Western Union money transfer

[elhombresinnombre]

...Always looking for ways to do things I didn't realize were possible!

Good to see you are still around, EQ!

 

[SergeGGG]

Just out of curiosity, what does having a proper bank account here get you for receiving money from the exterior?

We have bank accounts that are as proper as I know of, but we still struggle to find a way, every month (for 17 years!), to get the money in as cheaply and efficiently as possible. But if I could just somehow wire money into our bank account, I'd forgo some of the cost aspect.

Only way I've found to get money here legally from the outside, without using an ATM or WU (etc), is to own a business that can issue invoices and get paid from the outside through the central bank process. But that is not timely at the best.

Always looking for ways to do things I didn't realize were possible!

Proper account in my books would be something like a BBVA account that allows you to withdraw huge amounts from an ATM, if you happen to have Mercado pago or Brubank you can only withdraw 15 K a day from an ATM. Sure you can use rapipago and the likes but again, pain in the ass with the long queues and the lack of cash everywhere.

 

[ElQueso]

Good to see you are still around, EQ!

Thanks! It's been awhile. I received a PM today out of the blue asking for some information and came back to see how things were going

 

[ElQueso]

Proper account in my books would be something like a BBVA account that allows you to withdraw huge amounts from an ATM, if you happen to have Mercado pago or Brubank you can only withdraw 15 K a day from an ATM. Sure you can use rapipago and the likes but again, pain in the ass with the long queues and the lack of cash everywhere.

I thought you were talking about being able to get money into the country, facilitated by having a bank account here. My wife and I have an account at Galicia, credit cards and debit cards, etc. Of course, it's easy to put everything on direct debit, deposit money and pay the cards and such with the account.

For me, getting money into the country cheaply and easily (never both at the same time!) has been trying and I always look for ways to do it.

Many people are using Mercado Pago these days as a bank account. Doesn't have the advantages of lines of credit that don't cost interest if you pay off the balance each month, I believe, so not good for paying the cards off. Not a proper account to be sure.

 

[steveinbsas]

Just out of curiosity, what does having a proper bank account here get you for receiving money from the exterior?

Having a "proper" bank acount gets me the luxury of not having to leave my house to pick up funds at a Wetern Union agency.

The closest ones are a fifteen minute drive from my house and there is no guarantee they would have the $150K -$200K availabe when I get there.

Only way I've found to get money here legally from the outside, without using an ATM or WU (etc), is to own a business that can issue invoices and get paid from the outside through the central bank process. But that is not timely at the best.

Perhaps the cost of the bank to bank transfer would be less than the 5% charged by Western Union, but if I understand correctly, any business (registered with AFIP) that issuse invioces to foreign clients must transfer the funds to an Argentine bank (within five days of payment?)...

...and those funds in dollars must be converted to ARS at the official rate, resulting in a 50% (mas o menos) lower net amount received as compared to using Western Union, either deposited in an Argentine bank acount

If my information is correct, the dollars received cannot be directly withdrawn from the Argentine bank account, only the pesos after the conversion at the official rate, but I would be happy to be wrong.

 

[steveinbsas]

...and those funds in dollars must be converted to ARS at the official rate, resulting in a 50% (mas o menos) lower net amount received as compared to using Western Union, either deposited in an Argentine bank acount...

...or picked up at a WU agency.

 

[FrankPintor]

I've been advised that freelancers (monotributistas) can invoice foreign clients in pesos, and receive the funds in Pesos in their bank account (e.g.sent via WU), without the invoice showing the client's name (i.e. just "cliente final").

The "Dolar Tecno", which looks likely to happen at some stage, would allow freelancers to bring the funds as USD into Argentina, and exchange them at a preferential rate.

Do note that I am not an expert on any of these topics, and my opinions are worth exactly what you paid to read them

 

[lunar]

I've been advised that freelancers (monotributistas) can invoice foreign clients in pesos, and receive the funds in Pesos in their bank account (e.g.sent via WU), without the invoice showing the client's name (i.e. just "cliente final").

I assume the foreign clients will not be able to write this money off as a business expense, since they are sending it as a "Family Support" or something. Right?

 

[FrankPintor]

I assume the foreign clients will not be able to write this money off as a business expense, since they are sending it as a "Family Support" or something. Right?

No idea, the foreign client is simply complying with the your payment request, I don't know how that translates into foreign tax reporting requirements. Another possibility would be for the foreign client to transfer to your account outside Argentina, and then you can transfer to yourself via WU.

I was told that as long as the amount hitting your Argentinian bank account corresponds to the amount on your AFIP declaration, it's fine at the Argentinian end. If I'm honest, it sounds too easy to me, but that's what I got from two Argentinian "contadores". If anyone has done something like this, or even has a friend who did this, feedback to the forum would be great. The "Dolar Tecno" seems like a more robust legal structure to work with, I hope it comes soon.

 

[ElQueso]

I've been advised that freelancers (monotributistas) can invoice foreign clients in pesos, and receive the funds in Pesos in their bank account (e.g.sent via WU), without the invoice showing the client's name (i.e. just "cliente final").

The "Dolar Tecno", which looks likely to happen at some stage, would allow freelancers to bring the funds as USD into Argentina, and exchange them at a preferential rate.

Do note that I am not an expert on any of these topics, and my opinions are worth exactly what you paid to read them

Yeah, we were working with our accountant to try to get to that point as monotributistas before the pandemic. We hadn't gotten there by then (accountant was always "researching"), then I got trapped in the US at the beginning of the pandemic and couldn't get back for nearly 8 months (with my family stuck here!) and things just kind of left off since then. It's something I need to get started again to see if it can be done.

I think Steve was fairly accurate re: the business route, which is costly, cumbersome and when I worked with a local company here some years ago, they always had trouble just getting the money to clear the Central bank. I'm having a hard time believing that a monotributista can bring money in easier, but it may be.

If I ever get there I'll write about it.