ATM's

Went to the Citibank ATM at Av. Callao and Av. Alvear and used by US Citibank debit (MasterCard) to withdraw AR$2500. Charged US$668.19 to my account so paid US$19.84 to withdraw from BA Citibank, based upon exchange rate for 9-12-09 (AR$385.59/ US$100)

So I just wanted to share my experiences with ATM's over the years. I used to travel down there just using my Bank of America account, I would usually draw out 500 pesos three times at each ATM visit. After staying usually a month each time I would ring up about 280-300 in ATM fees from BofA. They would charge me 5 per transaction and so each trip was 15 in fees. I called and complained to no avail, so was resigned to it pretty much. Then last year I got an email from my E-Trade account spouting off about their checking account, I looked into it and it looked pretty good for traveling given their fee structure. They say that technically they are allowed to charge up to 1% of the withdraw in fees, but they told me more then three different times on the phone that they are currently not collecting those fees at this time, it seemed fishy but three different operators said the same thing, so I shifted some money into that new account to use during my trip last December. So you do get the tiny fee from the Local bank in BsAs but it was usually in the order of $.50 to a $1 I think, it was so small I hardly gave a shit considering I was enjoying the slide of the peso at the time. It turned out saving me about 300 because as promised they did not collect any fees for international ATM use, this actually works in the states as well, since they don't have a network of their own ATM's they pretty much refund every single ATM fee no matter where. I have in one month of normal use in San Francisco had them refund $92 in fees. They simply refund them as they occur, so if I withdraw $80 from a BofA ATM the charge shows up as $83 charge from BofA and then it is followed in my online statement with a $3 credit. I am no shill for ETrade but they have saved me a fortune in fees and make it so I can simply use any ATM and just laugh at whatever ridiculous fees they want to charge. So worth a look if you are getting hit with asinine fees by your local bank while traveling in Argentina, or anywhere else.

Captain Looney.

Last Sunday I withdrew $980 pesos from the Santader Rio Bank ATM on Callao, paying the $11.84 special fee on top of the standard fee. That was fine with me.

I was suprised when the cash that came out of the machine was almost all $50 peso notes.

I was more surprised the next day when I gave one of the bills to my newspaper vendor and watched him check it. He handed it back showing the missing silver stripe. When I went home I found two other counterfeit $50 among the bills issued from the bank.

Of course I could do nothing about it a day after and probaby would have had a problem even if it had happened on Monday when the bank was open. I am sure I would have gotten only a denial that this was possible.

Having traveled the world using banks everywhere I chocked this expensive experience to "only in Argentina!"

On Friday Novembre 6 I pulled 1000 pesos from the HSBC agency in Maipu 431.

Here is what my online account reports:

DAB 0233515821 06/11 *

H AV. MAIPU 431

1000,00 ARS.

COMMISSION 0

1 EUR = 5,663 ARS.

176,58 EUR.

On that day, Banco de la Nacion reports a "compra" rate at 5.67. So it could have been at 5.663 at the time I withdrew. (compra is the most favorable rate)

Conclusion: Absolutly no argentine bank fee. No fix HSBC fee. No proportional exchange rate fee.

I don t have a Premium HSBC international account. I don't even have a bank account. I just have an internet saving account that pays me a 2% rate calculated on daily bases. I use a free debit card associated to that account which allows 500 Euros cash withdrawal a week all over the world.

I hope this can help.

[QUOTE=Captain Looney]So I just wanted to share my experiences with ATM's over the years. I used to travel down there just using my Bank of America account, I would usually draw out 500 pesos three times at each ATM visit. After staying usually a month each time I would ring up about 280-300 in ATM fees from BofA. They would charge me 5 per transaction and so each trip was 15 in fees. I called and complained to no avail, so was resigned to it pretty much. Then last year I got an email from my E-Trade account spouting off about their checking account, I looked into it and it looked pretty good for traveling given their fee structure. They say that technically they are allowed to charge up to 1% of the withdraw in fees, but they told me more then three different times on the phone that they are currently not collecting those fees at this time, it seemed fishy but three different operators said the same thing, so I shifted some money into that new account to use during my trip last December. So you do get the tiny fee from the Local bank in BsAs but it was usually in the order of $.50 to a $1 I think, it was so small I hardly gave a shit considering I was enjoying the slide of the peso at the time. It turned out saving me about 300 because as promised they did not collect any fees for international ATM use, this actually works in the states as well, since they don't have a network of their own ATM's they pretty much refund every single ATM fee no matter where. I have in one month of normal use in San Francisco had them refund $92 in fees. They simply refund them as they occur, so if I withdraw $80 from a BofA ATM the charge shows up as $83 charge from BofA and then it is followed in my online statement with a $3 credit. I am no shill for ETrade but they have saved me a fortune in fees and make it so I can simply use any ATM and just laugh at whatever ridiculous fees they want to charge. So worth a look if you are getting hit with asinine fees by your local bank while traveling in Argentina, or anywhere else.

