Importing Money

[TomAtAlki]

There has been discussions here about changing dollars to pesos. I don't remember any discussions on how to get the money into AR in the first place. In the past I've tried to import money to a bank here but the end it cost me money to my bank in the US to send it here and money to the local bank to send it back.

Of course you can bring in up to $10,000 dollars if you come from the states. Or you can go to Uruguay and use ATM's for small amounts at approx 6% cost. Or you can go to an "import bank" at a 4% to 6% cost. Or you can use Xoom, up to $2500 at a 8.5% cost.

Any suggestions on how to bring larger amounts of dollars in ($5000) at minimum cost?

Can money be transferred to a bank in Uruguay? Ecuador?

Hove you had luck with private parties who want to send money to the US?

Those of you who live here on US money (social security, rental income, dividends) probably have a good strategy. Please share.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[nlaruccia]

You can transfer sums of less than $10,000 US per month to a bank in Uruguay if you have an account there. More than $10,000 and they require you to provide them with proof of the source of funds.

 

[TomAtAlki]

I'll be going to Uruguay in a few weeks. Any idea what paperwork may be required to open an account and is there a cost to do the transfer?

 

[kevinbryan]

Hey

It's not really about getting the money into Argentina/USA. The money is already there. Xoom is 8.5% So if you pay 1000 dollars you only pay 85 bucks? That doesn't sound right. I did a cost analysis with Xoom vs. my current guy. My current guy takes 10% off the top, but gives me dollars rather than pesos and helps me change without taking commission if I need it, whereas Xoom charges commission off the top and then gives you a half-range rate. No paperwork required. That gives me a current rate of 12.72 vs Xooms 10.88 pesos to dollar-in-USA.

 

[jantango]

Banks and money transfer agencies are in business to make $$$$ for their services.

12/31/2014
Official rate 6.47
Blue rate 9.80
Xoom rate 8.80007

12/31/2015
Official rate 8.53
Blue rate 13.71
Xoom rate 11.2375

Try to imagine living in Argentina today with the peso equal to dollar as it was until December 2001. Would you be living in Buenos Aires?

 

[nikad]

TomAtAlki, send to Uruguay if you have a bank account. Also look into WesternUnion from the US to Uru you can transfer +/- 4-5k at a time for about 10 usd - 48hs service -. Some people do it with bitcoin ( buy bitcoin in the US and sell it here ) but if the price fluctuates in the middle you can either get more or less money. Other than these two methods, I think you have them all covered in your post.

 

[khairyexpat]

Exchange4Free is a great service .... with a caveat !!!!

Their PayOut Partner ¨More¨ operates with South American Standards 100% ...

My last transaction .. I mistakenly gave a wrong account number. (my memory is fading ... time is gaining the upper hand).
The good news is ... their PayOut Partner picked up the problem and blocked the transaction ( I´m grateful they did).
The bad news is ... NO ONE ELSE KNEW THAT.
Communications broken ( either .. no reply to my queries ... or ... ¨we don´t know¨ ).

Thought I was stranded and left out to hang dry.
My transaction was finally successfully completed by the end of the 15th day.

http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free

 

[ben]

There are people who will exchange dollars here for dollars there for a fee, going rate is about 4-6%. Then you exchange them where and with whom you like. Usually require an introduction. To the OP - I can help with this.

Unless you're going to Uruguay anyways, this costs a hair more and (once relationships are established) is infinitely simpler.

 

[TomAtAlki]

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]"It's not really about getting the money into Argentina/USA. The money is already there. Xoom is 8.5% So if you pay 1000 dollars you only pay 85 bucks? That doesn't sound right. I did a cost analysis with Xoom vs. my current guy. My current guy takes 10% off the top, but gives me dollars rather than pesos and helps me change without taking commission if I need it, whereas Xoom charges commission off the top and then gives you a half-range rate. No paperwork required. That gives me a current rate of 12.72 vs Xooms 10.88 pesos to dollar-in-USA."[/background]


If you give Xoom $2530US they give you $28,025AR or an exchange rate of 11.08 pesos to the dollar instead of 13.75 which, I believe, is an 8% difference. Anyway, I think your guy is charging you more than the market rate and the question I asked was how to do better?

 

[nikad]

The cheapest and most convenient is with bitcoin. If you go through the learning curve and do it yourself. Deal on a reputable bitcoin market with people that have reputation.