: how much is a short trip to Uruguay - because I'm afraid if it's rather expensive, probably even the better exchange rate wouldn't be worth it...

Hallo Tobi,

The "Uruguayan method" is the one I use & I live here since 2003. There are no restrictions for you to go there and you don't need to announce you wish to go there (this applies to Argentineans). You can come back with 9.999 USD in your pockets, no problem.
ATMs in Uruguay have a limit of 300 USD per withdrawal, you have to take into account the own limit of your card as well (and calculate the exchange fees EUR->USD which should turn around 3.5% I guess + the withdrawal fees, charged by the ATM network, which run about 8 USD for my card).

Only way to get more money at once in Uruguay: Doing a cash advance (I guess that's anticipo de efectivo in Spanish) in a bank.
It has also been mentioned a method consisting in going to a casino in Uruguay, buying Chips and exchanging them for USD, but I wonder if anyone on the forum has a first hand experience about that (?), sounds tricky.

Short trip to Uruguay will cost you less than 300 pesos (if going via Seacat + a sandwich in Colonia)

P.S.: Seriously - where does all the money go, that is exchanged at this joke of a rate?

What's serious can be a joke here, and what is a joke can become really serious, welcome to Argentina, the last (very last) frontier

 

[earlyretirement]

The guy I work with will accept my recommendation. The problem is, as early says, if something happens with someone I recommend, they will stop doing business with me as well. The guy I know is very very concerned about that. He only took my word that I was not engaged in anything illegal, as far as where the money comes from, but made it very clear the consequences of referring someone to him that puts him in jeopardy with the government.

No offense whatsoever, but for all I know you are working for the government and trying to put the sting on some of these places.

Exactly. I work with several firms and they ALL have told me NEVER to recommend ANYONE to them that I personally know and have known for some time.

A few years ago even when there weren't so many restrictions they told me about one of their clients that referred someone to them that told them he was trustworthy. Well it seems it was just a blind referral and this guy was involved with drug trafficking. The guy did a wire to their account in Frankfurt and it immediately triggered an alert and it caused all sorts of problems for this money transfer firm.

Also, I can't understand why ANYONE on this board would refer and vouch for a stranger unless they are somehow profiting on the exchange.

All AFIP would have to do or the government for that matter is ask around for referrals to cuevas and just bust them that way. That's why I can't understand anyone on this board that would blindly refer a total stranger to their cueva. It's just plain stupid.

I wouldn't put anything past CFK these days. This would be an easy way to bust people. And I'm sure it would get you banned for life from doing money exchanges from all the exchange houses not to mention they will be pissed at you.

 

[Rich One]

Hallo Tobi,

The "Uruguayan method" is the one I use & I live here since 2003. There are no restrictions for you to go there and you don't need to announce you wish to go there (this applies to Argentineans). You can come back with 9.999 USD in your pockets, no problem.
ATMs in Uruguay have a limit of 300 USD per withdrawal, you have to take into account the own limit of your card as well (and calculate the exchange fees EUR->USD which should turn around 3.5% I guess + the withdrawal fees, charged by the ATM network, which run about 8 USD for my card).

Only way to get more money at once in Uruguay: Doing a cash advance (I guess that's anticipo de efectivo in Spanish) in a bank.
It has also been mentioned a method consisting in going to a casino in Uruguay, buying Chips and exchanging them for USD, but I wonder if anyone on the forum has a first hand experience about that (?), sounds tricky.

Short trip to Uruguay will cost you less than 300 pesos (if going via Seacat + a sandwich in Colonia)




What's serious can be a joke here, and what is a joke can become really serious, welcome to Argentina, the last (very last) frontier

The Casino scheme does not work in Colonia, the Casino sells chips only with cash dollars..!

Banks will sell you dollar bills, as cash advance, to the limit of your credit card, the cost is about 8% . They buy your dollars paying in Uru pesos, and then buy USD.
The difference is the spread between the "buy and sell" dollar rate in Uruguay
Bank Buys dollars @ 20 pesos and Bank Sells dollars @:21,80 for the dollar