Exchanging Currency

[Mpexy]

Going to say this twice so the wolves don't derail my post with the 'it's cheaper to get dollars using method XYZ" replies.

I did not go to Colonia to get dollars.

I did NOT go to Colonia to get dollars.

I went to Colonia to do a visa run, in a place I genuinely like to visit, and via a means. Buquebus. That I enjoy. Something about being on the water every now and then is nice. While I was there waiting for my return boat, figured I might as well trying drawing dollars out.

Boat trip. Unless on a tight budget, paying for the primera especial is well worth it imo. Upper deck seating in quad-arranged full leather reclining chairs arranged around a private table for that quad. Given how few people upgrade, basically you have the entire quad to yourself. Not an exact count but there's something like 120-132 seating around these quad-chair-tables and on outbound trip there was exactly me + 4 other people. On return, about 20. Oddly, going into Buquebus store on Posadas got a promo 709p rate vs the promo online rate of about 920p. Go figure. In Argentina the human labor staffed promo is cheaper than eccomerce sale.

Timed my run to take the 12:30pm boat out. 1hr 15min trip, arrive 2:45pm Uruguay time which is 1hr ahead of bsas at the moment. Bit under 2 hours to kill in Colonia since you want to be back at the port going through reverse immigration 45-60min before boat leaves at 5:30pm.

Taking taxi is useless. Walked out of new / rebuilt port (last I did this in 2008 it was a temp floating dock that was hot as hell in warm weather) , up first street out of port gates. Rivadiva. 3 blocks or so to the main street running down old town Colonia, Gral Flores.

Turn left onto Gral Flores, not much going to the right, and walk 4-5 blocks, maybe 6. Near corner of Gral Flores and Suarez on the left side is a Banco Colonia. Two atms inside that dispenses USD in $300 increments max, but allows multiple withdrawals. Not sure if there is a max cap to number of withdrawals or if it will let you keep doing until you hit your own bank's daily atm withdrawal cap. Mine is pretty high so I didn't test that and this wasn't a dollar run per se, so just did 3x withdrawals of $300 on one account, another 3 on other account and took out $1800 in 2-3 min. Pretty easy. Nice crisp USD $100 bills, almost all of them in exact sequential series numbers.

Across the street about near this corner is a bank called Discount Bank, green vertical sign in front. I mention these landmarks because besides these two banks, couple others were hard as hell to spot, and the one really easy one, Santander Rio bank didn't withdraw in USD, only in Uruguayan pesos. So it seems only Uruguayan based banks do dollars. I can confirm that both the Banco Colonia (pretty sure that was name but it's the one right before the corner of Gral Flores and Suarez, and it's right before the locally famous ice cream store on that corner) and Discount Bank withdraws in USD. Both were pegged to $300 max per transaction.

It was about 4pm local time when I did these so apparently they hadn't run out of USD like some posts talk about. I decided to also post exact street corner address because on the baexpat board, every post I read was sadly vague about where a USD equipped atm was. Just guys saying 'oh yea, I took out $2400 in 8 operations. Woot. ' But no info.

The exchange rate for dollars to uruguayan pesos was 1 to 19. The exchange rate for arg pesos to uruguayan pesos was horrible. I worked out that the equivalent 1 USD getting you 19 uruguayan pesos, was that if you took that same 1 USD, converted at blue dollar exchange rate of about 6 pesos to a dollar, and then used those 6 pesos to exchange for Uruguayan pesos, you got about 15. So even if you brought arg pesos at blue dollar rates, you're only getting about 15 Uruguyan pesos for "$1 USD worth of blue dollar arg pesos" vs. Actual real $1 USD = 19 Uru pesos.

Since I was there so short a time I just used some small change US currency, like $5 to buy an ice cream.

Weather. Hotter and more humid than buenos aires. I was dripping all over walking around colonia.

Cell phone. Don't remember doing this last time, but my phone got some sort of push signal I figure since it didn't do that returning on the argie side, but entering Colonia airwaves, I got a message on my phone telling me new local roaming rates and that since it detected me in Uruguay would I like my time changed to be 1 hour ahead. Coming back to Puerto Madero, no message and no auto ask to reset time back. Was able to send / receive texts on boat up to about 10min offshore point, and then in Colonia via roaming which for prepagos is apparently about 3x the cost.

[Gauntlet77]

Yes, they are open on Saturdays.

Like many BsAs businesses, they close early on Saturday, in this case, at 13:30.

[Sibiola]

One Euro change for 7. 5 until 7. 65 Peso.

[Morgando69]

You need to monitor this site. It gives you the official (unofficial!) exchange rate for dollars euros etc.

http://dolarblue.net/

Argentinians are desperate for dollars.

I was today in Buenos Aires on my way to Uruguay and walking by Florida Street at Microcentro I was offered dozens of times pesos for american dollars. They were interested in euros too.

I've got to go back to Argentina next week, so I talked with this guy standing in the corner of Florida and Tucuman. He offered me directly 6, 20 pesos for each dollar. He took me to a store at the end of a gallery at Florida 681 and there I made the change.

No hassles. No passport needed. No questions asked.

Usual change at casas de cambio today was 4, 47.

[Gaucho9]

Hello, Guys,

Thanks for all the info.

I will be in BA in few weeks, Hotel in Microcentro next to Florida.

What is the best way to change a thousand buck to pesos? Is it with the street guys on Florida street?

And what are the exchange rate I should expect?

I guess bank and the rest of formal exchange don't give that that great rate?

Thanks in advance.

Argentinians are desperate for dollars.

