Western Union money transfer

[jblaze5779]

Perhaps we're speaking of two separate things. I'm only considering moving money from bank to bank with Western Union. The rate the other day was 181. A peso is a peso at the bank so you should only be concerned with getting the greatest exchange rate through WU or Xoom or whatever.

 

[zensailor]

Perhaps we're speaking of two separate things. I'm only considering moving money from bank to bank with Western Union. The rate the other day was 181. A peso is a peso at the bank so you should only be concerned with getting the greatest exchange rate through WU or Xoom or whatever.

Don't forget that when you go to withdraw your money from the bank, they give you a ridiculous conversion rate, charge an exorbitant withdrawal fee, and demand the duplication of these fees if you need more money than their piddly limit ....... the banks here are a sick joke.

 

[jblaze5779]

Don't forget that when you go to withdraw your money from the bank, they give you a ridiculous conversion rate, charge an exorbitant withdrawal fee, and demand the duplication of these fees if you need more money than their piddly limit ....... the banks here are a sick joke.

ok

 

[steveinbsas]

Don't forget that when you go to withdraw your money from the bank, they give you a ridiculous conversion rate, charge an exorbitant withdrawal fee, and demand the duplication of these fees if you need more money than their piddly limit ....... the banks here are a sick joke.

The above applies to using a debit card issued by a foreign bank to "withdraw" money from that bank using an ATM in Argentina.

When you actually withraw funds you have already transferred to your Argentine bank account, either at the bank itself or using a debit card at an ATM, no foreign transaction fees or conversion rates apply.

You get the pesos you already have here and (as far as I know) there aren't any ATM fees if you use one of the ATM's of the same bank that you have the account with, though a small fee may apply if you use any other.

You can also get cash (in pesos) using the Argentine debit card at a number of businesses. I stopped using ATM's to get pesos several years ago for this reason. Of course it's also possible to pay for almost all purchases here (at least from most businesses) with the same debit card
.

 

[jblaze5779]

The above applies to using a debit card issued by a foreign bank to "withdraw" money from that bank using an ATM in Argentina.

When you actually withraw funds you have already transferred to your Argentine bank account, either at the bank itself or using a debit card at an ATM, no foreign transaction fees or conversion rates apply.

You get the pesos you already have here and (as far as I know) there aren't any ATM fees if you use one of the ATM's of the same bank that you have the account with, though a small fee may apply if you use any other.

You can also get cash (in pesos) using the Argentine debit card at a number of businesses. I stopped using ATM's to get pesos several years ago for this reason. Of course it's also possible to pay for almost all purchases here (at least from most businesses) with the same debit card
.

Thank you for typing all this out. There are clearly two different situations being discussed here. Once pesos are in the country there is no exchange rate and fee to get money from an atm.

 

[steveinbsas]

You should try using Western Union bank to bank transfers. No fees and a higher exchange rate. What’s not to like about that?

Because you have to pay for a bank account to transfer into. And then you have to use an ATM that only lets you withdraw 8,000 pesos at a time. If there is available cash at all. The banks here suck.

You can get at least 24000 out at a time now. If you're transferring dollars to Arg you probably aren't phased by bank account fees (if there are any).

That's $135.00. Sorry, that's just ridiculous. And a dollars account at Galicia is $20.00 a month. I will never open a bank account here. And you get the official rate at a bank. Not blue. It is worth every penny to use Western Union.

Yes, it is most certainly worth every penny to use Western Union, but without an Argentine bank account, if you are transferring more than $300 USD per month (by even one dollar) and picking up the funds at a Western Union agency, you will undoubtley end up receiving fewer of those pennies than if you transferred the same funds to an Argentine bank.

You do not get the official rate "at a bank" when transferring funds by Western Union to be deposited the Argergentine bank. The bank has nothing to do with the Western Union exchange rate.

The bank only receives and credits your account with the funds that have already been converted from dollars to pesos..

You only get the crappy exchange rate if you use your foreign debit card at an ATM in Argentina to "withdraw" funds directly from your US bank account..

When picking up the funds at a WU agency in Argentina, the fee for a transfer of $300 USD is $20 USD. The fee for a transfer of $301 USD is $25.

If you transfer $600 per month for cash pick up the WU fee is $30, for $900 it's $45, and for $1200 the fee is $75.

I don't know if it is still possible to get an Argentine bank account which is only in pesos and has no monthy fees, but, if you are transferring more than $300 USD per month, you are paying more than the monthly fee of $20 USD for a "dollars" Argentine bank account.

I don't think it's necessary to have a "dollars" bank account in Argentina to use Western Union. I opened a peso/dollar account at a branch of Santander Rio in Bahia Blanca in 2012, but I have never had any dollars in the acccount.

I am happy to pay the monthly fee for the account as I also have a Visa credit card (as far as I know, not avialble with the "free" accounts) which I use to pay for almost everthing. It has saved me a lot of money...much more than the $200 peso monthly fee (last time I checked).

There was also a $1200 "tasa" on my last Visa resumen, but I was using my phone and could not view the full page to find out more about that charge. Whatever it's for, I don't mind paying it, considering all the benefits of being able to use the card, especially interest free installment payments for some of the items I puchase on Mercadoo Libre...

 

[Macanudo]

Because you have to pay for a bank account to transfer into. And then you have to use an ATM that only lets you withdraw 8,000 pesos at a time. If there is available cash at all. The banks here suck.

I have a free account at BancoCiudad, the daily ATM withdawal limit is 39k pesos per day. You can only receive 15k per transaction, but there are no fees. If you want to withdraw more than 39k, you have to make an online reservation a day before. They let you in the bank and you can withdraw however much you want. They have a monthly limit you can deposit of 86k, but it is not strictly inforced. I have never paid a fee for any service from BancoCiudad. I pay my bills online using them. I go to the self check out express lane at the supermarket using their debit card. I would recommend them to anyone that doesn’t have a bank account and has a permanent DNI.

 

[antipodean]

In regards to ATM withdrawals from peso accounts: For Santander and Itaú you can talk to your branch to increase the daily withdrawal limit up to $100.000 (or do it online via their app) Many times the ATM will be limited to give out $50k/ $30k/ $10k at a time depending on what notes it has available, in which case you just need to do multiple transactions. If you need more than $100.000, you still need to make an appointment to get it from the ventanilla. Apparently there is no longer any health reasons why this is required by banks, but there was pressure from the bankers union (and a push from the central bank) to try to change peoples habits away from cash for larger transactions and relieve demand on monetary supply.

 

[Preston]

$181 this afternoon (first time over $180).

185.5 Today

 

[Wade K.]

185.5 Today

186.65 later today.