ATMs & Payments
ATMs are everywhere here, but sometimes cash is a different story. While credit cards are widely accepted, many more cash transactions take place than in the first world. Welcome to a country rebounding from an economic crisis and where credit is almost impossible to obtain. Time things wrong and it may be impossible to get at your money days. This happened to me around the New Year and almost happened yesterday when trying to make a reservation payment for my apartment. I walked up and down for Sante Fe Avenue and used 5 different ATMs before finding one that had cash. The rushes are usually around holidays and paydays.
Another thing I find interesting is the payment system with credit cards. At any store, you can opt to break your payment up over months. This is not a Best Buy 18 months no interest type system. It’s with regular old credit card payments. Many times stores will offer to run this type of transaction for 6-12 months without interest. Even at the grocery store when buying AR$35 worth of food (around U$12), they ask me if I want to pay in one payment. Imagine a US grocery store advertising 6 months without interest on your purchase! The other option is to pay a little extra for this convenience. For example, Vanesa bought a pair of shoes that cost AR$40 ($13-$14) and opted to pay AR$46 over three months because she couldn’t afford the one-time payment. I’m trying, but doing this with payments that appear very small to me is something I cannot comprehend.
For larger transactions, the US dollar is king. For apartment rentals to foreigners and all real estate sales to whomever, transactions are in dollars. To rent my apartment, I have to withdraw a large amount of pesos over several days because of the ATM withdrawal limits on my card. Then I go to the currency exchange house to convert the pesos into dollars. Finally, I walk to the real estate office to make the cash payment. When I travel to Patagonia next month, I will take along a mix of dollars and pesos. It’s an area heavily influenced by tourists and thus everything from excursions to hostels are priced in dollars.
