Please let me know if bringing dual voltage hair dryer works or if I should buy one in Buenos Aires. We have been told that ATM fees are very high. Is this true?
Arriving in 48 hours
There are 6 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 4,682 times. The latest Post () was by Carlos.
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We have a 220 V system in Argentina. I don't know where you are from, but this is what Europe uses, too.
Dual voltage means they can work on both 110 V and 220 V grids, so you are good to go.
Important: some dual voltage appliances may have a switch to choose between 110 V and 220 V. Please make sure to check it out before plugging in your appliance.
Laptop computers and phone chargers are dual voltage with no need to switch anything, but hairdryers and desktop computer (tower) may have a switch to select the proper voltage.
As far as ATM fees, they are very high (11 USD), especially compared to the limited amount of notes you can withdraw from a machine (which also means you can withdraw low amounts per transaction, forcing you to do multiple transactions and pay the fee n-times). Depending on the bank, this amount can be between 3000 ARS and 3700 ARS (around €100), so you're paying about 10% in withdrawal fees!
It is advisable you bring cash with you and exchange it here, instead of withdrawing money from ATMs.
These numbers were taken from: http://landingpadba.com/money-…-withdrawals-credit-card/
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As the ATM fees for international cards are high, I recommend you to pay bills or purchases directly with your credit card, and exchage a little bit for pocket money.
However, if you are oging to stay more, you can open an account in any bank, and you can use it with a debit card: getting cash from ATM Banks, especially if it correspond to the name of the Bank where you have the account, are free.
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As the ATM fees for international cards are high, I recommend you to pay bills or purchases directly with your credit card, and exchage a little bit for pocket money.
However, if you are oging to stay more, you can open an account in any bank, and you can use it with a debit card: getting cash from ATM Banks, especially if it correspond to the name of the Bank where you have the account, are free.
I never knew this, Carlos — good information.
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If you are coming to Argentina for 3 months, it culd be reasonable to open a "caja de ahorros" (sparing account). The bank will give you a debit card, and with this debit card you can almost go to any shop to pay what you need. In fact, a few months ago, the government have made a mandatory rule that in all shops all purchases may be done with a debit card.
This is to make transactions easily seen by the AFIP (your IRS) and to diminish the transctions "in black" (we call "en negro").
At least, all the supermarkets (even the chinese, which are masters in hiding transactions) have this ( what they call a postnet) just to pay with debit cards.
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