Has AmEx joined Visa and MC in offering the MEP exchange rate..? Im referring to AmEx direct issued cards... and it would be great if folks had data points not only from US issued cards but also from other locations.

Thanks !!

Just to clarify what some of you guys are saying - In the past, I used to exchange my Dollars for Pesos at the blue rate and pay for the hotel in cash at the reduced rate. As I understand, now this extra step is not necessary because the US credit cards refund you the difference between the official and blue rate, is this correct ?

At least with Visa Intl. (not only US cards - there are also other countries in the world ) issued outside Argentina it is openly advertised https://www.visa.com.ar/support/cons...-english.html# that the conversion rate will be the favorable MEP rate https://www.cronista.com/MercadosOnline/monedas.html which is slightly less advantageous than the "blue" rate.

Visa has also a convenient conversion tool which lets you add the foreign transaction fee applied by your bank https://www.visa.co.uk/support/consu...alculator.html (for example ARS to CHF with 2 % bank fee would make CHF 210 for ARS 100 000)

I did not find such clear statements from Master Card or Amex and would stick with Visa for Argentina to avoid the stress of the "cuevas" and / or the "arbolitos".

It is more complicated with hotels, because if you are a foreigner with a non-Argentine passport and pay with non-Argentine currency, you don't pay the VAT on the hotel room. So, you'll not get a rate as good as Blue, but you are saving the VAT.

As far as real life practice pointers, Visa publishes the CC rate. MC does not, but the differential "rebate" posts within a week. AX - not enough real world experience to risk anything.

There is a separate thread looking to address the AmEx MEP situation. It would be great if we could collect a couple of data points for AmEx use and the resulting exchange rate, and not only for US issued cards but also for EU, UK and Asian issued plastic.

Thanks,

Just a few recent data points:

Amex:
I had a stay back in mid-February at the Intercontinental Hotel in BA. I paid using my US-based Amex, and on April 4th I was issued a credit titled "Refund US Tourist", which was about 43% of my original payment, which is in line with the official to unofficial exchange rate ratio.

Visa:
Just this past week I made a purchase using a US-based Visa credit card and it posted as the "unofficial" or "blue dollar" rate.

Mastercard:
I also used my US-based Mastercard credit card last week, and although the transaction was authorized at the official exchange rate, in just 2-3 days I received the credit back to my account.

One other bit of info that may or may not have been discussed yet here. I am planning a trip for October to Argentina with the family: BA, Mendoza, Patagonia, etc, and we booked some intra-country flights on Aerolineas Argentinas. Even though I booked the flights from my computer here in the US, I received the favorable "unofficial, blue dollar" rate. I tried both with Visa and Mastercard, and both posted as if I was in the country. Now, I did use an Argentine VPN server, and selected on their website that I was located in Argentina. However, my brother, who did none of that and just booked his flights without thinking about it, also received the blue dollar rate. So evidently you don't even need to use a VPN. As long as you select ARS as your payment currency, and use a US-based credit card, you will receive the favorable rate. So...flights to Mendoza were only $30 each!

I have a Charles Schwab atm card with no foreign transaction fees. Anyone know what rate I would get withdrawing cash?

Not the way to go you would get the national rate which is approximately 265 ARS. Compared to about 500 ARS by other means.. Read through this thread for further tips�

Has anyone any experience of using debit cards in ATMs since the change in the FX rules ?

If you use it as credit, it should get the foreign tourist rate (blue rate -10% or so), but to extract $$... I could avoid that, in that case try the Western Union route, cheaper and better rate than blue.

WU hovers on either side of Blue, so from day to day or week to week, YCERMV.

Just a couple of caveats with WU -
Your pick-up spot may not have enough cash on hand at times; and,
Argentina has more holidays than pretty much anywhere else on earth - holidays where services like banking, etc, are closed, so make sure you don't get stuck without $ - i.e., my last trip down there had a finde XL - a 4 day long weekend.

No wonder why the Argentine economy is going downhill...

Blue at $525 at close of trading day today, but tomorrow is going to be an interesting end of the week given the recent rumour mill......................... stay tuned (and fasten your seatbelts)

Basically don't exchange anymore money since it's likely the Peso will be devalued?

The devaluation rumours have been floating about for a few weeks now. I feel the IMF is insisting on some sort of unification of the FX rates before bailing out the government again.