ATM's

[Northsider]

I have a Citibank card from the US. I arrived at EZE a few weeks ago, went to the Citi ATM (though the screen itself said Banelco, put my card in the slot and the ATM went silly, I can't remember what exactly the message said (it was a slide, not a suck. Some people from S. Africa were behind me: we just flew in from Cape Town, up before dawn and 10+ hours in transit, immigration and baggage collection took the better part of an hour, so I have to say we all were not at our sharpest. They tried too and got the same result. Fortunately there was an HSBC ATM that did work and charged app. 16pesos fee. By experimenting I found that whether I pulled out a few hundred pesos or a thousand the fee was still the same, so I took a thousand. I walk past the Citi ATM booth and see someone is making a transaction; maybe it was broke when I tried and the system came back up? Dunno.

A few days later I'm at the Citi on Rivadavia, Banelco on the screen again. This time the machine accepts my card and PIN. I'm offered options for withdrawing pesos or dollars, in various amounts. I try to withdraw dollars, and after the last of the necessary interactions the card is spit out and it's back to the welcome screen. No error message, no 'WTF did you do? ' message, but there was a little number in the upper right corner (sorry, can't recall, maybe 610. I try this a few times, same same. I call Citi (thank you, Skype, for allowing us to make 800- calls from abroad for free) and the fellow says there is no indication of these attempts, and no block on my card (I had let them know my travel plans. I try the ATM again and same old.

I'm in Uruguay now, returning to BsAs next month. Here you can withdraw greenbacks. I learned by trial and error I can only pull US$200 at a time, which comes out in 2- $100 notes, even though the screen offers a selection of amounts, the highest of which is US$700. Uru pesos max at 5, 000 per transaction (equiv. To app. US$250. Over here, if the ATM doesn't like what you did it spits the card out and declares itself to be out of service. First time this happened I took that to be the case, but after about a minute it's back. This was part of my trial-and-error learning. Even now that I manage to make withdrawals it afterwards declares itself out-of-service; I tell the person in line behind me to wait a minute and it will be ok.

I like to keep a stash of greenbacks in case the plastic goes sour, so my question is do the Citi ATMs in BsAs, which offer withdrawal of USD on the screen, do indeed dispense dollars? Please respond with a positive only if you yourself have witnessed them being dispensed. If not, I'll stock up over here.

Looking back at the other responses on this thread I have impression the answer is no, but those messages are from a while back. But if not, why are dollars offered on the ATM screen?

Thanks for the info about distinguishing between the ATMs at Alvear and Purr&Santa Fe, will check these out when I get back.

[Trampa]

I am not a Citibank customer.

Right next to Galarias pacifico and about 1 or 2 blocks from Av de Mayo

I have also tried to take out 4000 peso out of the Citi right across the Hilton with the same Citi-machines and it only allowed me 1000 peso.

I guess it's all trial and error

[El Perro]

Hi:

Florida and where. And are you a citibank customer. Thanks for the info

Make sure you are using the Citi ATM and not the Banelco machine. Both of them exist in the local Citibanks. If you are still only able to draw $1,000p a pop, you may have a different daily limit outside of your country. Suerte.

[Quality Time]

I can take up to 4000 peso every day from the 2 citi branches at Florida, I am not sure about the other branches.

I wonder how long it takes untill foreigners are specifically targeted, 4000 peso is a lot of cash here

Hi:

Florida and where. And are you a citibank customer. Thanks for the info

[Trampa]

I can take up to 4000 peso every day from the 2 citi branches at Florida, I am not sure about the other branches.

I wonder how long it takes untill foreigners are specifically targeted, 4000 peso is a lot of cash here

[Quality Time]

Has anybody had any luck with taking out more then 1000 peso at a Citi ATM? Since they have implented the 16 peso charge they also have seemed to have limited the amount. For me personally I would pay around 200 dollars in fees and once I go back I am going to open up a account with a Standard partner, I have heard from various people that you no pay the charge then I am going to bring cash to pay for my rentals and pay with my CC if I more expensive things but I prefer to pay most things with cash as I am not comfortable with paying with CC everywhere and taking it everywhere.

