Western Union money transfer

[Quilombo]

Midnight on November 23rd, 2023:

WU: $909.05
Visa: $908.39
Blue: $1,060

Unless you specifically need cash (and you don't have dollar bills) Visa seems to be the way to go, and will likely stay this way as exports are being settled in 50% MULC and 50% CCL driving the cost of the CCL down, while the MEP is growing thanks to dollrization of assets via easy methods such as fintechs.

Frankly I'm glad to see it, WU got greedy over the past year, making tons on the buy/sell spread while delaying updates to the rates, then jacking up fees to ridiculous prices. Will be interesting to see what happens to them come December; if Milei makes the cepo one way (i.e. inbound USD is allowed again at 1:1, or pesification is fully at the MEP/CCL while people/companies are still prohibited from buying via the BCRA dollar) then their days will be numbered, it will just be WU like in normal countries, remittances and people falling for scams only, no arbitrage/spread to profit off of.

 

[Redpossum]

Midnight on November 23rd, 2023:

WU: $909.05
Visa: $908.39
Blue: $1,060

Unless you specifically need cash (and you don't have dollar bills) Visa seems to be the way to go, and will likely stay this way as exports are being settled in 50% MULC and 50% CCL driving the cost of the CCL down, while the MEP is growing thanks to dollrization of assets via easy methods such as fintechs.

Frankly I'm glad to see it, WU got greedy over the past year, making tons on the buy/sell spread while delaying updates to the rates, then jacking up fees to ridiculous prices. Will be interesting to see what happens to them come December; if Milei makes the cepo one way (i.e. inbound USD is allowed again at 1:1, or pesification is fully at the MEP/CCL while people/companies are still prohibited from buying via the BCRA dollar) then their days will be numbered, it will just be WU like in normal countries, remittances and people falling for scams only, no arbitrage/spread to profit off of.

I certainly must agree that WU got very greedy with their fees. They charge me 22 USD to send myself 200USD. That's 11% which is into what I'd call usury.

 

[Patrick2006]

Midnight on November 23rd, 2023:

WU: $909.05
Visa: $908.39
Blue: $1,060

Unless you specifically need cash (and you don't have dollar bills) Visa seems to be the way to go, and will likely stay this way as exports are being settled in 50% MULC and 50% CCL driving the cost of the CCL down, while the MEP is growing thanks to dollrization of assets via easy methods such as fintechs.

Frankly I'm glad to see it, WU got greedy over the past year, making tons on the buy/sell spread while delaying updates to the rates, then jacking up fees to ridiculous prices. Will be interesting to see what happens to them come December; if Milei makes the cepo one way (i.e. inbound USD is allowed again at 1:1, or pesification is fully at the MEP/CCL while people/companies are still prohibited from buying via the BCRA dollar) then their days will be numbered, it will just be WU like in normal countries, remittances and people falling for scams only, no arbitrage/spread to profit off of.

And mastercard: $866
it is very low.......

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

931 ARS to stablecoin through bitso.
However it costs me about 2% to get money on to it so get 914 ARS to USDC.
Easier to just pay by visa at the moment.

In any case looks like my trips to WU are over for the time being.

 

[Ries]

Everybody's situation is different. As pensionista visa holders, my wife and I are required to deposit in our Argentine Bank account an amount every month- and WU works well for that. Sending ourselves dollars and then converting to physical pesos then depositing in the bank wont satisfy the Argentine government.

 

[Redpossum]

Everybody's situation is different. As pensionista visa holders, my wife and I are required to deposit in our Argentine Bank account an amount every month- and WU works well for that. Sending ourselves dollars and then converting to physical pesos then depositing in the bank wont satisfy the Argentine government.

Meddling, greedy-fingered bastards that they are...

 

[obiwanderkenobi]

I certainly must agree that WU got very greedy with their fees. They charge me 22 USD to send myself 200USD. That's 11% which is into what I'd call usury.

If the fee doesn't reflect a discount, try starting a transfer, stopping halfway through the process, and then letting the app sit in the background for awhile. Usually if I return to the app a couple of hours later, the fee will have been discounted to "incentivize me" to finish the transaction. I'll also sometimes receive a phone notification with something along the lines of "we noticed you haven't finished your transfer, return to the app and we'll give you a discount."

I just entered the amount you mentioned (200 USD) as a test, and I'm quoted a fee of $8.99 for cash pickup (including the debit card funding option for same day pickups). Transferring to a local bank account is a little more expensive, I was quoted $13.99 to transfer the same amount.

 

[kpatagonia]

I created a Mercado Libre account and somehow it works with my U.S. Visa card. Whenever I make a purchase it prompts me for my DNI and I use my U.S. passport number minus one digit. When I go to my Mercado Libre profile, in "mis datos," I have entered my name under "Nombre eligido" only, otherwise the name, documento and telephone sections are blank. Mercado Libre prompts me to "validate" my data, which I always decline to do. I think I tried my Mastercard first and had issues. But now my Visa card is saved and when I try to make a purchase I only have to enter my fake DNI and my three-digit Visa security code. Can't tell you exactly what I did to make it work, but I played around with it long enough that I somehow got around their checks. Ran into the same problem with Mercado Libre in Colombia and just played with various settings until it went through. Sort of silly that you have to go through such an arduous process just to order a bottle of body wash or whatnot.

Wow - good info. I will look into this. Thank-you!

 

[kpatagonia]

If the fee doesn't reflect a discount, try starting a transfer, stopping halfway through the process, and then letting the app sit in the background for awhile. Usually if I return to the app a couple of hours later, the fee will have been discounted to "incentivize me" to finish the transaction. I'll also sometimes receive a phone notification with something along the lines of "we noticed you haven't finished your transfer, return to the app and we'll give you a discount."

I just entered the amount you mentioned (200 USD) as a test, and I'm quoted a fee of $8.99 for cash pickup (including the debit card funding option for same day pickups). Transferring to a local bank account is a little more expensive, I was quoted $13.99 to transfer the same amount.

View attachment 9266

For some reason WU will no longer allow me to send directly to any bank account. I get an error code, I've tried switching browsers, accounts, making a new account - everything - did anyone else have this issue?

 

[obiwanderkenobi]

As of 10am this morning, Visa is at 948 and WU is at 909. Now that Visa has overtaken WU (and assuming it stays that way), I can't imagine a reason to use WU for anything other than maintaining a small supply of pocket cash.

There were some dates in October where Visa was lagging behind by -100 or more (for example, on October 2nd, WU was at 822 and Visa was at 690). At the time, I bought a 4K TV from Fravega with cash because I couldn't justify using my Visa with that large of a negative difference, even if it meant I'd miss out on the Visa purchase protections. But if I had to make the same purchase today, Visa would be a no-brainer.

Hopefully Visa can stay out front for awhile, it would make my decision making a lot easier when it comes to larger purchases. And also much safer than carrying around a brick sized bundle of cash.