ATM's

[Dickhead]

Open an account with E-Trade. Free ATM card, free unlimited ATM withdrawals, and only a 1% foreign currency conversion fee. Free free FREE. And free is good.

Oh yeah, no IRA fees either.

Fuck Chase bank, and the horse they rode in on.

[Artisttyp]

Ok I just came back from Chase and had a disscusion about the 3.5% fee on top of the normal $3 fee. The fee is waived only if you have an account with $75,000. So everybody who has a chase account with less pays.

I was told on the phone its always been there but just hidden in the statement. Today she told me it just started a year ago. I will check out Citibank and see what they say.

Yet another reason to hate this fucked up country. On top of it the ***** gave me attitude. I hope this country burns or has civil unrest. Sooner or later that will be the only way to get anything done.

Bottom line walk with cash and chance getting robbed or invest in travelers checks and risk wasting half your fucking time waiting in long bank lines.

The American Express office in BA was full of pissed off tourists also. There was one guy going through hell with the new American Express travelers check card. He said nobody in South America would accept it so he was trying to liquidate it into cash. Try getting that done in a foreign country!

[Rock Harders]

Artisttyp-

There are Citibank locations throughout Latin America in Argentina, Bahamas, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Citibank ATM network is the same worldwide, all this according to the citi.com website.

All I have is a standard checking account with no minimum balance and a backup line of credit that has an interest rate so low it is almost non-existent. I do not have any fees or minimum balance because I was able to secure a year fee waiver by flashing my old student ID card when I opened the account last August.

Suerte,

Dirk Diggler

[El Perro]

I still swear by USAA Federal Savings Bank out of San Antonio. An "internet bank" with home office in San Antonio. Originally designed solely for members of the Armed Services and their families. In fact, most of their current services are not available to the general public. Their banking services are, however, as they must offer them to the public by law. They are very expat friendly as you might imagine, great customer service, and I pay 0 fees or % drawing on my debit card in BA. I am not a financial wiz, so I can't go into detail about all the benefits. They were recommended to me by an expat who was down here before I relocated. Check out their website:https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logon

Dog

[Jaimito Cartero]

Can you request paypal from any bank or does your bank have to use the paypal system?

You need to have a Paypal account to do it. Pretty easy to do, though.

[Artisttyp]

Can you request paypal from any bank or does your bank have to use the Paypal system?

[Jaimito Cartero]

I still find that Paypal is the best overall debit card that I've found. $1 fee to withdraw, and 1% conversion fee (goes to Visa / MC) only. These will work in any ATMs around the world.

[Moore]

I dont think my cards / accounts are special. Yes the CC (both have visa logos on them) has a pretty high limit but its not "platinum" or anything like that so far as I know. No annual fee and interest is 19.8% , which I never incur. My checking (called value) is as basic as it gets, I never have hardly any money in there unless something is in transit for a day. No monthly fee ($10) if I maintain >$500 balance. Everything, except ATM fees, is free with it. Unlimited checks, electronic payments, etc.

I don't know what else to say - I log on to both accounts at Chase.com.

[Artisttyp]

Moore-

I have a Chase debit card (MasterCard logo) and a Chase Visa. I never get them confused. If your telling me we more or less have the same system then you must have a different type / level of account than my normal checking account. I was told the only way to get around it would be to have a higher level account with Chase where they don't charge you this fee as a courtesy. Can you maybe pm me and tell me what you have? I plan on going to Chase in person tommorow. I've never noticed this before. I never take money out on my CC for those exact reasons you mentioned.

Diggler- I was surprised to see a Citibank in Buenos Aires period. I've never seen them before in any other country I've been too. Usually there are 2 or three banks which I always see but can't produce the names for you at this moment. Again what kind of an account do you have set up? Pm me if you can.

Have you traveled to other countries and gotten the same service / courtesy?

I guess I need to make the max withdrawl everytime. It's difficult since I always go to crazy countries (in a good way) Buenos Aires would have been someplace I could have brought more cash.

