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Paying with foreign cards at the MEP exchange rate

    This article is hilarious


    Quote

    también hay expatriados que llegan a la Argentina por trámites o visitando a su familia que están usando sus tarjetas porque es más fácil que traer o hacerse traer dólares del exterior para cambiarlos en el mercado informal.

    [...]

    Estos usuarios, sin embargo, no están contemplados en la normativa del Banco Central que habla de no residentes. “No deberían utilizarlo, pero no hay forma de identificarlos con el consumo. Además, la persona no puede ir y decir en el comercio ‘mirá a mí no me apliquen este tipo de cambio porque soy argentino’. No hay un mecanismo para decir ‘no me corresponde esto’. Sino implícitamente se les estaría prohibiendo a los argentinos usar tarjetas de cuentas del exterior y eso no sería posible. Entonces, es algo que no está contemplado, pero no hay forma de identificarlos y, si la misma persona se quiere identificar, no hay un sistema para poder hacerlo y que se le aplique el tipo de cambio oficial”, explicó el asesor tributario Sebastián Domínguez.

    I confirm I am still getting refunds from Mastercard when paying with my foreign Wise debit card. This is my monthly subscription to Adobe Acrobat Professional, which now costs half!


    Original charge 1010 ARS, corresponding to 5.252 USD on that day at the official exchange rate of 190.50 (blue mid-rate was 377). I was charges 5.31 USD because Wise had to convert my funds from EUR to USD .

    Refunded 2.27 USD three days later, bringing the actual exchange rate to 362. Hence, I got 96% of the blue rate. Not bad!



    • Helpful

    Was in Argentina a few weeks ago on holiday from where I live in Chile and here were my experiences.


    For cash at the blue rate in Mendoza, I was told to go to the street San Martin by the Mcdonalds at street no 1177. Just to the right was an arcade. A person outside offered me rate of 365 but he wouldn't negotiate. It should have been nearer 375. I wandered down the street and got talking to a flower seller who fetched another person who said she has a contact and I called by phone and agreed a rate of 370. I exchanged US$600 (in 50s and 100s which I'd purchased in Chile) for 220,000 and it did it inside in the "cueva".


    I didn't realise 1,000 was the largest note. So I had to count 220 notes which is a bit excessive so I just divided it into four and counted one of the piles at random before leaving otherwise it would have taken forever.

    I purchased a small amount of Argentina pesos in Chile at a bad rate to cover me from the border until I got to Mendoza. The first restaurant agreed to let me pay in dollars but it seems for small purchases people don't like that, which makes sense.


    I had some further dollars incase it ran out but things were cheaper than I realized so I ended up taking some of the dollars back to Chile and changing them at the border. There is a place at Chilean customs on the way to Chile with a rate that wasn't a ripoff. It's on the left after you have passed the checks and are about to drive out into freedom, but are still in the main building.


    I tried to pay by card once in Mcdonalds just to see what would happen with the rate but the transaction failed, I don't know why.


    I saw a queue at Western Union that I suspect was largely tourists who don't trust the arbolitos/cuevas.


    At the blue rate, restaurants, ice creams, drinks, a basic hotel were about half the price of Chile. For high end stuff like a fancier meal and a better hotel the difference was a bit less.