Western Union money transfer

[SinPulgas]

WU $1025 at the momemt

This thread started just over 4 years ago. The WU price? 74 pesos/dollar. Incredible.

 

[pixer12]

I'm not there so I can't speak to prices. But just from reading news articles quoting Argentina officials looks like prices for everything will go up dramatically in the coming months. One thing is for certain, the new administration is doing things differently from the last. How long the population will tolerate it is the question.

I think you're overcomplicating the calculation. For the time being, just look at the USDARS exchange rates and not this USD-ARS-USD-through-WU process. A dollar used to cost 366 pesos, now it costs 800. Dollars now cost more pesos, so the dollar has become more expensive/valuable.

 

[steveinbsas]

WU rate is now down to $1016.50

It was still at $1025 at 11:30 am this morning when I made a transfer (regardless of the possibiliy of the rate going UP), hoping to be able to buy a number of items on Mercado Libre at prices unchanged since the delaluation.

PS: I should be able to start shopping with the funds about six pm this evening.

 

[AdrianB]

I think you're overcomplicating the calculation. For the time being, just look at the USDARS exchange rates and not this USD-ARS-USD-through-WU process. A dollar used to cost 366 pesos, now it costs 800. Dollars now cost more pesos, so the dollar has become more expensive/valuable.

Except pretty much no one could buy the dollar for 366 pesos.

 

[pixer12]

Except pretty much no one could buy the dollar for 366 pesos.

Right. But my recent discussion with Wade K. is mostly an academic/theoretical one, looking at the change in the official exchange rate to ascribe a value to the dollar. Wade said that the official devaluation of the peso is actually a devaluation of the dollar.

 

[Wade K.]

I think you're overcomplicating the calculation. For the time being, just look at the USDARS exchange rates and not this USD-ARS-USD-through-WU process. A dollar used to cost 366 pesos, now it costs 800. Dollars now cost more pesos, so the dollar has become more expensive/valuable.

If you noticed the number of Pesos you get through Western Union went from 988 to 1025 after the devaluation. Only slightly up. But the official rate went from 366 to 800. So expect the cost of everything has/will go up considerably and it will cost you a lot more Pesos to buy stuff.

Some say the official rate doesn't matter, no one uses it. When an Argentine farmer sells his soybeans on the international market he's getting the official rate, not the blue rate. An Argentine who pulls money out of an ATM gets the official rate. It very much matters to Argentineans.

 

[AdrianB]

An Argentine who pulls money out of an ATM gets the official rate.

How is taking money from an ATM related to the exchange rate for Argentinians?

They have pesos and pull out pesos.

 

[Wade K.]

How is taking money from an ATM related to the exchange rate for Argentinians?

They have pesos and pull out pesos.

That's true. To be more precise banks give the official rate to international travelers. I know Argentina now has a tourist rate for credit cards. But that's only for purchases, not for cash point withdrawals. And the Euro doesn't get the same benefit. So ATM's give the official rate, not the blue rate or any other.

 

[AdrianB]

And the Euro doesn't get the same benefit.

Euro cards get the MEP rate just scaled to euros. For example today Euro=1020 ARS for card transactions.

 

[Wade K.]

Euro cards get the MEP rate just scaled to euros. For example today Euro=1020 ARS for card transactions.

That's good to know. I had just read a website saying the Tourist Dollar Rate doesn't apply to the Euro. That may have been true at the time of writing.