Smart money logistics?

[HelaineT]

From Schwab’s website:
“When traveling abroad, does a Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account have ATM and currency fees?
Schwab Bank offers unlimited ATM fee rebates for cash withdrawals using the Schwab Bank Visa® Platinum card. Schwab Bank does not charge foreign exchange transaction fees for purchases made from your Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account with your Schwab Bank debit card.22 Learn more ”

Addendum to my previous comment about Schwab. Here’s a response I just received from Customer Service at Fidelity:
”If you are using a debit card connected to a Cash Management Account Fidelity will reimburse all ATM withdrawal fees charged by the ATM owner. However, please keep in mind that because you will be accessing an ATM in a foreign country Fidelity does charge a one percent foreign transaction fee. Please note that ATM reimbursements only apply to Cash Management Accounts. If you were to open a debit card on a Brokerage account the ATM fees for that debit card would not be reimbursed.”

So Fidelity also reimburses the withdrawal fee, but charges a 1% foreign transaction fee. Schwab does not charge the foreign transaction fee. Both banks are advantageous for getting cash at ATMs, eliminating BA’s outrageous withdrawal fees, but Schwab still wins on savings.

 

[steveinbsas]

PS2: I don't plan on withdrawing funds at an ATM using my Schwab debit card in Argentina in the future. it isn't worth the time and trouble just to get a maximum of about $130 USD. Besides the ATM's don't always have funds when I go to town in the early morning and I can get pesos when I make a purchase at the grocery store.

If Western Union continues to have the best rate and i can't find a way to transfer funds to myself with WU, I'll have Schwab send monthly checks to my sister-in-law and she will send the funds directly to my Santander Rio account. Hopefully. she'll be able to use the app to send the funds. If not, there are at least five WU locations on the same street within six blocks of each other in the home town.

Schwab will send the checks to her at no charge after I send them a FAX with instructions to make the transfers (which can be either recurring automatically until I tell them to stop or can be by phone authorization whenever I call them).

 

[HelaineT]

PS2: I don't plan on withdrawing funds at an ATM using my Schwab debit card in Argentina in the future. it isn't worth the time and trouble just to get a maximum of about $130 USD. Besides the ATM's don't always have funds when I go to town in the early morning and I can get pesos when I make a purchase at the grocery store.

If Western Union continues to have the best rate and i can't find a way to transfer funds to myself with WU, I'll have Schwab send monthly checks to my sister-in-law and she will send the funds directly to my Santander Rio account. Hopefully. she'll be able to use the app to send the funds. If not, there are at least five WU locations on the same street within six blocks of each other in the home town.

Schwab will send the checks to her at no charge after I send them a FAX with instructions to make the transfers (which can be either recurring automatically until I tell them to stop or can be by phone authorization whenever I call them).

Steve, thanks for your initial info and for your update. I thought my job was done, except for choosing between my current Fidelity account and switching to Schwab. (Not a big deal at this point.) Now I see that my homework isn’t done and I should look into the WU option. How can they possibly give a dramatically higher exchange rate? I don’t understand this.

 

[steveinbsas]

Based on what I've learned just TODAY I suggest you download the Western Union US app to your smartphone and use it to transfer funds from your US bank account to the Western Union pick up location of your choice in Buenos Aires (and there are MANY).

The WU rate at this moment is just under $78 ARS to ONE US Dollar.

XOOM's rate is just under $64 ARS to ONE US Dollar

About the rate:

...That (Western union) 77,93 ARS to 1 USD rate is their ARS->USD rate though. I just checked and USD->ARS is currently 64,34 ARS to 1 USD.

Thanks to pennsylvania for this correction!

 

[gracielle]

Can someone give me an update on the normal Banelco ATM withdrawal limit these days?

In ARG operate two (2) ATM networks, BANELCO (logo AB) and LINK. I use my Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account debit card to take out pesos from both of the (2) ATM networks.

From personal experience, currently the better private banks in BA under the BANELCO network: HSBC, BBVA, ICBC, Banco Santander/Rio, Banco Galicia and Banco Patagonia.

The local banking laws in ARG which apply to all ATM withdrawals using foreign credit/debit cards at all the private banks are currently as follows:
The BANELCO (AB) network allows a maximum of two (2) withdrawals within a 24-hr period no matter which of the banks you choose within their network. The fee TODAY is: $615 pesos. The maximum amount of pesos allowed per withdrawal is set by each bank and it can vary from week to week. TODAY it was up to 8000 pesos per withdrawal. That is not to say one should not try asking for a higher amount tomorrow, or next Monday, etc.

