Money in Argentina

benjus

So I'm in Argentina again.

Things are easier than last time in terms of spending money. To get the most from your money it's no longer necessary to bring US dollar cash and find someone trustworthy to exchange it at the parallel or "blue" exchange rate.

However, it seems that all ATMs now have a low withdrawal limit per transaction (I've been told 2000 Pesos and read 2400 online. 2000 certainly works and 5000 does not, but I haven't had time to experiment much. They also have a high (96 Pesos = about £5) transaction fee.

Obviously if I can pay by card then I'm OK, but you still need cash a lot of the time in Argentina.

It seems that a cheaper way to get cash is to send myself a remittance via Azimo. Although that's considerably less convenient than just going to an ATM, I could save over £30 in ATM fees per £1000.

Unless anyone has found a better way...

NiftyDigits

I too was most irritated by the ATM fee. I wasn't there long enough to find a way to avoid it, as I was in Misiones for a few days to visit Iguazu and surrounds.

But I suggest that you go inside the bank and try withdraw over the counter. You may need to try a few different banks before success.

benjus

I didn't have any luck with over the counter withdrawals. Including one bank where the ATM was out of service, who told me that my only options were to wait for them to fix it or travel 20km to the nearest alternative ATM.

So I just paid by card wherever possible and paid the 4% on cash withdrawals. A couple of times I managed to put a large group meal on my card and pocket everyone else's cash.

Looks like USD cash is still the cheapest way to take money to Argentina.