Captain Looney.[/QUOTE]I have a Fidelity Investments debit card and they've also refunded all ATM fees when I've made withdrawals in Argentina.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get good ol' US dollars from ATMs here? I think that I've seen that option on some machines but I've never used it and I think that I've heard that it doesn't work most of the time.

If it does work would I be charged that damn foreign currency transaction fee?

Thanks, Bob

Try Citibank across from Galleria Pacifico, not the Balanco terminal but the regular Citi terminal they are the newer ones, you have to go into the main lobby which should not be problem with your ATM card. I am pretty sure they despense dollars.

I have never been able to get dollars out of an ATM in BA, and have never heard of anyone who has. I tried when I first moved here, went to banks whose ATMs said "Dollars" on the front. I found out that you had to be a client of the bank in order to take advantage of that.

Even banks like Citibank are local banks, not necessarily branches of banks from the States, if you happened to have an account at Citibank. A non-resident without a DNI has very little chance of opening an account where one could extract dollars.

However, Citibank ATMs (the modern ones) let me get up to my bank's limit, which none others in BA will let me do with one withdrawal. Who knows - maybe they have dollars for the general public?

OK, I read a bunch of posts and decided I couldn't figure out how I would fly from North America to Buenos Aires and get Peso's at reasonable rate. I am told banks give counterfeit, airports charge to much, and not to trust ATMS. So I decide to get from banks at home before leaving except every bank I have called has said Peso too unstable, US government sanctions against Argentina, or some other lame reason forces the bank to either not allow exchange for Argentine Peso at all or only with horrible rate. So. I am coming down to visit for a few days in a month. How do those of you with experience get your Pesos?

Thanks for help.

Over the past 6 years of coming to argentina 2 -3 times per year I have exchanged a fair bit of US cash in argentina. For the past 4 years I have exchanged bewteen 4-6k USD each trip. I always use the bank at the airport, located just before you leave security. I have always recieved the best prevailing rate based on me checking it just before I get on my flight the night before. I have never had an issue with a counterfit bill, ever! Unlike banks in BA, the airport bank has no trouble exchanging large sums. I have used banks in Recoleta on occassion and they always seem to balk at anything over 1k at a time. I understand that carrying these large sums of cash from the airport to your accomodation is not for everybody. That said, use the bank at the airport if cash is what you will be exchanging in argentina. Enough said.

Happy Mongering All. Toymann

I bring cash and use ATM's. I've never gotten a bad bill from either one. That's not to say that it doesn't happen, just that it has not happened to me in the 15 or so trips I've made over the past 7 years.

The BANK at the airport has a normal exchange rates. It's the small cambios that are the issue. It's generally not an issue at the cambios in downtown.

Dear visitors.

I've lived here in Buenos Aires now for over 7 months and I always withdraw money from various Citibank ATMs throughout the whole city like in Avenida Santa Fe, Florida and Perron, Callao and Alvear or from the one in front of Galeria Pacifico. I think Citibank now is the only bank that doesn't charge you an additional 11.42 Pesos to your bank regular bank fees (for me U$4.5 with UBS Switzerland) for each withdrawal. A big advantage is that they've modernized all their ATM's the past two months and you can get big amounts from them (already got 4000 Pesos at one time! Most others like HSBC, Rio Santander or Galicia will let you only withdraw 700-900 Pesos at one time with the before mentioned 11.42 extra fee on top of it. Never had any problems with counterfeits at Citibank either!

So certainly a good, economical and safe choice!

Have fun withdrawing!

Citibank is the best choice for a gringo anywhere in latin america. Unless of course your bank is tied in with a foreign bank and you get free debit card transactions.

The Citibank machines seem to be the most reliable as well. At least in my case they have been.

[QUOTE=Artisttyp]Citibank is the best choice for a gringo anywhere in latin america. Unless of course your bank is tied in with a foreign bank and you get free debit card transactions.

The Citibank machines seem to be the most reliable as well. At least in my case they have been.[/QUOTE]Man, I was with Mara last week and she performed an awesome ATM!

No fee for withdrawal either!

There is a small fee for making deposits or entries!

TL.

P. S - ATM is not Texas A & M!

Gig'Em Aggies!