The public banks in ARG and/or in BA under the LINK network: Banco de La Nacion and Banco Provincia (which I have yet to use) and Banco Ciudad, which only operates in CABA, is the bank I use frequently.
The LINK network allows a maximum of three (3) withdrawals within a 24-hr period when using their ATM's. The fee TODAY is: $318 pesos.
The maximum amount of pesos allowed per withdrawal can vary from week to week. TODAY it was up to $5000 pesos per withdrawal. That is not to say one should not try asking for a higher amount tomorrow, or next Monday, etc.

Keep in mind that it will also depend on the time of day you go to any of the private banks as well as any branch of Banco Ciudad as to whether their ATM machine(s) have enough bills to deliver the amount you are requesting. If an ATM contains less pesos than the amount requested the system will deny the entire transaction. You can choose to repeat the transaction at one of the other ATM's in the same branch or go to a different entity. On weekends and during banking holidays the LINK ATM's at Banco Ciudad are always empty. This seems to occur much less frequently when utilizing the BANELCO network.

 

[HelaineT]

About the rate:

Thanks to pennsylvania for this correction!

Wow! I’m so glad to get this new information. I have a WU account and started setting up a transfer to myself to check. Yes, it’s 64,34 ARS to the dollar. Their currency converter though shows a more standard rate of 59.206 today. How is it that they give 5 pesos more per USD?

 

[HelaineT]

In ARG operate two (2) ATM networks, BANELCO (logo AB) and LINK. I use my Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account debit card to take out pesos from both of the (2) ATM networks.

From personal experience, currently the better private banks in BA under the BANELCO network: HSBC, BBVA, ICBC, Banco Santander/Rio, Banco Galicia and Banco Patagonia.

The local banking laws in ARG which apply to all ATM withdrawals using foreign credit/debit cards at all the private banks are currently as follows:
The BANELCO (AB) network allows a maximum of two (2) withdrawals within a 24-hr period no matter which of the banks you choose within their network. The fee TODAY is: $615 pesos. The maximum amount of pesos allowed per withdrawal is set by each bank and it can vary from week to week. TODAY it was up to 8000 pesos per withdrawal. That is not to say one should not try asking for a higher amount tomorrow, or next Monday, etc.

The public banks in ARG and/or in BA under the LINK network: Banco de La Nacion and Banco Provincia (which I have yet to use) and Banco Ciudad, which only operates in CABA, is the bank I use frequently.
The LINK network allows a maximum of three (3) withdrawals within a 24-hr period when using their ATM's. The fee TODAY is: $318 pesos.
The maximum amount of pesos allowed per withdrawal can vary from week to week. TODAY it was up to $5000 pesos per withdrawal. That is not to say one should not try asking for a higher amount tomorrow, or next Monday, etc.

Keep in mind that it will also depend on the time of day you go to any of the private banks as well as any branch of Banco Ciudad as to whether their ATM machine(s) have enough bills to deliver the amount you are requesting. If an ATM contains less pesos than the amount requested the system will deny the entire transaction. You can choose to repeat the transaction at one of the other ATM's in the same branch or go to a different entity. On weekends and during banking holidays the LINK ATM's at Banco Ciudad are always empty. This seems to occur much less frequently when utilizing the BANELCO network.

Gracielle, thanks so much!

 

[Caribbean Cool]

So....back to WU.....ATM's are useless. Whatever card you use....they are useless. You can only withdraw pennies and those pennies cost dollars. Choose your poison....local Argentinian pesos with WU or get dollars in Uruguay. (what no one has mentioned is that the Schwab account is a BROKERAGE account with all the documents required to open a brokerage account....meaning your personal info is much more open including a 1099!!!!!!!. And you must open the account in the states or successfully hide your location out of the states) And if the spread between the official peso and the blue dollar ever approaches the 50% that is was 3 or 4 years ago....we will all be in the same boat. That's the one going to Uruguay. I'll be the guy wearing the bandana and baseball cap.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

Yes...use a VPN for Western Union

 

[HelaineT]

Yes...use a VPN for Western Union

“CC”, can you explain?