RN in BA
Well-known member
@StatusNomadicus I came here today looking for your daily credit card charge report. I signed up to Twitter to see your post but didn't see today. I hope you're OK and not on a diet! Ha.
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Banking Credit Card real-world rate "MEP" transaction repo (Dec2023)
- Thread starter StatusNomadicus
- Start date
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- credit card mastercard mep visa
StatusNomadicus
Well-known member
@Old Geezer no prob, here it is below if you don't wanna do Twitter. my current hypothesis is MasterCard/Visa take about 6% away from the posted MEP rate found on ambito.com
and @Fingerless it wasn't selfless; i was hungry!!! haha, my girlfriend and dog and i are in BsAs without any family/friends, so i wanted to see how shut-down the city is on xmas. surprisingly, it was shut-down on Xmas Eve after 5pm, but the afternoon of Xmas it wwas business as usual! a little different than the Midwest USA
@Esposas true, it was 899 for four days straight, then dropped 17 pesos, see here:
and @Fingerless it wasn't selfless; i was hungry!!! haha, my girlfriend and dog and i are in BsAs without any family/friends, so i wanted to see how shut-down the city is on xmas. surprisingly, it was shut-down on Xmas Eve after 5pm, but the afternoon of Xmas it wwas business as usual! a little different than the Midwest USA
@Esposas true, it was 899 for four days straight, then dropped 17 pesos, see here:
Thanks! You're alive! I was beginning to think you were on a hunger strike! Yes I think it's about 6% or 7% less than posted MEP rates. That is about what I'm noticing too. I hope the downward trend isn't normal. My husband said artificial demand at the end of the year and it will go back up. But then again he is wrong 50% of the time!@Old Geezer no prob, here it is below if you don't wanna do Twitter. my current hypothesis is MasterCard/Visa take about 6% away from the posted MEP rate found on ambito.com
and @Fingerless it wasn't selfless; i was hungry!!! haha, my girlfriend and dog and i are in BsAs without any family/friends, so i wanted to see how shut-down the city is on xmas. surprisingly, it was shut-down on Xmas Eve after 5pm, but the afternoon of Xmas it wwas business as usual! a little different than the Midwest USA
@Esposas true, it was 899 for four days straight, then dropped 17 pesos, see here:
StatusNomadicus
Well-known member
welp, Murphy's Law was invented for my life, so 50% would be a great accuracy rate for me, ahahhahaha
new update for those following (i daily posted MEP rates on X/Twitter, so follow me there since i've been moving apartments, trading crypto, and not on this forum much this week) below:
***most importantly, i've never seen Visa and MasterCard so disparate like this. 3 days in a row my MasterCard credit card has gotten about 882 ARS/Dollar real-world, but my girlfriend's Visa debit and credit cards have gotten 920!!!! that's losing ~37.5 Pesos every time i used MasterCard this weekend, over Visa. ouch!
if this continues, i'll post here. usually there is only 1 transaction that is different, it isn't as much, and it's an outlier that i just assumed was a payment processor not updating their rates as quickly. if anyone else has noticed this, please chime-in. it's as easy as:
1. Keep receipt of a card purchase (Apple Pay will keep your Peso amounts in your wallet receipts)
2. Divide the Pesos by the real-world USD postings on your bank account (citi, schwab, chase, etc.)
3. Record that number (for instance, 882 today for MasterCard and 920 for Visa) and compare it to the Ambito.com posted rate of 995 MEP
Thank you. I came here looking for your posts as I also noticed what you posted about MC charges. I also was getting 880's and I thought the exchange rate dived but I tried with my Visa card and also got 920's. Maybe not so much in the grand scheme of things but I try to save money where I can. Thanks for posting.
fetch rover
Well-known member
This is a wonderful and valuable information. It's so confusing on all the exchange rates.
I joked with my husband you need a PhD to understand exchange rates!
www.dolarito.ar
I joked with my husband you need a PhD to understand exchange rates!
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BuySellBA
Administrator
It can be very confusing but you don't need a PhD. You can read some information here:This is a wonderful and valuable information. It's so confusing on all the exchange rates.
I joked with my husband you need a PhD to understand exchange rates!
Dólar hoy, cotización del dólar, precio del dólar, dólar blue, precio histórico del dólar, valor del UVA | Dolarito.ar
Seguí la cotización del dólar minuto a minuto, compara cotizaciones, visualiza los valores históricos, conocé el precio del dólar, evolución del valor UVA
Newcomer - Foreign Credit Card purchases at MEP rate?
