Is there now a black market for hard currency?

[evitaduarte]

I wonder whether I should bring in US$ rather than use the ATMs to get pesos while in BA. Is there now a significant differential between official exchange rates and black market rates for cash and, if so, where does one exchange to get the higher rate?
Is it a violation of law to use such black market echangers?

 

[captainmcd]

Evita, I believe the risk of carrying a large amount of US$ with you is not worth the relatively small difference in the official and black market rate. Back in the mid 80's there was a huge difference, about 300%, and when I bought an apartment I flew to my U.S. bank, removed the required amount of cash, declared it in U.S. customs when I flew out of Miami, and was scared all the way to the closing that I would be asulted. An ATM is still the smartest route, you may lose a percent or two, but not 100%

 

[PhilipDT]

Tras el segundo dia de los nuevos controles, el dolar paralelo ha llegado a cotizar a un valor aproximado de entre $ 5,00 y $ 5,15, y se despegará sin dudas más del dolar oficial.

So with out declaring at customs, you could bring in 50000 pesos worth of dollars. With ATM fees, the 3% charged by most banks for currency changes, etc that would probably cost you about 12000 dollars at ATMs here.

So you could pretty much pay for your entire flight down just by bringing the currency

Of course there is risk. Its all about your personal acceptable risk level.

 

[Bairesgirl]

You are legally allowed to bring up to US 10,000 in cash with you.
The differential between white & black markes exists and it may not seem very big but it is slowly getting larger and is bound to get larger.
It is getting v. difficult to buy dollars in banks and such so if you are going to be renting a place in dollars and the owner/contract requires you to pay in that currency I would bring as many as you feel comfortable bringing... In my humble opinion..

With the currency control measures in place most argentines are desperate to get their hands on dollars...

 

[Ries]

I am confused by your math.
50,000 pesos is about $11760.55

3% of that, in ATM fees, is $352. US.
not enough to pay for my flight, maybe if you are flying from Brazil...

So yes, you would save three hundred bucks by bringing that much cash, as opposed to taking it out of ATMS- but unless you are buying an apartment or having major cosmetic surgery, that seems like a lot for a vacation.

The old regulations were that you could leave the USA, and enter Argentina, with ten thousand or less, US Dollars, without a problem, as long as you declared it.

 

[PhilipDT]

I am confused by your math.
50,000 pesos is about $11760.55

3% of that, in ATM fees, is $352. US.
not enough to pay for my flight, maybe if you are flying from Brazil...

So yes, you would save three hundred bucks by bringing that much cash, as opposed to taking it out of ATMS- but unless you are buying an apartment or having major cosmetic surgery, that seems like a lot for a vacation.

The old regulations were that you could leave the USA, and enter Argentina, with ten thousand or less, US Dollars, without a problem, as long as you declared it.

My math is that according to the source I quoted the unofficial dollar is selling for around 5 pesos. That means you can buy 50k pesos for 10k. After all is said and done with ATM fees (which are fixed) and the 3% currency conversion fee (ontop of the fixed atm fees) I average about 4.10-4.15 pesos per dollar. 50k divided by that gives me 12k. Which means that the cost of buying 50k pesos via ATMs vs bringing cash in my pocket is 2k USD.

Probably not the clearest reasoning but thats what it is.

 

[evitaduarte]

My math is that according to the source I quoted the unofficial dollar is selling for around 5 pesos.

Is the black market rate really 5 pesos? The official rate is 4.24. Even though I have an ATM card that doesn't charge foreign currency conversion fees and even reimburses me the Banelco/Link surcharge, that is a very large differential. Are we sure about that?
For that kind of differential I am not terribly concerned about carrying moderately large amounts of cash.

 

[Napoleon]

My math is that according to the source I quoted the unofficial dollar is selling for around 5 pesos. That means you can buy 50k pesos for 10k. After all is said and done with ATM fees (which are fixed) and the 3% currency conversion fee (ontop of the fixed atm fees) I average about 4.10-4.15 pesos per dollar. 50k divided by that gives me 12k. Which means that the cost of buying 50k pesos via ATMs vs bringing cash in my pocket is 2k USD.

Probably not the clearest reasoning but thats what it is.

PhillipDT-

You were very clear. You can fly round trip for much less than US$2k, so bringing back the legal limit and then trading it for pesos can not only pay for your trip, but a whole lot of Fernet.

Some of my clients are staying a nice hotel and they wanted to change money. The person at the desk called someone who came to their hotel, bought their dollars at AR$4.38 yesterday and then AR$4.40 this morning when they called again.

Pesos coming to you for much better than the "official" rate. (Though much less than the best black market rate.) Wow, way to create a whole new wave of crime. Perhaps Prohibition of Alcohol should be tried next. I'm sure that that would never lead to crime.

 

[PhilipDT]

Just sprang to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wntX-a3jSY

 

[evitaduarte]

PhillipDT-
Some of my clients are staying a nice hotel and they wanted to change money. The person at the desk called someone who came to their hotel, bought their dollars at AR$4.38 yesterday and then AR$4.40 this morning when they called again.
Pesos coming to you for much better than the "official" rate. (Though much less than the best black market rate.)

Where does one get the best black market rate? What is that rate currently if not 5 or 4.4?