I was today in Buenos Aires on my way to Uruguay and walking by Florida Street at Microcentro I was offered dozens of times pesos for american dollars. They were interested in euros too.

I've got to go back to Argentina next week, so I talked with this guy standing in the corner of Florida and Tucuman. He offered me directly 6, 20 pesos for each dollar. He took me to a store at the end of a gallery at Florida 681 and there I made the change.

No hassles. No passport needed. No questions asked.

Usual change at casas de cambio today was 4, 47.

[El Perro]

Is "Cervino" or the "coin store" open for exchange on Saturday. I am personally not a fan of exchanging money on Florida Street. I am trying to avoid the ATM due to a weekend arrival time. Thanks.

Yes, they are open on Saturdays.

[Big Boss Man]

Is "Cervino" or the "coin store" open for exchange on Saturday. I am personally not a fan of exchanging money on Florida Street. I am trying to avoid the ATM due to a weekend arrival time. Thanks.

[AdventureSeeke]

Ouch. Thanks a bunch.

Will do.

Whatever you do, don't go to a Western Union and try and change your USD!

The "Western Union" referred to (note the inverted commas) is a cueva at the junction of Florida and Lavalle. It's a mobile phone accessory shop which has a small "Western Union" sign outside it. You go into the back of the shop, tell them you want 'cambio' and go in and change your USD, no questions asked. USD100 bills are always preferable.

[DavieW]

Where is the western union please?

Did you just walk in and ask to exchange or did you have to send it in from outside? Is there a specific denomination that is preferable (say $100 bills)?

Whatever you do, don't go to a Western Union and try and change your USD!

The "Western Union" referred to (note the inverted commas) is a cueva at the junction of Florida and Lavalle. It's a mobile phone accessory shop which has a small "Western Union" sign outside it. You go into the back of the shop, tell them you want 'cambio' and go in and change your USD, no questions asked. USD100 bills are always preferable.

[AdventureSeeke]

Where is the western union please?

Did you just walk in and ask to exchange or did you have to send it in from outside? Is there a specific denomination that is preferable (say $100 bills)?

I was able to get 6. 2 at the "Western Union"@$500 USD without even trying. He offered 6. 1 and I pushed a little and he said, OK. 6.2.

[Mpexy]

My guess it is nothing more sinister than trying to give you the latino personal touch, since, as you say, they know you now.

That's what I figured. Kinda like the ritual hazing and reward. I'd prefer they make me cough up the code though. Unlikely as it is that someone would create a nice fake I'd to scam 1 xoom transaction I send, still adds extra step to also need to hijack and know my code as well.

[Dickhead]

My guess it is nothing more sinister than trying to give you the latino personal touch, since, as you say, they know you now.

[Mpexy]

With latest Xoom xfer and pickup yesterday, got my courtesy call from More again.

Was ready to yell chicas, chicas why chicas again if asked why I needed the money like Daddyrulz was asked.

Last time got asked nothing. Just told my xfer rdy for pickup. This time woman asked me what I'm pretty positive was a simple verification question to be sure I was the person she was calling. Asked what job profession I was. Again, pretty sure this is a double check against whatever you put down on their form.

After reply, she said ready for pickup. I can now positively conclude that if you wait for the More call, when you get to then pickup office it goes faster because they no longer do the back office verification call. Just lookup online and process. Basically my conclusion is that Xoom clears your xfer much quicker than More does, so when you get that Xoom side email saying ready for pickup it doesn't necessarily mean More Casa is. I'm now waiting to get both Xoom email and More call to make pickups less time and hassle.

However one security procedure or lack of it bothered me. Pretty bad slip really. Cashier didn't take my slip of paper with my Xoom xfer number written on it. She waived it off and just looked me up in their More system via my passport name / number.

I really don't like this because this removes the extra layer of protection that regardless of what Identification doc a person has, the release of your funds needs the actual unique per xfer transaction number. Similar to a protected Swiss bank xfer and pickup

On one hand they clearly know who I am by now, but on Xoom side it clearly states without the receiver presenting that xfer number and ID, funds can't be released. I prefer the double protection of ID and must present xfer number. Odd given how ultra paranoid and useless bureaucratic More Casa is that they chose to skip this procedure

[DavieW]

How do we a determine what is a fair rate of exchange? The current buy and sell rates are 5. 78 and 6. 37, respectively. See.

http://dolarblue.net/.

Since dollars are in demand, and bases on the forgoing, I would think that a fair rate would be 6. 32.

Unfortunately, I never received close to the foregoing rate.

Thanks

A 'fair' rate of exchange is pretty easy to get here on the streets of BsAs.

The first thing to do is ignore that web-site.

Then go to one of the trusted cuevas mentioned a hundred times on THIS web-site, or take a walk down Florida / Lavalle and compare a few offers.

It IS possible to get 0. 1 or maybe even 0. 2 higher if you've been here long enough and have the right contacts, but for the amounts generally being exchanged it really isn't worth jumping through the hoops and worrying about the extra 50 pesos you might be able to generate!

If you need to change several thousand dollars on a regular (monthly) basis, PM me and I'll put you in touch with the best reliable rate available in BsAs.

[Tres3]

You won't with Xoom if you already did level 2 doc which sounds like you did since any txn 3k will put you at first level limit

You definitely will have hoops with More Casa as I described if you continue to do Xoom pickups

You can save some hassles with a XOOM transfer to MORE if you are not completely truthful, and tell them that you are retired, have no job or other employment, and are just a tourist. Also give them the Argentina phone number of your hotel or apartment. I did not go beyond "level 1", so I do not know what pitfalls await.

Tres3