Banking Credit Card real-world rate "MEP" transaction repo (Dec2023)

[Canada Goose]

My novia told me these were the #'s today:

Blue: $1,005 /// $1,025
Western Union: $1,060.85
MEP: $1,116 (My girlfriend's card charged at $1,032 today).
CCL: $1,152 (I expect WU to move up to $1,130 on Monday or close to that).

 

[StatusNomadicus]

rates these days?

bobby bob, i have failed you! but good news; i am getting over an annoying cold (i blame greeting/kissing all these Argentine people the past 6 weeks! and i didn't bring my Vitamin D3/K2/C or Zinc/Magnesium with me on this long trip) and i have data for everything except for 01Jan!

@Canada Goose not sure how she got 1032 on Friday, if you see my data for both Visa and MasterCard on Friday:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743994762938499570

i couldn't find anyone on Twitter or here who was willing to give me any credit card spends, so i went ahead and posted the data on the @ArgentinaMEP twitter page:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743997218640527839

there's the latest one. follow that profile to see the daily updates. big news:

1. Visa has been consistently winning against MasterCard, until two days ago when they were both 978 ARS/USD.

2. MEP is now over the Blue Dollar rate!!! check out https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-mep.html compared to https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-informal.html and see it's 1105 versus 1025 !!!

that all being said, the purpose of this thread (and the resulting X/Twitter profile www.X.com/ArgentinaMEP of course) is to track what we actually get on a card, when converted to USD. from a low of 867 since I started tracking, to yesterday's 1017 ARS/Dollar, we can see that the past seventeen days have had a big fluctuation, but this is the first time the real-world MEP is over 1,000!!!!! (@Esposas to update you on the past 10 days, since you saw it going down. it's better now!)

holler if any of the formatting/data could be more beneficial. i'm mostly doing this for you guys, so i'm open to whatever

 

[Canada Goose]

bobby bob, i have failed you! but good news; i am getting over an annoying cold (i blame greeting/kissing all these Argentine people the past 6 weeks! and i didn't bring my Vitamin D3/K2/C or Zinc/Magnesium with me on this long trip) and i have data for everything except for 01Jan!

@Canada Goose not sure how she got 1032 on Friday, if you see my data for both Visa and MasterCard on Friday:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743994762938499570

i couldn't find anyone on Twitter or here who was willing to give me any credit card spends, so i went ahead and posted the data on the @ArgentinaMEP twitter page:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743997218640527839

there's the latest one. follow that profile to see the daily updates. big news:

1. Visa has been consistently winning against MasterCard, until two days ago when they were both 978 ARS/USD.

2. MEP is now over the Blue Dollar rate!!! check out https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-mep.html compared to https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-informal.html and see it's 1105 versus 1025 !!!

that all being said, the purpose of this thread (and the resulting X/Twitter profile www.X.com/ArgentinaMEP of course) is to track what we actually get on a card, when converted to USD. from a low of 867 since I started tracking, to yesterday's 1017 ARS/Dollar, we can see that the past seventeen days have had a big fluctuation, but this is the first time the real-world MEP is over 1,000!!!!! (@Esposas to update you on the past 10 days, since you saw it going down. it's better now!)

holler if any of the formatting/data could be more beneficial. i'm mostly doing this for you guys, so i'm open to whatever

Hi buddy. No, when she gives to me she means the posted rate online. And they usually take about 6% to 7% of that. Thanks for tracking it.

 

[Crossfit Junkie]

bobby bob, i have failed you! but good news; i am getting over an annoying cold (i blame greeting/kissing all these Argentine people the past 6 weeks! and i didn't bring my Vitamin D3/K2/C or Zinc/Magnesium with me on this long trip) and i have data for everything except for 01Jan!

@Canada Goose not sure how she got 1032 on Friday, if you see my data for both Visa and MasterCard on Friday:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743994762938499570

i couldn't find anyone on Twitter or here who was willing to give me any credit card spends, so i went ahead and posted the data on the @ArgentinaMEP twitter page:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743997218640527839

there's the latest one. follow that profile to see the daily updates. big news:

1. Visa has been consistently winning against MasterCard, until two days ago when they were both 978 ARS/USD.

2. MEP is now over the Blue Dollar rate!!! check out https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-mep.html compared to https://www.ambito.com/contenidos/dolar-informal.html and see it's 1105 versus 1025 !!!

