Yes, another peso-dollar question!

tinto

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Hi,

I´m wondering if my Argentine fiancé can wire me money in pesos from his local (peso) bank account to my account in the U.S., and what the associated fees and exchange rate might be. Even though he had documents proving where his money came from (and we´re not talking about that much), AFIP denied him when he tried to buy dollars. Rather than trying to find a cueva to buy dollars or physically bringing pesos to the U.S., we figure wiring is the best option if it´s even doable.

He has local accounts with Galicia, HSBC, and Citi, and I have accounts in the U.S. with Wells Fargo and B of A. I´m sure my close family members would be willing to receive the money on their account and then write me a check if Wells Fargo or B of A are not good choices.

Are Argentine banks even allowing wire transfers to destinations outside of Argentina these days? And are U.S. banks participating in these types of transactions? Any advice would be appreciated. It seems like in addition to the exchange rates, the rules are changing every day.

Thanks.
 
ugh, no, this won't work. Sending money out of the country is a mess right now. Your fiance might want to buy dollars at official or unofficial rate and take the cash on the plane, or find somebody that needs money here * pesos or dollars, that has the funds in a US account and get that wired to yours and he or she pays whomever in here. Or open an account in Uruguay, make several small trips depending on the amount she needs to get out and then wire it to the US from there.
 
Ways for Argentines to get funds out of the country without going through AFIP:

1. Charge your Argentine credit card with PayPal / Google Wallet and deposit the cash into your US bank account. Cost: About 4-5%.
2. Buy dollars in the blue market and then wire the dollars using a cueva. Cost: The difference in the exchange rates (currently around 30%), then another 4-6% for the wire.
3. Buy bonds or Argentine stocks that trade on the US market and then transfer them to your brokerage account in the US and sell them there. This is called "contado con liquidación". Cost: 36-40%

Hope that helps.
 
el_expatriado said:
Ways for Argentines to get funds out of the country without going through AFIP:

1. Charge your Argentine credit card with PayPal / Google Wallet and deposit the cash into your US bank account. Cost: About 4-5%.
2. Buy dollars in the blue market and then wire the dollars using a cueva. Cost: The difference in the exchange rates (currently around 30%), then another 4-6% for the wire.
3. Buy bonds or Argentine stocks that trade on the US market and then transfer them to your brokerage account in the US and sell them there. This is called "contado con liquidación". Cost: 36-40%

Hope that helps.

4. Build mini-submarine and tie up at now-silent YPF dock. Trade worth-less Pesos for Dollars to guy on Ave Florida (pay group of mean-looking guys to walk with you.) Stack Dollars in mini-sub. Set course for Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. Don't get shot by USA Homeland Security.
:D
 
GS_Dirtboy said:
4. Build mini-submarine and tie up at now-silent YPF dock. Trade worth-less Pesos for Dollars to guy on Ave Florida (pay group of mean-looking guys to walk with you.) Stack Dollars in mini-sub. Set course for Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. Don't get shot by USA Homeland Security.
:D

People were taking out the dollars by plane and by car, so now we have dogs that are trained to sniff dollars. If people start going using the sea route, CFK is going to get Flipper out of retirement and train him and his dolphin buddies to sniff out dollars on ships and subs. I'm not so sure about this strategy. :D
 
I know it's a mess! That's why I posted the question on the board to see if anyone had any ideas. He can't buy dollars at the official rate because AFIP denied him. Most of the money is from a life insurance check that HSBC bank cashed for him (he was the beneficiary), but they didn't give him a detailed receipt because they kept that for themselves. AFIP won't recognize the receipt he currently has, and HSBC won't give him any kind of stamp now. Basically the whole thing was legit but they won't let him buy dollars. Even this surprised me (when I thought nothing could ever surprise me in Argentina because I'd lived there long enough).

Maybe the Paypal/Google wallet will work. I have to look into it. We haven't been able to get blue dollars because we aren't in the loop about where the cuevas are. They continue to shut down these operations almost daily! Even last year I saw a bunch get clausurado.

nikad said:
ugh, no, this won't work. Sending money out of the country is a mess right now. Your fiance might want to buy dollars at official or unofficial rate and take the cash on the plane, or find somebody that needs money here * pesos or dollars, that has the funds in a US account and get that wired to yours and he or she pays whomever in here. Or open an account in Uruguay, make several small trips depending on the amount she needs to get out and then wire it to the US from there.
 
Could you explain a bit more about Paypal/Google Wallet? I have a Paypal account but my Argentine fiance does not.

el_expatriado said:
Ways for Argentines to get funds out of the country without going through AFIP:

1. Charge your Argentine credit card with PayPal / Google Wallet and deposit the cash into your US bank account. Cost: About 4-5%.
2. Buy dollars in the blue market and then wire the dollars using a cueva. Cost: The difference in the exchange rates (currently around 30%), then another 4-6% for the wire.
3. Buy bonds or Argentine stocks that trade on the US market and then transfer them to your brokerage account in the US and sell them there. This is called "contado con liquidación". Cost: 36-40%

Hope that helps.
 
tinto said:
Could you explain a bit more about Paypal/Google Wallet? I have a Paypal account but my Argentine fiance does not.

That's perfect then. Using your paypal account, send him an invoice for $1000 USD or $2000 USD or whatever. Your fiancé then creates an account and using his Argentine credit card he pays the invoice. At the end of the month he will pay the bill with pesos at the official rate. Make sure you bill him for goods or services because if you select a personal money transfer it won't let him pay with a credit card.

Then you just keep repeating as many times as needed.
 
Is there any practical difference between Paypal and Google Wallet?



el_expatriado said:
That's perfect then. Using your paypal account, send him an invoice for $1000 USD or $2000 USD or whatever. Your fiancé then creates an account and using his Argentine credit card he pays the invoice. At the end of the month he will pay the bill with pesos at the official rate. Make sure you bill him for goods or services because if you select a personal money transfer it won't let him pay with a credit card.

Then you just keep repeating as many times as needed.
 
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