The ARS has devalued a bit against the USD. Just curious what folks think the trend will be in the next 12 months.

A bit? It went from 3 to 3.8 in the last 9 months.

The peso will continue to lose ground against the dollar. The only question is how fast.

I agree with the Sage of BA (aka avrooster!) IMHO Argentina is in severe danger of having to repeat its devaluation of its currency once again. it emains to be seen whether this happens as a result of deliberate government action or by forex community shorting the currency....

Just remember, when you are here and using the ATM machine to get your spending money, the banks have raised the fee .

Thanks Scarlett! Good call. How much is the fee?

If you use Charles Schwab, they reimburse all ATM fees.

The fee is here in BA. There are also fees from most banks for ATM use but on top of that, we are getting charged here, for taking money out.

It is $11.46 AR .. so that is about $3.00 USD.. you are limited to how much you can take out at one time also .. some machines will let you have $800 pesos, others $500..

Again, Schwab refunds all fees. I got 3.82 pesos to the dollar yesterday out of the ATM

soulskier- We have a Schwab ATM. What withdrawal limits are you encountering? Have you had statements where it showed the fee's refunded. The fine print sais the fee's are refunded in most cases. Part of the reason we got the Schwab card was the fee policy, but we were disappointed as it was the only card that we couldn't get money with in Russia last year. Are you using the card in BA?
Thanks John & Robin
p.s. Great photo on Fodors Argentina photo contest!!!

I live in the boonies. Charles Schwab is a name I have heard, but don't know much about. Do you have to have a brokerage account?

CRZN1,

I am using Chuckie in Bariloche where I live full time. Yes, they credited my account for the ATM fees this week. Thanks for the photo compliment.

SeeksO, Schwab assigns a brokerage account that is connected to your checking account. We have never used the brokerage account.

I have a local credit union for my checking account. Can I link Charlie Schwab to that?

I don't know, but Chuck will, give him a call.

soulskier... you mean the $11.46 Argentine fee on all ATM withdrawals ? What are your banks withdrawal limits? are they as low as here in town ?
They still won't let us pull out more than $800 at a time..

soulskier,
Thanks,
What are your withdrawal limits?

600 pesos a pop and 2000 pesos per day.

Too bad ! We are getting higher limits on withdrawals and what the banks are allowing .. since they started hitting us with the withdrawal fee here, they upped the amount we can take out at one time... soooo annoying : - )