Transferring Money out of Argentina

[Davidglen77]

Does anybody know the answer to this? Of course, every single answer I have received from the people at the banks has been different. So I figured I would ask my cohorts here on the board.

If I sell a property, all in blanco, everything legal, and I recieve US$ in my bank account for the purchase, can I then transfer that money back to the USA?

I have heard yes and no. I have been told yes, as long as the funds are in blanco and I can prove that the origin is legal, which of course is not hard to do being that it would be from the sale of a property.

Some money I have in pesos saved up I would just spend here before I left and not even bother trying to take it back to exchange in the USA.

If it helps, I am a permanent resident and I have my DNI since July 2008. I purchased this property with funds that I obtained from selling another property that I owned here. The last property I sold, in November of 2010, I didn't have any problems at all, took a total of 1 week to sell and 1 month to get all of the papers in order to do the escritura.

Any advice would be appreciated, I don't know if I am leaving yet, but I just want to have an idea of how difficult it will be if I do.

 

[BednBreakfast]

Not exactly the right answer, but a few months ago a friend sold his apartment, received the money in cash at the bank and had it sent back to US through an intermediary. Something like Banco Piano but with lower percentage fee. PM me if you want to contact him for info.

 

[fuccolini]

use the same guys you brought the money in with no? casa de cambio guys? or did you bring everything in en blanco?

 

[Davidglen77]

I originally brought the money in through HSBC, all in blanco back in 2008. I then sold my other property and bought this one. So the money has always been in blanco and it's origin traceable. I no longer have an HSBC account though. I am not really concerned too much about having to pay a few percent in tranfer fees to get the money out of here. What concerns me is if I can get it out at all.

 

[citygirl]

I think the percentage is much higher in order to get the money out of the country through a casa de cambio.

I wish I knew the answer to your question David. I think in theory it should be but in reality, you're going to be hard pressed getting money out right now.

 

[el_expatriado]

In theory you should be able to if everything is "en blanco".

In practice, they won't let you. Your bank will take your paperwork and when they present it to the banco central, they won't get a reply authorizing it. So you will call your bank and ask what's going on and they will tell you it can't be sent because the banco central hasn't authorized it yet and hasn't responded to their request.

I meet with the foreign commerce dept of my bank (HSBC) about this very issue about 4 months ago and this is the same method they have used to prohibit foreign companies from sending dividends abroad to their headquarters. The central bank just doesn't reply to the requests from the banks. It isn't a denial (which would let you challenge it in court), but since it isn't an approval either, they can't send the transfer. Everything is done verbally and nothing is written down, so you don't have proof.

The only way to get cash out at this point is with a black market transfer which will cost you 6% or so.

 

[Iznogud]

Definitely not the best time to try this.

 

[fuccolini]

getting money out in negro (to the united states) i've gotten quotes of 2.5% - 4% from 2 different agents here in mendoza

 

[el_expatriado]

Wow, 2.5%? That's amazing. Would you mind PMing and sharing.

 

[nikad]

There is a legal easy way to this through a bank. It will involve opening an account, etc here and in the US at the same bank. How much money are we talking here?