Best way to get arg pesos? Bring cash or use my credit card? When I was there in early 2019, I used my American credit card at grocery store and restaurant. I didn’t use much cash much. Will that still work? Should I get pesos here or will that be bad news?
I think Western Union is the best way to get pesos in Argentina, even better than bringing dollars to sxchange in a cueva (something I've never done).
I made a Western Union transfer to my bank today. The rate I received was almost $216 ARS to one USD. For a transfer of $300 USD I received almost $65.000 ARS,
The funds were credited to my account at about 5:30 this afternoon. I paid down my credit card balance so I can shop on Mercado Libre on Black Friday (which has already begun).
As I paid my credit card balance in pesos (with the pesos I received from Western Union) I noticed that the official exchange rate the bank would have converted dollars to if I was paying in dollars would have been $106 ARS to one USD.
When you transfer dollars from your dollar bank account in the USA to Argentina using Western Union, you will always recieve pesos here at the current WU rate (which today is the highest it's ever been).
If you use your "American" cerdit card here, you will probably see that you got a little less than the "official" rate when you receive your statement.
That means you will actually pay (in dollars) more than twice as much every time you pay for something in Argentina with your credit card than if you use Western Union to send money to yourself while you are here.
Even if you bring dollars and use a cueva to get the "blu" rate you are still likely to get fewer pesos compared to Western Union, especially if you use a "promo code" to eleimate the Western Union transfer fees.