Phisically carrying USD

[El chabon]

Travel with 500 euro bills

 

[el_expatriado]

Can you please give us an example of the companies you are talking about? Are these casas de cambio?

They can be. They can also be stockbrokers or banks. But you can't just walk in off the street and ask for this service. You have to know someone who will recommend you. Usually your real estate agent or your Argentine business partner will recommend you out of necessity (they want to help you bring your dollars in so they can get paid).

 

[jnicolai]

Money Belt

 

[DavieW]

Have you checked recently (since the new currency controls and YPF debacle?) I used to be charged 1-2% for this also, but now they do it for free and can even PAY YOU. I got a quote today for 0.25% payment. If I bring in $10k, they pay me $10,025 USD here.

I'm sorry, but I find that very difficult to believe. I have my salary transfered in dollars every month to an agency and am happy that it only costs me 3.5% (their charge is 1%, but there's a minimum which means with my measly salary it's costing me more!).

 

[ElQueso]

I'm sorry, but I find that very difficult to believe. I have my salary transfered in dollars every month to an agency and am happy that it only costs me 3.5% (their charge is 1%, but there's a minimum which means with my measly salary it's costing me more!).

I'm with you as well.

One of my programmers receives their pay via one of these places. I send her salary every two months so she doesn't have to pay extra (her choice). I know my programmer, who is Argentina and has really good contacts here (and, in fact, has introduced me to two of these change houses), would really love to know a place that PAYS to do what she gets charged currently.

I've used three different change houses over the last 6 years, myself, at various times. The lowest I've ever seen charged is 1%.

What else confuses me is the "bringing in of dollars" el_expatriado mentions. One doesn't actually send money to the business here in Argentina. Me wiring money to the bank account of the agency (sometimes in the US, sometimes in Uruguay, depending on the change house I'm using on that transaction) is not putting dollars into an Argentine bank account or otherwise bringing dollars in. How is that bringing dollars into the country? They balance their books somehow between the country receiving the money and the country giving out the money. True, I haven't understood exactly how they make money out of it, but my transfers do not go into Argentina, thus bringing dollars in.

 

[DavieW]

No, mine doesn't go into an Argentinian account either, if it did you just can't avoid it being changed into pesos at the official rate. Mine goes via a bank in Lichtenstein and then to a bank in Uruguay, then the agency smuggles it into Argentina. In that way they can pay me it in dollars, minus their commission, or change it at 5.06 (todays rate) if I so request.

 

[ElQueso]

A conversation I had at one time with one of the clerks while I was waiting for him to approve my transaction (this conversation was about three years ago) indicated that the money never actually crossed borders, at least not in an illegal way. He talked about rolling the transactions in with legitimate currency speculation transactions with associates in Uruguay or other countries where they are speculating and have deals worked out.

In one case, the associate must be in the States - my programmer's current change house has me send to a real estate company's bank account in Miami. Usually the transfer goes from my bank to an intermediary in New York and then Uruguay. This was the first one I'd done where the end bank was actually located in the States, which makes the wire marginally easier for me.

 

[DavieW]

...the money never actually crossed borders, at least not in an illegal way.

You could be right....although if it's more likely to be some kind of shadey, 'semi-legal' mechanism, taking advantage of some loop-hole. I used the word 'smuggled' with my tongue somewhat in my cheek! (Because I don't care how they do it, just that I get my salary in dollars every month!)

 

[LostinBA]

I'm with you as well.

One of my programmers receives their pay via one of these places. I send her salary every two months so she doesn't have to pay extra (her choice). I know my programmer, who is Argentina and has really good contacts here (and, in fact, has introduced me to two of these change houses), would really love to know a place that PAYS to do what she gets charged currently.

I've used three different change houses over the last 6 years, myself, at various times. The lowest I've ever seen charged is 1%.

What else confuses me is the "bringing in of dollars" el_expatriado mentions. One doesn't actually send money to the business here in Argentina. Me wiring money to the bank account of the agency (sometimes in the US, sometimes in Uruguay, depending on the change house I'm using on that transaction) is not putting dollars into an Argentine bank account or otherwise bringing dollars in. How is that bringing dollars into the country? They balance their books somehow between the country receiving the money and the country giving out the money. True, I haven't understood exactly how they make money out of it, but my transfers do not go into Argentina, thus bringing dollars in.

I was confused about this too. As another noted, they don't actually move money into and out of Argentina. They maintain accounts in Arg and in the USA.

For example, if I want pesos in Argentina (transferring USD from outside Argentina), they ask me to wire money to their account in the USA and charge me a fee of 0-1% (as of last month). Then the give me the pesos here at an exchange rate that favors them. The pesos they gave me came from someone here that had pesos in the country and wanted dollars either outside the country or in hand. If that person wants USD in hand, they make a profit on the exchange. If that person wants USD outside the country, they change them 3.5-5% (as of last month) and make a bit of money also on the exchange. They give them the USD that I wired to their USA account to have pesos here. So unless I'm missing something, that's how it works. If someone goes to them with a large amount of dollars here and wants that money in the USA, they take the dollars, charge 3.5-5% for the transfer that they don't actually make and give the person the USD held in the USA at an exchange rate that also makes them money.

I guess they have to have alot of money on both sides to cover large amounts (like a casino) but I've heard that the large money exchange houses are actually owned by the rich farmers (soy, wheat, meat) so they've got the cash.

If I'm wrong on this, please correct me.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I can attest that 10k usd will fit in each bra cup (padded) and 2 cup sizes larger than the wearer...

My wife agrees. She took USD out of the country a year ago and was freaked out about the increased security at EZE for capital leaving the country. She was certain she saw $$-sniffing dogs.

I kinda wish she had kept that bra ...