My Experience With A Local Ba Bank Today

Opening a bank account in Argentina was one of the craziest and most difficult things ever...the day we gave up and closed it was one of the happiest days ever.
 
Ceviche said:
The job can be done in a polite manner without fiery red eyes, snarling face and a frothing mouth.
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In this country, being able to issue orders is one's ticket to true existence, at least for a large segment of the population here. Asking him to be polite about it, is to deny him his little corner of the universe, his sliver of feudal turf. It is to ask him to castrate himself. It is to ask Boca fans to be civil.
 
ejcot en argentina said:
Its illegal to use you cellphone in a bank in Argentina, pretty sure they had a problem with people sitting watching people do huge transactions and then phoning mates with a description of that person to rob them. Hence the law.

Guy was just doing his job.
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It's also illegal to use your cell phone in Correo Argentino and Pago Facil amongst many other places for security reasons.
 
nlaruccia said:
It's also illegal to use your cell phone in Correo Argentino and Pago Facil amongst many other places for security reasons.
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What is the penalty for doing this highly **ILLEGAL** act.

Rigorous Imprisonment for 1 month?
 
Opening a bank account in Argentina is awful and stressful, a mission imposible, if your income is not from here. You better do what other foreigners do here: go to Uruguay and open a dollar bank account there. Uruguay is stable and secure, no corralitos there.
And for your Argentinean bills: keep on Rapipago o Mercadopago.
 
mariano-BCN said:
Opening a bank account in Argentina is awful and stressful, a mission imposible, if your income is not from here. You better do what other foreigners do here: go to Uruguay and open a dollar bank account there. Uruguay is stable and secure, no corralitos there.
And for your Argentinean bills: keep on Rapipago o Mercadopago.
Click to expand...

My income is NOT from Argentina and, In 2012 I opened a savings account at Santander Rio in Bahia Blanca. It took about 20 minutes. I provided the bank with the same "info" that I gave to migraciones when applying for and renewing my temporary residency as well as when I applied for permanent residency. I also had photocopies of my US passport, Argentine DNI, and my electric bill. The bank asked for a "constancia" of my CUIT which I did not have. It was possible for the bank employee to go on line and print one in a couple minutes. They gave me a Visa credit card with which I auto-pay as many bills as possible.

I transfer funds from the USA into that account on a monthly basis (a few days before the credit card payment is due) using XOOM and pay the credit card in full each month. I have a dollar account at that bank but I keep zero dollars in it. I have no fear whatsoever of a corralito. I do all of my banking on line and never have to actually go to the bank.

A few months ago I opened a second account at Banco Patagonia in another city where I pay my municipal and property taxes and often shop for groceries that I can't buy in the shops close to my house (especially olive oil in cans and balsamic vinegar). It took about twenty minutes to open that account, using most of the same documentation, but providing a second source of income for that account. I can transfer funds from the USA into that account using XOOM as well. It's easy to go to the bank to get cash to be able to shop in the few businesses I patronize that do not accept credit or debit cards.

PS: On a related issue that I have been meaning to reply to for a while, it is not necessary for permanent residents to transfer funds from a US bank to an Argentine bank as a condition of their residency (as one veteran here recently opined). I don't think it's necessary for temporary residents to do so, either. I believe that migraciones tried to implement that rule at one point (about five years ago?), but I don't think they ever enforced it. At one point they said they wouldn't accept ATM receipts (which I presented when I first applied for and the first time I renewed my visa pensionada). For my second and third renewals, I had an Argentine accountant certify (in an official declaration) that the funds I received in Argentina using ATMs were withdrawn from the US bank account in which my US income was deposited. I don't think that would work today, unless the funds were then deposited into an Argentine bank account.

If, however, as at least one member here has posted, it is not possible to open a bank account without permanent residency, how can migraciones possibly require temporary residents (when renewing their visas) to provide Argentine bank statements showing the deposits? Temporary residents who do have Argentine bank accounts should only have to provide the last two month's statements, as migraciones doesn't seem to like anything that is more than 60 days old. Anyone from the US (and a few other countries) who has an Argentine bank account can easily transfer $8000 pesos (if that was the required monthly income when their visas were granted) directly into their Argentine bank accounts using XOOM or RIA. I seriously doubt that migraciones would have any issues with that.
 
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