Question About Hsbc, Dollars And Credit Cards

[sesamosinsal]

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine bought airline tickets from Lan.Com (Europe), and the charges were made in dollars, obviously. Do these charges have to be paid in dollars, or can they be liquidated into pesos?

The charges were posted on 12/26. Does she need to request the pesification in homebanking? via telephone? in person? or will it happen automatically at some point?

It would be extremely helpful if someone who holds an HSBC credit card could provide some insight. Those who bank elsewhere are welcome to reply, though.

Many thanks!

 

[lamarque]

if the credit card is argentinian then the charge will be payed in pesos at oficial rate , she don't need to do nothing, at the end of the month the dollars will be converted into pesos and debited from his peso account. This procedure is the same for all Argentinians credit card, you don't need to do nothing the bank do it for you at the oficial rate.

 

[nikad]

If he used and Arg credit card the dollars can be payed off in pesos at the official rate plus the 15% surcharge towards income tax deductions. I work with HSBC and he should make sure he pays off enough pesos to cover up for the balance in dollars, otherwise the interest is pretty high.

 

[nikad]

When you buy online from the airlines websites, except for Aerolineas I guess, you are always charged in foreign currency, he should have done this over the phone and be charged in pesos. This does not seem to make any difference but in case of devaluation, it does make a difference.

 

[sesamosinsal]

If he used and Arg credit card the dollars can be payed off in pesos at the official rate plus the 15% surcharge towards income tax deductions. I work with HSBC and he should make sure he pays off enough pesos to cover up for the balance in dollars, otherwise the interest is pretty high.

Hi, Nikad. Thanks for your help. Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Are they keeping the transaction in dollars because her balance is too high in pesos? Is there ANY reason that she'd HAVE to pay this transaction off in dollars? Again, thank you for your help!

 

[lamarque]

Hi, Nikad. Thanks for your help. Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Are they keeping the transaction in dollars because her balance is too high in pesos? Is there ANY reason that she'd HAVE to pay this transaction off in dollars? Again, thank you for your help!

No is not only Aerolineas is any airline company that has office in Argentina and option in the website to pay in pesos, i have already try it with Iberia and work perfectly in pesos and without the 15% tax, if you still want to pay in dollars in some airline that do not have office in Argentina or have a cheaper offer in usd then you have to pay in pesos 15% more that you can use again your tax later on.

 

[nikad]

Hi, Nikad. Thanks for your help. Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Are they keeping the transaction in dollars because her balance is too high in pesos? Is there ANY reason that she'd HAVE to pay this transaction off in dollars? Again, thank you for your help!

Hey, No there is no special reason why it is done like this. I operate with 3 banks and they all do the same. These are regulations passed by the central bank. There is no reason why she should be ever asked to pay for this in dollars. But I try to pay in pesos cos it is cheaper in general. Also, the exchange rate the bank is going to apply to pay pay off for these dollars is the one that is current when the credit card is due, and not the one at the time of purchasing the tickets, so if in the meantime there is a mini devaluation he will end up paying more than if the whole deal was done in pesos.

 

[nikad]

No is not only Aerolineas is any airline company that has office in Argentina and option in the website to pay in pesos, i have already try it with Iberia and work perfectly in pesos and without the 15% tax, if you still want to pay in dollars in some airline that do not have office in Argentina or have a cheaper offer in usd then you have to pay in pesos 15% more that you can use again your tax later on.

Certain airlines specify on their sites that transactions are in usd only, for example American Airlines, and as far as I know they do have offices in Argentina. It varies, to make sure you pay in pesos it is best to call and ask them how / where to do it.

 

[lamarque]

Certain airlines specify on their sites that transactions are in usd only, for example American Airlines, and as far as I know they do have offices in Argentina. It varies, to make sure you pay in pesos it is best to call and ask them how / where to do it.

Yes that why i specify that they havew to offer on the web pay the option to pay in pesos as Iberia and Lan and some other airlines do.

 

[French jurist]

It might indeed vary between airline companies (not sure).

My personal experience:

I paid a R/T ticket for a friend to come to visit me back in june 2012 (Paris -> BA -> Paris on Air France). I booked the ticket in BA on Air France website and I had like 5 or 7 days to pay it in cash on a local bank account. Ticket was quoted in USD but could be paid for in ARS so I ended up saving $$$$ (would save even more now).