I was limited to 1000 pesos today. Can a person make more than one withdrawal per day from Citibank because I am nowhere near my daily limit that I have back in Toronto. It is a good thing I have two different ATM cards and a visa card to draw cash on....although not the smartest thing to do....but it is only short term

[Trampa]

Has anybody had any luck with taking out more then 1000 peso at a Citi ATM? Since they have implented the 16 peso charge they also have seemed to have limited the amount. For me personally I would pay around 200 dollars in fees and once I go back I am going to open up a account with a Standard partner, I have heard from various people that you no pay the charge then I am going to bring cash to pay for my rentals and pay with my CC if I more expensive things but I prefer to pay most things with cash as I am not comfortable with paying with CC everywhere and taking it everywhere.

[El Perro]

I scooted down to the Citi location on Alvear today and before the machine would give me my $1,500p, I was alerted that there would be a $15.96p fee. That's a new gouge as far as I know. I ordinarly use the Citi on Santa Fe, near Montevideo, and have never run across this fee. Maybe it's a brand new thing. I'll go to the location on Santa Fe and see if they are doing the same.

You can run but you can't hide from these cocksuckers.

I noted today when checking my USAA account that they are reimbursing me for these penny ante ATM charges. Good 'ol USAA!

[El Perro]

I scooted down to the Citi location on Alvear today and before the machine would give me my $1,500p, I was alerted that there would be a $15.96p fee. That's a new gouge as far as I know. I ordinarly use the Citi on Santa Fe, near Montevideo, and have never run across this fee. Maybe it's a brand new thing. I'll go to the location on Santa Fe and see if they are doing the same.

You can run but you can't hide from these cocksuckers.

[Easy Go]

As an FYI, I e-mailed USAA about fees and they told me:

1. There is a 1% fee that is part of all foreign currency ATM transactions that is charged by the network, not USAA.

2. Since the banks in Argentina don't break the ATM fee out in the transaction, USAA won't reimburse the fee like it would if it was broken out.

3. USAA doesn't charge any fees for ATM use. The ATM fees are strictly those charges by the owner of the ATM.

That still leaves the mystery of why most ATM's are limited to $AR1000 per withdrawal when using US (and I assume other foreign country) cards while a few others don't.

[Easy Go]

I only see the 1% when I use my USAA credit card overseas. If it's in ATM withdrawals, USAA isn't breaking it out.

[El Perro]

Humm. I have USAA and a CapitalOne cards and have not had any luck getting more that 1000 pesos as recently as June. I'll give my USAA card a try at the Citibank in October.

What USAA fee are you talking about? I've never been charged one for overseas ATM withdrawals. In fact, I suspect that USAA would actually reimburse the 15 peso fee if I asked under the usual ATM fee reimbursement policy.

Hummm, I'll doublecheck the percent, if there is one, on ATM transactions.

Funny about the different amounts people can pull. I've been pulling $1,500p a pop at the Citi ATMs for years.

[Easy Go]

Humm. I have USAA and a CapitalOne cards and have not had any luck getting more that 1000 pesos as recently as June. I'll give my USAA card a try at the Citibank in October.

What USAA fee are you talking about? I've never been charged one for overseas ATM withdrawals. In fact, I suspect that USAA would actually reimburse the 15 peso fee if I asked under the usual ATM fee reimbursement policy.

[El Perro]

Actually, my question was directed at Doggboy since he seems to have the magic card that can pull more than 1,000 pesos.

Hi Easy Go. I don't think it is a magic card, as I know a number of expats who can pull alot of pesos. In fact, I know some guys who pull $2,500p at a time. I've never tried to pull more than $1,500. I use a USAA Bank debit card. I pay a very small fee to USAA. Until the past few years there was no fee at all. I don't know the exchange rate. USAA is a damn fine organization and I would recommend them to anyone. Seeing as how their services are tailored for active and retired military, they are more attuned to overseas residents. You can however avail yourselves of their banking services even without a military background. Their other services, I believe, are solely for the military.

I think alot of the variations in what folks can pull here are related directly to their card, and not to the ATM. That is NOT the case with the Banelco machines. I remember all the hubbub two years ago when Banelco machines were limiting withdrawls to 300p. I don't know what the limit is now with them.

[Easy Go]

Actually, my question was directed at Doggboy since he seems to have the magic card that can pull more than 1,000 pesos.