Forgive this newbie but I'm coming to Buenos Aires for 1 month in a few weeks. I read that foreigners can use their credit cards from their home countries (I am American) and I will get a special exchange rate. I read some old articles and I found these...
www.expatsba.com
StatusNomadicus
Well-known member
for anyone reading this, i'm about to post the MEP rate on X/twitter, but i missed one day of spending yesterday! if anyone wants to help this forum and the ArgentinaMEP twitter, can you post here, or message me, with the credit card spend amount in Pesos and the USD posted amount? i anonymize mine a bit by keeping the percentage but changing my US Dollar amount slightly, and i'll do the same for yours. there were oto many mosquitoes last night so i ended up cooking all my meals!
LongIslander
Well-known member
This would be great! I'm out of the country now in NYC for holidays but I will do some when I get back too. This is really helpful.
Uncle Wong
Well-known member
I have been using my USA based Visa credit card this week and last week too. The rates have fluctuated with a net of about 915 pesos to 975 pesos to $1 US dollar. I am super happy with the rate. My Western Union stopped working. This is a great rate to me.
StatusNomadicus
Well-known member
so it must be a Visa, then, since MasterCard has been getting 882. i'll add your info on the twitter page for today, along with:
where did you get 975?? can you share the Peso cost and USD cost, both, with the date?
...and did anyone make a credit/debit card purchase on 01Jan? my OCD hates missing a day
Finance Prof
Well-known member
Oh, what a delightful puzzle we have here! It seems like different stores have taken the liberty of creating their own little universe where exchange rates are as consistent as a cat on a pogo stick. How charming! I mean, who doesn't love a good surprise when converting their hard-earned cash?
It's practically a symphony of confusion, with rates dancing around like they've got a mind of their own. And, oh, the joy of stumbling upon a store that believes a whopping 1000 pesos should be exchanged for a single dollar. God bless their creative accounting skills – it's like a financial masterpiece that Picasso himself would applaud.
So, here's to the unpredictable world of currency exchange, where consistency is overrated, and confusion is the name of the game. Bravo, dear stores, bravo!
Lately for the first time in a LONG time some stores want to charge 10% or 15% for using the MercadoPago credit card machines, while others seem to just absorb the cost and don’t add any extra %. Completely varies. I'm not sure if this is legal or not for them to charge a surcharge.
It's practically a symphony of confusion, with rates dancing around like they've got a mind of their own. And, oh, the joy of stumbling upon a store that believes a whopping 1000 pesos should be exchanged for a single dollar. God bless their creative accounting skills – it's like a financial masterpiece that Picasso himself would applaud.
So, here's to the unpredictable world of currency exchange, where consistency is overrated, and confusion is the name of the game. Bravo, dear stores, bravo!
Lately for the first time in a LONG time some stores want to charge 10% or 15% for using the MercadoPago credit card machines, while others seem to just absorb the cost and don’t add any extra %. Completely varies. I'm not sure if this is legal or not for them to charge a surcharge.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave with the confusion of MEP rates! Clearly, people are just having a grand old time reporting things in the most imaginative way possible. I mean, who wouldn't want to add a touch of drama to the mundane world of exchange rates?
Let me break it down for you Expats. The MEP rates – they're out there, published every day on the Visa/Mastercard website, as if they're the morning newspaper horoscope for currency enthusiasts. And here's the kicker – the store can't play magician with the rate your card issuer decides to whip out of their sleeve. It's practically a wild, uncontrollable ride orchestrated by the overlords of credit.
Now, if a store has ambitions of squeezing an extra 10-15% out of your hard-earned cash, they'll have to resort to the classic magic trick of inflating the price in pesos before you even get to the thrilling moment of the transaction. Because, let's be real, altering the sacred exchange rate your card issuer uses is as likely as finding a unicorn in your local supermarket – not happening.
So, here's to the mystifying world of financial illusions, where confusion reigns supreme, and the truth is as elusive as a disappearing act. Bravo, dear store owners, bravo!
Finance Prof
Well-known member
Yes that is how I thought it was but I literally have charges where I have purchased things the same day but I won't pay attention well and then I see different exchange rates were used. The MEP Visa rates can't vary that much so I don't know why it varies from one store to another. I think @StatusNomadicus method of reporting daily and then seeing what others were charged is the only way to verify this. Granted not many people check their statements. Must people just charge and don't even really see what they are paying.
Finance Prof
Well-known member
I didn't buy anything that day. Was anything open? I was hung over and slept until very late.so it must be a Visa, then, since MasterCard has been getting 882. i'll add your info on the twitter page for today, along with:
where did you get 975?? can you share the Peso cost and USD cost, both, with the date?
...and did anyone make a credit/debit card purchase on 01Jan? my OCD hates missing a day
StatusNomadicus
Well-known member
yep, about 5% of restaurants were open New Year's morning, then by 12:00 about half were, and at night it looked like it was about 85%, minus some stuff like Carrefour Market that is supposed to be 24-hours. i just had my dog and didn't want to sit around with mosquitos...so every place i stopped to grab a beer or food, i ended up walking away from because i don't like him getting bit
RN in BA
Well-known member
Thanks for what you do for us!
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