I'll see what my bank offers or I'll just add it to my expenses while I plan my trip.

Thanks

[Rock Harders]

Artisttyp-

As you may have noticed, there are many Citibank branches throughout Buenos Aires. Although they are useless in terms of actual banking inside the branches, US Citibank cardholders can use the Citibank machines (NOT the Bancomat standard ATM which is also in the bank lobby) to get NO FEE ATM withdrawls / balance check / transfer between accounts just as in any Citibank machine in the USA. As such, it is possible to withdrawel money from your USA Citibank checking account at the best market rate with no additional fees. I have a US Citibank account for this explicit purpose.

Suerte,

Dirk Diggler

[Moore]

My ATM and credit cards are Chase. Never take money out on your credit card - they hit you with a flat US$10 fee/withdrawl, charge an approx 3% conversion fee, and start running the big vig on your cc balance. I know this because I did it by mistake once (the cards look almost identical). Getting into debt with a CC company is worse than with the Russian mafia. For regular CC purchases you just get the conversion fee so there giving you about 2.98/USD instead of 3.07/USD.

On the ATM card, its a flat 1.50 cash withdrawl fee and a negligible conversion fee (recently I'm getting about 3.07/ USD which is the best market rate).

I make relatively few credit card purchases here and maybe 6 ATMs per month. So my total month cost is maybe US$9 ATM fees and US$9 CC conversion fees, which isnt really a killer IMHO. I'd never travel with a load of US100bills just to save a few pennies.

[Artisttyp]

I just got a statement from Chase today from my activity in Buenos Aires. Everytime I used an ATM I paid a $3 International Cirrus Fee and an average of $7 3.5% rate adj fee. So I called Chase since I've never noticed the 3.5% bullshit and they tell me its always been there just presented in a different format on my bill. So I ask what if I take out US dollars and exchange my own fucking money and a supervisor came on and said same thing because I'm in a foreign country dollars / pesos no matter what it gets adj. Then I probed further and asked who gets the $3 fee who gets the 3.5% fee. Chase gets the $3 fee and half of the 3.5% fee sharing it with Mastercard.

So its either walk around with a shitload of cash and risk losing everything or pay or deal with travelers checks which ARE NOT widely accepted as is advertised.

Does anyone know about this bullshit. Are any other banks better? I only stick with Chase because I feel I would get better served If I had trouble someplace or with id theft. I don't fucking know everytime I come back to america I want to leave. We seem to fuck each other over in america then deem it as success if we can get away with it. Anyone else have this problem? I can't imagine living in Buenos Aires and paying that everytime I needed money. FUCK!

Hi Artisttyp,

You mentioned an 3.5% fee to MasterCard.

Were you using a Chase ATM card that deducts directly from your bank account, or were you using a Chase MasterCard and taking a cash advance on the credit card?

There is a difference.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Exon123]

I keep it simple and use the Bank, (What ever its name is) right next door to El Alamo Bar & restaurant.

Both the Bar & the Bank's ATM machine are open 24/7 365 day's a year. Save's on Cab fares and I can eat, drink & be merry knowing I have no money in my pocket.

Exon

[Mpexy]

FYI - I use the Citibank at Callao and Alvear and it's still open 24/7 inc weekends.

The two Citibank labelled ATMs on the right don't ever seem to give more than 500p, even if you have a Citibank account like I do.

The Banelco labelled ATMS machines on the left will give any amount including withdrawals I've done up to 2500p - might do more but never tried. Usually just get 1500 to 2500.

Note - even though it's a Banelco branded ATM, since it is inside the Citibank branch, if you have a Citibank account, you get zero charge for ATM withdrawals - no foreign currency conversion fee, no non-Citibank ATM use fee, and no charge from Banelco for using the ATM.

On average, I've seen zero correlation between day of week vs. What exchange I got. The exchange rate I get is what is current as of the world market at that time. So I've been getting anywhere from 3.01 to 3.04 usually.

[Exon123]

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