Western Union money transfer

[PatriotsFan]

What are the cambios?

They are places/people that will exchange money for you. USD , Euros, Reals
If on Florida you will hear them "Cambio, Cambio, Dollares"
There are some stores that will have a sign above them that will show USA/EU/Brazil
There is one near the corner of Santa Fe and Cerrito.
and then of course the Cuevas on Florida.

 

[SinPulgas]

They are places/people that will exchange money for you. USD , Euros, Reals
If on Florida you will hear them "Cambio, Cambio, Dollares"
There are some stores that will have a sign above them that will show USA/EU/Brazil
There is one near the corner of Santa Fe and Cerrito.
and then of course the Cuevas on Florida.

Funny, I thought those were the arbolitos, the cuevas, and the casas de cambio. I never heard of the "cambios" in my 20 years here.

 

[PatriotsFan]

Funny, I thought those were the arbolitos, the cuevas, and the casas de cambio. I never heard of the "cambios" in my 20 years here.

This is my interpretation of the Cambios. I am still a newbie so maybe one of those more knowledgeable can clarify.

 

[Quilombo]

Dolar Cripto is at $1,240 now; tomorrow is a holiday, Milei has won, the sky is the limit folks, what are we guessing for Tuesday? Might want to hold off on any transfers unless you absolutely need to

 

[antipodean]

The holiday tomorrow is perhaps a good moment to spend those pesos you’ve got laying around the house and put some big purchases on your Argentine credit cards that you’ll pay at the end of the month or in fixed cuotas.

 

[Patrick2006]

Why has the rate of Western Union been lower than the blue dollar by so much in the past month?

 

[Redpossum]

Why has the rate of Western Union been lower than the blue dollar by so much in the past month?

This is just my theory/understanding, but here goes.

WU and other remittance companies that are sending dollars to Argentina and paying out in pesos are the other half of the CCL. Consider, if they do the CCL thing then they are receiving ARS here in Argentina, and paying out dollars in the USA. Obviously they want to unload those pesos as quickly as possible, so the remittance business is the other half of that cycle; they receive our dollars in the USA and pay us with pesos here in-country. If the pesos start to build up, then they raise the "WU rate" to attract more remittance business. But when there is not as much money being sent out of the country via CCL, they can drop the rate and make more profit on the deal.

So, if my understanding is correct, then the decline of the WU Rate indicates that, for some reason, not as much money is being sent out of the country via CCL. But that seems counter-intuitive, no?

 

[Rich One]

This is just my theory/understanding, but here goes.

WU and other remittance companies that are sending dollars to Argentina and paying out in pesos are the other half of the CCL. Consider, if they do the CCL thing then they are receiving ARS here in Argentina, and paying out dollars in the USA. Obviously they want to unload those pesos as quickly as possible, so the remittance business is the other half of that cycle; they receive our dollars in the USA and pay us with pesos here in-country. If the pesos start to build up, then they raise the "WU rate" to attract more remittance business. But when there is not as much money being sent out of the country via CCL, they can drop the rate and make more profit on the deal.

So, if my understanding is correct, then the decline of the WU Rate indicates that, for some reason, not as much money is being sent out of the country via CCL. But that seems counter-intuitive, no?

Excellent explanation, bearing in mind that no actual bills are sent out of the country. Only orders.

WU receives pesos from immigrants/other here to pay someone abroad, those same pesos are paid to us expats here for dollars paid to WU abroad by a sender. The WU receipts abroad are paid to Beneficiaries.

 

[Cordoba]

Excellent explanation, bearing in mind that no actual bills are sent out of the country. Only orders.

WU receives pesos from immigrants/other here to pay someone abroad, those same pesos are paid to us expats here for dollars paid to WU abroad by a sender. The WU receipts abroad are paid to Beneficiaries.

I don't think they need to balance anything. Just use the CCL with a profit spread. So it doesn't matter inflows or outflows. They can just buy or sell as needed since they have a small profit built in that more than covers the temporary rate drops or increases.

 

[Redpossum]

Excellent explanation, bearing in mind that no actual bills are sent out of the country. Only orders.

Well, yes, of course. It is the 21st century.

Not to mention that the great merchant guilds/families of the Italian city-states were doing much the same thing 600 years ago, in terms of transferring vast sums between countries by a simple piece of paper, rather than physically moving the gold.

A wool buyer of Family A would purchase wool in England, paying physical gold. He would then transport the wool to Florence, where it was sold to Family B, which processed, dyed, and wove it into fine cloth. Family B then transported the fine cloth back to England and sold it for gold, which was turned over to Family A to start the cycle over again. The transfer of the wool from Family A to Family B in Italy was accomplished by a note, which was then redeemed by the transfer of the physical gold in England from Family B back to Family A. Obviously, there was some profit-taking along the way. The important point being that the physical gold never had to be transported across Europe, subject to robbery by bandits.

The larger point here is that WU and the other great finance/remittance houses are doing something which has been done for at least six centuries, it's just that the internet has made it all much faster and far more profitable.