Moving Money

[nlaruccia]

As far as I know there are no ATMS in Argentina with Dollars at the moment.

Even Citibank is not allowed to put dollars in their machines at the moment

Can anyone say that they have withdrawn dollars from Citibank in the last three months.

If so , I will a double portion of humble pie....

Citibank USA and Citibank Argentina are completely separate entities. I have accounts in Citibank in the States and a Citigold account in pesos in Argentina and they told me I can't withdraw dollars from my CIti US account. I would have to wire the money, then it would be transferred to pesos. If you want dollars you have to open an Argentine account in dollars and deposit the dollars there. I'm not sure if I wire dollars from the States to the dollar account in Citibank that they would give you dollars, but you definitely can't withdraw them from the ATM. You would have to talk to the teller and withdraw them.

 

[citygirl]

I have never been able to withdraw dollars from Citibank here in Argentina. And Citibank US specifically told me it was not an option here. And that information was verified by Citibank SA - they informed me the only way to withdraw dollars in Argentina would be to open a USD account here in Argentina and deposit dollars directly into it.

If you have a dollar account overseas and a dollar account here and you wire money here, your money by law must be converted to pesos at the central bank and then converted back to dollars. You will lose money doing this.

Sorry - finding it impossible to believe that anyone could withdraw dollars from Citibank here unless said person already has a dollar account.

 

[germanb68]

Sorry, I forgot to explain that also must have an account at the branch CITI Argentina where he can transfer the funds if you want to take dollars from ATMs if not turned out pesos at the official rate.
What is difficult is to buy dollars at the official rate in Argentina by the AFIP is who they say if you have or no savings capacity to do so under the tax and business records they have of you or if you were suddenly Argentine brings Argentina's account $ 10,000 of your foreign account. In that case they will send you a letter to his home asking to explain why you are putting this into a money market which is not declared as gain, they will assume you're laundering money or is evading taxes.
But if you are a tourist I do not think that you have no problem in Argentina sworn statements of assets or income that you simply do not live here before you bring your money to spend here and it is not illegal to have dollars.

 

[citygirl]

1. A tourist can't open a bank account.
2. Any dollars wired into Argentina to t abank account here WILL be converted from dollars to pesos at the central bank, then converted back to dollars again (IF you have a dollar account). This has a forex charge on both sides. If you don't have a dollar account, the dollars are converted into pesos at the official rate and then deposited into the account - you lose 20% of the value right there.
3. I don't know how many of you have actually done this but wiring money into the country legally is complicated and takes time. I used to deal with it on a monthly basis at a corporate level and we had to present extraordinary amounts of paperwork. And at least once every 4 months, the money would be held up for some vague, unspecified reason at the Central Bank requiring many meetings, paperwork, etc to get it released.
4. Given all the restrictions, I'm actually not even sure what the status is of opening dollar accounts is at this stage. IF you still can, you would have to declare the source of your income overseas. Not so appealing in my mind to give this gov't full access to your info on overseas accounts.

Bring dollars with you and convert them as needed. When you need more dollars, you can either go the Xoom route or go to Uruguay as many are doing.

 

[Rich One]

City Girl has spoken the Absolute truth...tourists can not open bank accounts, sometimes even Temporary residents can't..!!
I challenge the OT that claims that can withdraw US dollars at the Citi branch in Av,Santa Fe , using the Citi Special Customer ATM to withdraw US dollar bills with my CITICARD Gold MC issued in the USA by Citibank 18 years ago...!!

I used that ATM for years extracting pesos $2,500 max ...!! Consulted with the Branch manager several times and was unable to obtain greenbacks even at an inside window teller.

 

[mrporoto]

If someone can transfer dollars from the US bank to my offshore bank I can give you usd/pesos here.let me know,I want to take my cash out of here and it saves going to colonia.

 

[cbonanni]

An Argentine living here , and married to a non Argentine may receive from offshore U$S5000.00 per month wired to the Argentine's local bank account. Have friends who do it. Seems to work fine. Of course at official rate. I would not do it , just sharing potential options for "Moving Money ".

Oh , and if you but a safe , buy a good one. The little electronic ones sold here can be broken into so easy.

 

[Irelander]

I'm suprised about the comments implying difficulties in moving money through an Argentine Bank. I've been living here since 2005, I work freelance for a French company and I've been paid by bank transfer to my Banco Franés account every month for the last seven years without any problem. I also transfer my own funds from Europe to my account without any difficulty, except for the paperwork that they require.

Also, it certainly is possible to have a USD account in BA! I was given one when I opened a pesos account event though I didn't ask for one. I'ts been zero ever since, but I still have it.

 

[tgibob]

Does anyone know if it is possible to use my U.S. HSBC ATM card at an HSBC machine in Argentina without getting dinged with a fee? I have the same question regarding Citibank.

 

[LostinBA]

There is one other solution that hasn't been mentioned. If you have more the 50K in savings or (if not) you can convince HSBC in Canada to let you pay a small monthly fee to be a "Premier" status customer, they'll open an account for you in Uruguay and Argentina (if need be) and move your money as need be quickly and without fees. In fact, you end up getting most services done in the concierge style and free of fees or at least very low fees. It really helps. I'd strongly urge you to look into this.