Usd Account

[guzepi]

Hi, my cousin lives in Argentina. She recently travelled to the US, and we opened a bank account together. We hadn't really thought through the "how" of getting USD out of a cash machine in Argentina.

Can anyone share their thoughts on a strategy?

We thought a USD account would be a way to store funds as a hedge against inflation. We also thought that cash could be taken from a local ARG cash machine using a US Debit card.

Thanks much in advance for your input.

 

[lucha54]

You can't get USD out of an Argy cash machine and if you get pesos out, it's converted at the official rate (8.something) which is why everyone who knows better just brings cash with them into the country and exchanges their cash at unofficial change offices for the rate of 13/14/15.

 

[nyer4ever]

You can get USD out of cash machines in Uruguay, but you can't in Argentina. Most of us use XOOM to get a better exchange rate than the official one. Good luck!

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

I too opened a US acct with an Argentine relative but I also opened an acct with BROU in Uruguay so we could wire USD to it. Of course I have to go to the bank in Uruguay to withdraw the dollars but a 2 hr round trip boat ride now & then works for me. We did it so he can collect his US social security.

 

[bobsnowpuppy]

Oh and you have to have a special kind of debit card - or so i was told - to use outside of US if you don't have a bank acct in Uruguay. I was told only Schwab bank has them so I also opened an acct there.​

 

[guzepi]

I too opened a US acct with an Argentine relative but I also opened an acct with BROU in Uruguay so we could wire USD to it. Of course I have to go to the bank in Uruguay to withdraw the dollars but a 2 hr round trip boat ride now & then works for me. We did it so he can collect his US social security.

You can get USD out of cash machines in Uruguay, but you can't in Argentina. Most of us use XOOM to get a better exchange rate than the official one. Good luck!

You can't get USD out of an Argy cash machine and if you get pesos out, it's converted at the official rate (8.something) which is why everyone who knows better just brings cash with them into the country and exchanges their cash at unofficial change offices for the rate of 13/14/15.

Thanks all. I appreciate the input.

 

[MDZ]

Oh and you have to have a special kind of debit card to use outside of US if you don't have a bank acct in Uruguay. I was told only Schwab bank has them so I also opened an acct there.

Most debit cards should work in Uruguay. The advantage of the schwab debit card is that they reimburse the fee they might charge you at the atm - so no fees at the atm in Uruguay or elsewhere.

 

[Patagone]

Not since at least 4 years...
Check with your local cueva. The bigger ones (we use an official exchange office) will have foreign USD accounts and will accept bank transfers and pay out in USD (if you trust them). We paid 2% only.

We live in teh interior, in BsAs I think everybody goes to Uruguay, uses Xoom or a casino. A forum search will give you much info.

 

[ElQueso]

Not since at least 4 years...
Check with your local cueva. The bigger ones (we use an official exchange office) will have foreign USD accounts and will accept bank transfers and pay out in USD (if you trust them). We paid 2% only.

We live in teh interior, in BsAs I think everybody goes to Uruguay, uses Xoom or a casino. A forum search will give you much info.

Cuevas here are charging as much as 6% now...I'd give my left, well, you know, to get 2%! Haven't seen that in Buenos Aires itself in at least two years.

To the OP:

If you know someone here who has similar needs (maybe you know someone running a business who wants to get their black earnings out, for example), you can do the same thing in reverse where you wire money to that person's account and that person gives you pesos here at an agreed-upon price. Only problem is you won't be buying dollars, but converting your dollars from the States to pesos directly here. Of course, you can always buy dollars here if you wanted, and would probably end up with a better overall conversion than Xoom would give.

And vice versa if you want to send pesos converted to dollars back to the States. Find someone who needs pesos here and can wire to your bank in the States.

Otherwise, Xoom and Uruguay (bank or direct ATM withdrawals) or a cueva are three relatively decent options to get money here. With the last two you can get dollars, Xoom only gives out pesos.