Just arrived.. ATM fees and more...

[emilyr]

Anatolie,
This happened to me because I was shocked in 2009 to see I had ATM fees and cancelled the transactions like you, several times. I used to literally withdraw for free...not anymore. Now, that the fees have gone up, I have been reading the great advice on this forum and am going to open another bank account to not have to buy $5 every time to access my cash.

I did not think to check my bank until a week later, but by then, the fees had been incurred -- just like in your case -- and then, reimbursed to my account. Just make a note to yourself to check back.

 

[anatolie]

I agree. It is not nice having to pay such fee but I have been able to withdraw 950 pesos in a single transaction, will try Citibank ATMs next time. I am getting a good exchange rate on my currency cards so it doesn't feel that painful when I can withdraw 900-1000 rather than 300. It is cool to be able to pay on foreign debit cards at shops - free of charge too, no ATM or other fees, so I am trying to do that as much as I can. Will hopefully get my Nationwide Flexcard soon in the mail, then no fees.

This is such an amazing city, and all of this is still quite affordable as compared to Europe. Some of the stuff they have here simply do not exist in London or Paris. So I guess I will have to put up with the ATM fees if I have to : )

 

[emilyr]

anatolie, I totally agree that Buenos Aires is worth the price in ATM fees...however, after you are here for a while, those fees add up.

I found a bunch of great threads on here on opening a Charles Schwab and or Citibank account. They seem to say this in summary: Citibank allows you to withdrawal FREE from here without the 15 peso Argentine bank charge but tack on a 3% currency exchange fee at the end of each month. Schwab seems to eat all the charges of other banks, meaning no 15 peso fee and free international withdrawals. This seems to be the best option.
Unanswered questions: Does Citi offer it's customers any better rate than I already get with my credit union? If not, the 3% is a significant fee, larger I think than the 15+ pesos. Do both these banks have a limit on how much money you must keep in your account, i.e. can I transfer little amounts when I want to withdrawal or will I get tacked with maintenance fees for the account? If I have to pay to maintain the account, the 4 USD might be cheaper. Can I open these accounts from Argentina? I will be looking into these questions the next few days.

 

[scotttswan]

I've been withdrawing 2000 pesos from citibank but sometimes it wont let me as the pound has dropped in value and the amount takes me above my limit.

was going to apply for a citibank account before i left the uk but never got round to it.

 

[HowardinBA]

where in the UK are you from Scottswan?

 

[scotttswan]

West coast of Scotland but lived in Edinburgh for 10 years (university and work) before moving out.

 

[DonPiter]

I can take up to $800 pesos using a Cirrus ATM card from the Nederlands (Postabank), it's a pretty rotten deal those ATM fees

 

[schef4711]

the whole bank system here in Argentina is a real shit because of a lot of goverment laws. But I don't think that the ATM fees is a result of any goverment stuff because the fee exist in Paraguay too.

The ATM fees here in Argentina had take effect since September 2009 on all cash machines and the fee is for every transaction and will increase your costs.

With any Credit or Debit card (like VISA, MC, Amex, ...) you don't need to pay this fee. I have a VISA and the fee (worldwide) will be every time 4% of the cashed amount and not for every transaction. Only my bank will cash me $3 if the 4% value is lower as that minimum fee.

About the problem that many people will only get out 300 Pesos I will declare why this will happend ...

The system behind all ATM (including VISA, etc.) will not work every time fine and have a lot of troubles of reading out the correct limit value. The standard limit of most cards is 300 in your currency if you are outside of your country.

Mostly the systems here in Argentina will read this limit and will give you the possibility to cash out 300 Pesos because they don't convert your currency

My experiance is that up to January 2008 I had never this problem on my VISA card. After this time I got every time (each transaction) as max. 300 Pesos. After increasing my limit through my bank to 600 I got every time 600 Pesos as max. per each transaction. At this moment I knowed that there is a currency change problem.

In beginning of 2009 some cash machines (best was Citybank or Galicia) giving me up to my real limit because they converted the limit in correct way. But all other banks hasn't done this.

Since beginning of this year I don't have seen that problem anymore and I will get on each cash machine my real limit. I think they have fixed - after 2 years of shit working - their systems in the background and I will hope that they will leave it as it is.

Otherwise with the ATM card from my ex-girlfriend it was in reverse mode. Before 2008 she had every time the problem to get the real amount. After 2008 she never had the problem to get the real amount in one transaction up to now (less of the additonal fee since Sept. 2009).

In Uruguay I never had any kind of this problem. As I know from a friend the ATM fee exist in Paraguay too but much time longer as here in Argentina. With VISA there isn't any additional fee their.

bye alex