Smart money logistics?

[HelaineT]

I use 2 US cards.. Amex and a Visa debit/atm card. I dont recall ever having any extra paper work except that on the receipt I have to sign once, write my name and then enter my dni. Thats it.
However, you've got me looking at my spending.
Today I charged 10,000 pesos on my Bank of America Visa Debit Card. At the offical rate (61:1) they should have charged my U.S. account $163. When I checked I saw the charge was $185 plus a $3.50 Foreign Transaction Fee. That means it cost me $22.50 to make a $163 charge (13.8%)
I'm going to look at some of my other charges and credit cards. If the result is much different I'll let you know.
Previously we tried having an American Express Card at a local bank. I used Xoom to get pesos then the bank required me to deposit pesos in to a savings account then transfer it, then pay the bill. They moved the money in strange ways, sometimes it disappeared for awhile. The banks service department would draw charts for us showing where the money went, when the bills would get paid, etc. It was surreal.

Well, about the usual simplicity of using your two cards, you have a DNI. Not all part-time “expats” do; I don’t. That’s surely in your favor when using your card.

Glad I got you looking at your spending. Doing some analysis periodically is good! Yuck! Sorry you went through that. (I lived in Italy for 20 years as a legal resident and had my share of weird admin, etc. experiences.)

 

[pennsylvania]

Well, about the usual simplicity of using your two cards, you have a DNI. Not all part-time “expats” do; I don’t. That’s surely in your favor when using your card.

You can use your passport, they just want some form of ID.

 

[HelaineT]

You can use your passport, they just want some form of ID.

Thanks, Pennsylvania. I’ll try using my cards more this time.

 

[Stantucker]

Thanks, Pennsylvania. I’ll try using my cards more this time.

You can also use a drivers license, or you could a few years ago; that's what we did before we got our DNI and didn't want to have to have to carry our passports.

 

[HelaineT]

You can also use a drivers license, or you could a few years ago; that's what we did before we got our DNI and didn't want to have to have to carry our passports.

An argentine drivers license or US one?

 

[Stantucker]

An argentine drivers license or US one?

US.

 

[HelaineT]

US.

I’m amazed that that works.Thanks so much!

 

[Steve K]

When we arrived a month ago the difference between official and Blue was negligible. Most places in Buenos Aires accept Visa or Mastercard for payment. They want a DNI to type into the system sometimes, or other times they just want you to write it on the receipt. They accept a passport number or Drivers license number from foreigners. You do not need to carry your passport or drivers license with you. I carry color photocopies of mine, but rarely does anyone want to see them. I just handwrote my passport number on a piece of plain paper to make it larger and easier to read and then I show just that to places that want to type in the DNI or other number. For the times you are supposed write it on the receipt, I just scribble a squiggle, and nobody seems to care. Capital One and Chase Amazon Prime cards both offer spot rate for purchases with no conversion fees. The Amazon card is childishly easy to get if you have an Amazon account.

I was even able to get a Carrefour (grocery) loyalty card by showing the color copy of my USA Drivers License, and they created a Mi Carrefour account and gave me a handwritten number to use at checkout to qualify for discounts.

Now with the election tomorrow, it's a different matter. You lose well over 10% of your purchasing power if you don't use the Cuevas to change 100 dollar bills into pesos. Cuevas are commonly used (and rarely discussed openly) by many many locals and lots of us foreigners. Find a trusted local or expat to refer you to a convenient and reliable Cueva in or near your lodging or workplace. I have a couple of good ones here in Mendoza, which would not be convenient for you. We have converted to exchanging the "emergency" cash we brought with us at Cuevas and paying pesos cash for everything now. Hopefully the rates will stabilize in a week or two, no matter who wins tomorrow. Then we would go back to using our US credit cards. If it's only 2-3% differnce from the blue rate, your credit card cashback will cover most of that.

Getting $2k or more per month by the ATMs would be hopelessly tedious, getting less than US$150 each time and ATMs often being out of cash. ATMs inside casinos generally allow 8000 pesos per withdrawal in 500s and rarely run out, but still it would be tedious for larger amounts, even if you get the ATM fees reimbursed.

If you bring over US$10K in cash it is reportable in the USA, but it is NOT ILLEGAL and there are no consequences (except maybe a couple of easily answered questions) unless you fail to report or try to duck the requirement by sharing the cash between 2 people traveling together. Don't even try to dodge the reporting!

 

[HelaineT]

When we arrived a month ago the difference between official and Blue was negligible. Most places in Buenos Aires accept Visa or Mastercard for payment. They want a DNI to type into the system sometimes, or other times they just want you to write it on the receipt. They accept a passport number or Drivers license number from foreigners.
<snip>
If you bring over US$10K in cash it is reportable in the USA, but it is NOT ILLEGAL and there are no consequences (except maybe a couple of easily answered questions) unless you fail to report or try to duck the requirement by sharing the cash between 2 people traveling together. Don't even try to dodge the reporting!

Steve, thank for your thorough and helpful reply!

My one comment is that I once tried to use a photocopy of my passport to pay with a card at the COTO supermarket and they said I had to have my physical passport.

 

[domthegreat]

Thanks very much, Dom! How does one do “more blue transactions or money transfer services for more regular and larger transactions”?

It means either having USD in cash that you can take to a...let's say, "informal" exchange house to get the blue rate. Or you can use a service like Transferwise, Western Union, or Xoom to send USD from your account abroad here to pickup in pesos. They will give you better than the official rate.

All of it depends on what happens in the next few months with currency restrictions.