using ATM cards

[lindymax]

Hi, new here,
Do Bs As banks charge a fee to use ATM cards for accessing cash?
thanks,
steve

 

[igor]

They don't charge fees at least explicitly. There is a hidden currency conversion fee, since ATMs give out only pesos. Your own bank is likely to charge for international transactions. See =1827]this thread for a reference of charges for some American banks.Normally you can withdraw only 300 pesos at a time. (You can do it several times up to the limit imposed by your own bank).

 

[igor]

(from gracielle, reposted by requiest)



ATM foreign usage fees - my personal experience.... My US bank is Bank
of the West. My ATM card is affiliated with MasterCard, Star System,
Cirrus (in BA). They charge me US$1.50 per foreign withdrawal. This fee
has been the same since 2000. I am limited to a daily withdrawal of
US$500. I make all my withdrawals at any Banco Nacion ATM dispenser.
This institution is part of the LINK system here and has branches
throughout the country. Banco Nacion does not charge me an additional
foreign withdrawal fee. They only dispense in pesos. They give me the
official exchange rate....yesterday it was $3.12 pesos.



Three months ago, my local Banco Nacion had no funds in their ATM
machines. This usually happens around the first of the month when
retirees withdraw their pensions. I had the choice to go to Banco
Ciudad which is part of the same LINK system but they also heavily
service pensioners.



I decided to try out a private bank which is also part of the LINK
system. I went to the ATM dispenser of HSBC. I obtained the maximum
withdrawal of US$500 in pesos at the official exchange rate. Within 5
days, Bank of the West charged me the usual US$1.50 plus a "foreign
bank fee" of US$5.75. I called my California branch of Bank of the West
to get an explanation. The manager told me they passed on to me the fee
charged to them by HSBC Argentina. He agreed to reverse the charge for
this one time only.



I believe the restriction of US$100 (obtained in pesos) per daily
withdrawal is imposed in Argentina by VISA, SA. To date MASTERCARD has
not instituted this practice here. The additional "foreign fee" per
withdrawal is being charged here by the private banks doing business in
Argentina. This practice seems to be regardless whether you have an ATM
card issued by Visa or MC.



Other American expats successfully use internet banks to avoid extra
fees. I do not believe VISA Argentina is likely to change their policy.
But we have other alternative means of obtaining cash here.

 

[tangobob]

Same old problem p$300 limit and charging for every withdrawal. I have contacted Visa international and they said that they will escalate the issue, I don't belive them, but if more people contact them eventually they have to listen.
You can ring them on 0014105817931 or try freephone 08006660171
They all say it is Visa South America that is the problem, so lets not give them any peace until we have free access to our money.

 

[ghost]

Tangobob:
This is good first step. Thank you. Let's all call them and harrass the hell out of them until we see results. Much the same as they would do to you if you missed a payment date by 5 seconds.

 

[schef4711]

Hi,the fees will be declared by your bank account. But mostly this costs are not so cheap. Some banks in the microcentro (like nationalbank) will give you also US$ out (but it is very rare because often there are no US$ in the machine !!!).VISA (debit card from Europe) : maximum per transaction : 500 Pesos maximum limit per day : 300 Euro (arround 1400 Pesos) costs are 2,50 Euro minium + 4% of the amount currency : actual curse of interbank

ATM card from Austria (PSK) : maximum per transaction : 1900 Pesos maximum limit per day : 400 Euro (arround 1900 Pesos) costs are arround 4,50 Euro up to 5,00 Euro (depends on amount) currency : shitty EuroPay curse - Interbank less of arround 4% bye alex

 

[Reedmoore]

Citi bank has a 1500 pesos limit if you're ATM at home allows this much. I use my Washington Mutual Card and they only charge 1% of the withdrawal which for 1500 pesos is about 5 bucks.. But since I can withdraw 1500 pesos per transacton it's not terrible. Wells Fargo charges 5.50 regardless of the amount withdrawn at any bank and since Citibank doesn't accept Wellsfargo ATM's I never use it.

 

[PK]

I was just in Mendoza and they let me take out 1,000 pesos every day if you wanted to.

 

[masalsur]

When I got here I was really pissed off about the 300 peso limit so I called the Canadian embassy to find out what they knew. They wrote back saying that an "entity" was being investigated for this artifical limit, designed to milk you for Interac fees.

My own bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, fixed the problem by changing my chequing account to a different type with no Interact fees. The monthly charge went up fro $12 to $30 but I am saving much more than that on the ripoffs. Now if I want more than 300 pesos I just keep starting over until I have as many pesos as I need, with no fees at all. The extra cost of $CDN18/month is well worth it. When I have visitors, I withdraw cash for them, and then we go online to see how many dollars the transaction was; they then send that amount to my account over the internet.

I would love to know who the 'entity' is that has worked out this scam

 

[dinguskhan]

How about charges for a U.S. citibank card withdrawing from a Argentine citibank or other citibank services in Argentina? I am looking forward to coming down from San Diego, CA. on Jan, 7th for a open ended and hopefully long term stay.
( In Vietnam I had no withdraw charge but in Thailand I was charged, Neither place would let me have a local account and my personal checks even at the branch were useless, I was told that the Asian citibanks had no affiliation with the U.S.A. but I think there was much lost in translation.)
My ATM card works fine most everywhere I go and I do most banking online so brick and mortar services are not really needed I am just curious. Thanks-DK