Getting Pesos or USD in Argentina - A Comprehensive Guide with your Five Options
Hi all, 👋🏼 I love the discussions here and they’re useful for so many things but honestly I feel like every day we have a post about getting pesos and WU haha. So, as requested, your comprehensive guide for getting pesos 🙌 I’ll try and have a “one post to rule them all” ala Lord of the Rings for getting pesos in Argentina; so please just star this message and then reply to this to share it whenever yet another person asks it so we don’t have a million convos about it haha. I have an economics degree and quite well-versed in the markets here so hopefully it’s helpful to everyone!
You basically have five options in my eyes.
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I personally don’t use WU because they’re a pain in the a** and I know 2 people and also a friend of a friend who were robbed after going to them to pick up pesos, but I think if you prepare well (hide some pesos in your shoes and underwear in case you do get robbed so you won’t lose everything) then it can be worth it if having a few extra on the rate is worth it to you. Most of the time they will have the best rate, but I’ve also seen Thomas and Matt have better. Overall WU is definitely handy to know you have as a backup though even if you avoid it in general for safety or the hassle.
—————- 2. Other expats: Basically there are two options I’m aware of here: Matt ( +54 9 11 3483-5720 or his assistant Wilmer) and Thomas Hynes ( +54 9 11 7362-6883 ) that the other Thomas kindly recommended as well and shared. I personally prefer Matt because when he gets me the pesos or USD he also takes extra stuff I want to donate anyways and distributes them for charity around BA so I kill two birds with one stone and help a good cause. He also gave me some really good stock recommendations which made me literal bank so That’s a plus I guess too LOL. I’ve also spoken to Thomas too and he’s 100% legitimate and I can vouch for him as well so pretty much take your pick with either Matt or Thomas depending on preference. These two have been doing it since the start so they’re the only legit ones in my eyes. Anyone else could be legitimate, but I’d only use at your own risk. Lots of scammers out there too and I only know these two because they help a ton of people. Their rates are usually the same so wouldn’t expect much difference between them. The downside of using either of these two is that sometimes it takes a day or two to get it, but it does come conveniently to your doorstep so I think that makes up for it. If you often find yourself needing pesos literally immediately, maybe not the best option then but that’s never the case for me personally.
—————— 3) crypto: I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about crypto, but I will suffice it to say that this is probably something only someone very advanced and knowledgeable with tether or bitcoin and the markets Here should be engaging in. If this is you, you probably don’t even need to be reading this message LOL. I’m quite knowledgeable, but I got scammed once here with $3740 in USDT (with a guy I even had done a few transactions with before too!!!) so you need to be very very wary. I don’t go this route anymore but some could still use it. You can DM me if you want more details on crypto but I don’t even have any contacts I would recommend here. I’d just be telling you my experiences.
—————— 4) *Using credit cards, ATMs, debit cards, Transferwise *: this is Literally the worst option by far and you should never ever ever ever ever do this Unless you enjoy burning money 🔥💰😅
NOTE: Transferwise is awesome for euros to USD or USD to USD, but not for USD/ARS.
————- 5) cash: If you have USD, euros, or reals (Brazilian currency) cash, then you can find a “cave” to go to for This or use one of the expats if you don’t want to walk. Be sure to check the blue rate (dolarhoy.com) before you go :)
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