Sending money through Uruguay

[Jim Prideaux]

Try HSBC. They have steep requirements to open for foreigners including an endless paper trail, but it can be done. They have branches in US too so can manage the transfer on both ends from here.

Okay, thanks for that. And there is no limit on the amount of dollars I can withdraw on this end?

 

[antipodean]

Okay, thanks for that. And there is no limit on the amount of dollars I can withdraw on this end?

Tbh, I have never asked. But I know people who withdrew a few thousand USD from their USD account last week without issue.
I would imagine that for larger amounts one would need to organize it in advance as I doubt branches carry vast amounts at branches.
What was the issue with Santander and withdrawing the cash?

 

[Jim Prideaux]

Tbh, I have never asked. But I know people who withdrew a few thousand USD from their USD account last week without issue.
I would imagine that for larger amounts one would need to organize it in advance as I doubt branches carry vast amounts at branches.
What was the issue with Santander and withdrawing the cash?

This was a corporate account. The first issue was that I could withdraw the transferred dollars only as pesos, which were changed at a very bad rate of exchange. No thanks. After setting up a new account that allowed account holders to take out the dollars they had transferred (with a fee), the banking regulations changed on the amount of dollars that could be withdrawn. The last time I tried this I had to wait roughly six months and jump through hoops dealing with several government agencies. I was going to spend it all here, anyway. Maddening and exhausting. Only people determined to destroy their country would run banks as the Argentinians do.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

I would be surprised if that would work. We tried to do that already back in 2018 and it was not possible even then (at least via Transferwise). But I might be wrong...
However, even if it were possible, under no circumstances I would do this given the current FX situation here. You simply do not know whether the money is safe here. With a bit of bad luck your money then gets converted in peso at the official rate before you can get it out of the bank.
What is possible though, is agreeing with a private cueva / person to agree to deposit USD in the US, and then pick up USD cash here in Buenos Aires. Last time, I was paying a commission of 3.5% on that.

GREAT ADVICE and REASONING.

Argentina's financial system is NOT TO BE TRUSTED under any circumstance one can imagine.

Couple the previous statement with their propensity for ruinous financial recidivism and you have a near perfect guarantee of impending disaster.

 

[toast]

I maintain at the same Argentine bank a peso account and a USD account. Accountant here in CABA advised that depositing pesos in efectivo was a no no. But as long as I obtain a turno, cash withdrawals in USD have not been a problem. The fees for inbound USD are not objectionable. Each month $10 USD is deducted from the USD account. When I can no longer get USD in ARG, time to get on the plane out. I really hope sanity prevails. I have more than my share of bad traits, but regardless, my presence in ARG brings in HARD currency. They should not chase me away.

 

[jlynch]

also through the purchase of bonds/ADRs traded in new york and selling here into a dollar account. im not so such about the requirements for a brokerage account here in terms of DNI etc. there was a lot of volatility in the bond prices in the last month after the extra capital control restrictions came in so you wouldn't want to be holding them for too along.

 

[on the brink]

I maintain at the same Argentine bank a peso account and a USD account. Accountant here in CABA advised that depositing pesos in efectivo was a no no. But as long as I obtain a turno, cash withdrawals in USD have not been a problem. The fees for inbound USD are not objectionable. Each month $10 USD is deducted from the USD account. When I can no longer get USD in ARG, time to get on the plane out. I really hope sanity prevails. I have more than my share of bad traits, but regardless, my presence in ARG brings in HARD currency. They should not chase me away.

If you wire $5,000 USD in, do you get that amount in actual dollar bills here? I mean, without having them converted to pesos at the official rate, and back again to dollars.

 

[toast]

When I had an occasion to wire in 4 figures USD, the fee charged in ARG was about USD $45. Dollars wired into the dollar account stay in dollars. Should the need arise to use pesos to pay electronically, I have to buy pesos at the rate the banks sells them at.... 76 pesos to the USD for the most recent transaction.