ATM's

I would like to warn everyone about the the ATM machine at the Citi bank (head office) at Florida street. Last week I needed to take out several times the 300 peso maximum with my foreign debit card.

While the machine was making the noice to sort out the different notes it stucked and reseted itself. After me came another person which also wasn't able to take money out. When later I checked my account balance the money was charged although I never received it. Next day I went to the office and the told me they would check it. After another day I needed to go there again to ask (they off course never call you or answer the phone) and they told me the machine didn't have a 300 plus so I could make a reclaim by my own bank but it was not sure they would pay it back. The camera pictures they will only use with a legal order they said after I asked them to check it. This has already cost me half a day so the amount of money won't justify the efforts to start a case. The reason why I post it is that the two times I have been there every time there were other people complaining who had encountered porblems with the same ATM machine. F. E. An american girl her card got taken and blocked. The ATM I'm talking about is the one most on your left when you enter the bank.

I have been able to use the ATMs at BNP Paribas in Retiro and Recolleta.

To get around 300p each time. I use a B of A debit card which charges me no.

Transaction fee when I use BNP Paribas machines in France. That is not.

The case in Argentina. Here it costs me 5$US each time I make a withdrawal plus 1%. Having said that for the last 2 weeks I have had no trouble.

Getting money when I needed it.

Today when I went to my local HSBC bank to use my HSBC US debit card, the ATM machine's processing message included a notice that Banelco would charge $11.84 pesos on top of the normal bank transaction fee for the $300 pesos I was allowed to withdraw. I assume that fee would be charged for every withdrawal.

That translates into a $4+ dollar charge for each $78 withdrawn - or about 5%.

The fact that the dollar to peso rate has been improving is now offset by this arbitrary and unfair new charge. I assume Banelco has the right to charge whatever they want, but a 5% fee is outrageous.

And once again its obvious that the financial institutions that blew up the global economy are going to dig their way out of the holes they made by charging their customers higher and higher fees.

Ain't capitalism great!

Mongers,

About five to ten years ago, ATM's were in fact the best way to solve foreign currency exchange / access issues. Over the past five years or so the banks collectively decided to start milking electronic access / exchange as another revenue stream. Ironically, in this day and age, in almost all circumstances (in Latin America) exchanging US Dollar cash will garner the best possible exchange rate when the exchange takes place at a market dictated bank or exchange house. In my experience, this holds true in Argentina, Brasil, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, and Venezuela. In Venezuela, the ATM rate is 2.15 Bsf /1 USD whereas the cash rate is 5-6 Bsf /1 USD. In Colombia it is better to use ATM's as the Colombian market is flooded with drug-money US dollar cash which causes the cash exchange rate to be almost 10% worse than the electronic rate.

In Argentina, especially with the per-transaction ATM restrictions in place in most cases, exchanging cash is a MUCH better deal. For example, if one has a Bank of America account they will pay a $5 USD international transaction fee plus the 1% VISA fee and now the additional fee mentioned in an earlier post. This will mean to pull $100 USD ($380 AR today) one would be paying in fact at least a $7 USD fee, which means $380 AR costs you $107 USD, an exchange rate of $3.55 AR / $1 USD, which is obviously an absolutely terrible exchange rate.

This is especially ridiculous considering that Argentina is a relatively safe country where it is not dangerous to enter the country with a significant amount of cash to exchange as the chance of being mugged in the areas frequented by tourists is almost nil. In addition, there are literally scores of establishments that will gladly give the best possible market rate of exchange, especially during this time of weakness in the peso and an expected further weakening of the currency. I personally know of almost a dozen black market exchange houses that will sell pesos for at or MORE than the market rate because they can make such a nice profit re-selling the dollars for much more than the market sell rate as demand for dollars is high and access to legal purchases of substantial quantities of dollars is extremely limited or non-existent for most people.

Suerte,

Rock Harders

The Argentina Post web site is reporting that Link is doing the same thing.

Looks like we are back to hauling cash or losing an extra 5% rake. Cash might not be that riskky but it's a PITA to change money compared to just hitting the ATM.

