Need Help On Money Situation

[RichardAshby]

To everyone who replied to my post: I really appreciate the helpful information and suggestions. We will definitely consider your advice and might change some of our plans accordingly.

Also, we feel a bit more relaxed about the currency situation now based on what we've read here.

Thanks again for your help.
Richard Ashby

 

[Patagone]

Some good advice above already. You can also book a stay through AirBnB; you will still pay in USD, but it will be done beforehand (so no cash on you), is secure (money only gets released 24hrs after actual check in etc.) and prices might be better, as the persons renting out often base their rates on the blue rate in order to be competitive.

And yes, your bank is no bank if it cannot transfer abroad, get rid of them. They do not have a banking license and will need to use an internediary bank for every transaction and charge you or the recipient $25-$50 per transaction on top of regular fees. This creates all kinds of nightmares, so just open an account with a real bank.
Enjoy Argentina!

 

[Ries]

Can this institution and B&B place charging in Dollars only, be notified with the govnmnt agency of their unlawful tactic, so to stop this outragious behaviour? If I was trying to pay with the national currency at a X place, and suddenly being told, Sorry, we only take Dollars...WTF, I supposed to be in Argentina and the nation's currency is the AR Pesos..So naturally I should pay in Pesos..

You are joking, right?
But the answer to your question is, no, no government agency will do anything about this.
You can negotiate, everything is negotiable.
But the government will not come and help you.
Argentina is not Japan.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

You are joking, right?
But the answer to your question is, no, no government agency will do anything about this.
You can negotiate, everything is negotiable.
But the government will not come and help you.
Argentina is not Japan.

Hmmm, I thought Argie guvnmnt is out there to stop the Dollar economy. So to punish merchants trying to profiteer by asking the unwary tourists and forcing them for Dollar or Euro only business should be punishable, me thinking but, hey it is what it is, it is Argentina and _todo vale_... Go figure...

 

[garryl]

Change your hotels and schools, and have a paypal account

 

[Luis Villalba]

Regardless of whether you pay for your lodging and classes in dollars or pesos, you want to start maxing out the ATM machines where you are in Europe to arrive with euros at Argentina. If you are going to here for 6 months, you might want to get a cash advance while in Europe to bring more cash, and maybe book now and go directly to an apartment to avoid the lower security of a B&B (?) with daily housekeeping etc. On airbnb or any of the local agencies here you can ask before booking if the apartment has a safe.

 

[Ceviche]

best suggestion will be to go to another Latin American country to learn Spanish and do yr other things.

 

[lejohnson]

Almost all Spanish schools here publish their prices in dollars, because they would have to change the prices continually if not... However, any legitimate Spanish school will accept payments in pesos for students who are already in Argentina, and they should accept them at the official rate if they are operating legally.

Here are some schools you can check out, and you can visit them once you arrive to really know what they're like:

Coined
Expanish
Vamos Spanish School
Vos Spanish Academy

These are some of the most well-known within the tourism industry, so they have good reputations.

 

[Reneige]

My wife and I are arriving in BA in less than two weeks. We have enrolled in a language school and made a 2-week reservation at a B&B (and we hope to find a small furnished apartment to move into after the B& B). We are not sure how long we will stay but originally intended a few months, possibly 6 months or so if we can get an extension on the normal 90-day limit.

HOWEVER, we naively assumed we would be able to use ATMs, credit cards, etc. the same as in, say, Europe. (We are from the U.S. and have a U.S. bank).

The B&B informed us they don't take Argentine pesos, or credit cards, but we could bring dollars/euros in cash or do a wire transfer to their German bank account. We don't really want to carry thousands of dollars in cash on our persons when we travel. We are actually already outside the U.S. (in Europe) and would have to start collecting euros from ATMs up to the max every day in order to accumulate a few thousand.

Then new complications arose for us: Our bank said they don't do wire transfers outside the U.S., and Western Union today declined our online transfer attempt. (The WU customer service person I talked to did not know the reason for the decline, but said we should try going to a WU office and using a debit card to make the transfer.)

The language school also takes only dollars and euros, but said we could pay with a credit card. I assume they perform the credit card transaction in dollars rather than pesos.

Xoom.com says I can transfer money from my U.S. bank account at a good exchange rate and pick up the cash (in ARS) at various locations in BA. However, this won't do me much good for places that only take dollars/euros.

For example, we were looking online for a furnished apartment (for after our B&B stay) and some indicate they only take dollars/euros. No credit cards or PayPal.

HERE IS MY QUESTION: Since we will not be bringing enough dollars/euros in cash with us to last six months, or even a month or two, how can we pay for things that only take dollars/euros? Or is that not as big a problem as it seems to me? We have money in our U.S. bank account, but are having trouble figuring out to how to use it in Argentina.

Thanks very much for your help.

You're getting ripped off. I pay for everything in Pesos and use Azimo.com (european) to get the good rate for exchanges. You can take excellent courses at the university of buenos aires and pay in pesos cash. They have courses for foreigners, the first semester is 4200 pesos, any semester after is 3200 pesos. And you have the added benefit of naming a credible institution on your CV when you return to the job market after your long holiday and need to justify what you were doing on such a long holiday. Here is the info : http://www.idiomas.filo.uba.ar/content/espa%C3%B1ol-para-extranjeros

 

[mrporoto]

I have a few dollars you can have if you wire the same to my bank outside argieland,and anyone else if interested.