I have had this happen twice, once in the Turks and Caicos, and once in Panama. I contacted my bank in the US via PM on my online account and the amount was credited the next day, no questions asked. I never got anywhere with the bank that the ATM belonged to. I bank with Chase.

Hope this helps, thanks for the heads up on the faulty ATM.

[QUOTE=Rock Harders]Mongers,

About five to ten years ago, ATM's were in fact the best way to solve foreign currency exchange / access issues. Over the past five years or so the banks collectively decided to start milking electronic access / exchange as another revenue stream. Ironically, in this day and age, in almost all circumstances (in Latin America) exchanging US Dollar cash will garner the best possible exchange rate when the exchange takes place at a market dictated bank or exchange house. In my experience, this holds true in Argentina, Brasil, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, and Venezuela. In Venezuela, the ATM rate is 2.15 Bsf /1 USD whereas the cash rate is 5-6 Bsf /1 USD. In Colombia it is better to use ATM's as the Colombian market is flooded with drug-money US dollar cash which causes the cash exchange rate to be almost 10% worse than the electronic rate.

In Argentina, especially with the per-transaction ATM restrictions in place in most cases, exchanging cash is a MUCH better deal. For example, if one has a Bank of America account they will pay a $5 USD international transaction fee plus the 1% VISA fee and now the additional fee mentioned in an earlier post. This will mean to pull $100 USD ($380 AR today) one would be paying in fact at least a $7 USD fee, which means $380 AR costs you $107 USD, an exchange rate of $3.55 AR / $1 USD, which is obviously an absolutely terrible exchange rate.

This is especially ridiculous considering that Argentina is a relatively safe country where it is not dangerous to enter the country with a significant amount of cash to exchange as the chance of being mugged in the areas frequented by tourists is almost nil. In addition, there are literally scores of establishments that will gladly give the best possible market rate of exchange, especially during this time of weakness in the peso and an expected further weakening of the currency. I personally know of almost a dozen black market exchange houses that will sell pesos for at or MORE than the market rate because they can make such a nice profit re-selling the dollars for much more than the market sell rate as demand for dollars is high and access to legal purchases of substantial quantities of dollars is extremely limited or non-existent for most people.

Suerte,

Rock Harders[/QUOTE]But you have to register yourself.

Hello Sidney.

Where is the Santander Rio bank located?

I will try with a VISA card and see how much its possible to withdraw.

Tr Tuga

I have an HSBC account and in my experience, all the HSBC branches in microcentro will allow you to take up to AR$980 pesos. Of course there is the AR$11.55 peso fee and HSBC will charge you 3% for the conversion. But from my investigation, there is nothing that can be done about it, unless you are able to get a local account and do bank to bank transfers. This has a fixed transfer cost of about US$30.

OK. Thanks for the information Womanizer.

Same story as always in Argentina, if you are a foreigner you have to pay some more. But still a great country to visit.

Tr Tuga

I was at EZE today doing a luxury pickup, and during peak time in the morning, the line for the HSBC ATM was at least 20 deep, and I imagine at least a 30 minute wait, plus with the new withdrawl fees it seems crazy.

Better to simply bring extra cash in if you can and get starter pesos at Banco de La Nacion, (they offer average rates) There was a line also, looked like a 15 minute wait There was another change house (Global) with no wait, but the exchanges are horrible, only paying $3.39 or so. Another good site to know who's paying what for currency exchange is [url]www.dolar.hoy.com[/url] it is in realtime, and they highlight the best buy/sell rates. One tip-if the line is really long at Banco de la Nacion in Terminal A, you can take a 3 minute walk to Terminal B, and there is generally no line at that office, especially in the morning.

Of course if you book a premium airport pickup with SilverStar, I generally can provide some starter pesos, at Banco de la Nacion rates as a courtesy, and time saver. I also will change coins to get you started with 10. Coins are very helpful here. Reverse applies on dropoffs.

Happy Travels,

Fred