that all being said, the purpose of this thread (and the resulting X/Twitter profile www.X.com/ArgentinaMEP of course) is to track what we actually get on a card, when converted to USD. from a low of 867 since I started tracking, to yesterday's 1017 ARS/Dollar, we can see that the past seventeen days have had a big fluctuation, but this is the first time the real-world MEP is over 1,000!!!!! (@Esposas to update you on the past 10 days, since you saw it going down. it's better now!)

holler if any of the formatting/data could be more beneficial. i'm mostly doing this for you guys, so i'm open to whatever

Thank you so much @StatusNomadicus for posting these. It looks like MEP and blue dollar are going up like some on the forum have predicted. I hope it keeps going up by the time we arrive.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

I hope it keeps going up by the time we arrive.

even if it stays the same or goes up 25%, you're still going to have a very cheap vacation if you plan it well i can get you prices at the store and elsewhere, if you're curious.

 

[Canada Goose]

even if it stays the same or goes up 25%, you're still going to have a very cheap vacation if you plan it well i can get you prices at the store and elsewhere, if you're curious.

Yes honestly prices could go up 100% and it will still be much cheaper than most places in USA and major cities on Canada. I just left last month and it was shockingly cheap in decent quality restaurants. Besides the sheep touristy places like Don Julio, you could go to many restaurants for gourmet food for a fraction that I pay in North America.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

08Jan2024 numbers: 978 for MasterCard credit, and 1017 still for Visa, so losing 4% each swipe if you use MC right now. Posted MEP rate on Ambito.com shows an increase from the weekend, but real-world results aren't matching yet. I'll check back tomorrow...looking like using Visa credit will get more Pesos than during the weekend, which was already at an all-time high of over 1000.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1744390082339975644

 

[Vince]

08Jan2024 numbers: 978 for MasterCard credit, and 1017 still for Visa, so losing 4% each swipe if you use MC right now. Posted MEP rate on Ambito.com shows an increase from the weekend, but real-world results aren't matching yet. I'll check back tomorrow...looking like using Visa credit will get more Pesos than during the weekend, which was already at an all-time high of over 1000.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1744390082339975644

Wow 4% is real money......thanks!

 

[Flamingo]

I just used my US credit card today (Mastercard). I got 1,052 pesos to $1 USD.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

4% is real money

i haven't been able to figure-out why, and it's not always the case, but seems like in the past month, 70% of the time it paid more to use Visa than MasterCard

I got 1,052 pesos to $1 USD

thanks for this, was that just a simple Total Pesos divided by Total Dollars to get that? i'll compare to my Visa and MasterCard today when i get a couple Quilmes cervezas post-workout. current MEP shows 1139

 

[earlyretirement]

FYI. I just used my Visa card at Jumbo in Palermo. I spent 52,898 pesos and I was charged $49.72 for an effective rate of about 1,064 pesos to $1 US dollar.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

some data for those planning their trip: it was $24.99 total (not including 3000-Peso cash tip) credit card charge on MasterCard at a chill burger place last night in Palermo Chico, which included:

7100 Pesos for chicken sandwich and tasty fries
7100 Pesos for second chicken sandwich and fries, because my girlfriend ate most of the first and it was really good!
the remainder was 2-for-1 daily promo for 500 mL draft beers (Patagonia Amber) of which a total of 4 orders (8 beers) were consumed...don't judge! so, like $11 USD for 8 total beers (500 mL is bigger than the usual pint or 473 mL cans)

also for those wondering of prices, buying two 1-Liter beer bottles of Quilmes Clasica or IPA are 2,771 Pesos today at Carrefour Express. doing the math, that is about $2.59 USD for just over 67 ounces. so, in 500 mL beers like at the restaurant last night, each liter is $1.30 USD or 65 cents per large "pint" 500 mL, or 62 cents per 473 mL big cans, or 46 cents per 12-ounce standard beer can in the USA. not too shabby from buying individual bottles at the closest store in a touristy area like Palermo Chico! (of course you get charged an envase bottle deposit of like 250 Pesos or 25 cents, but you can return them with the original receipt).

continuing on...today's spend, including Flamingo's and @earlyretirement's spends, below (thanks!)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745563633432596986

 

[barlow]

some data for those planning their trip: it was $24.99 total (not including 3000-Peso cash tip) credit card charge on MasterCard at a chill burger place last night in Palermo Chico, which included:

7100 Pesos for chicken sandwich and tasty fries
7100 Pesos for second chicken sandwich and fries, because my girlfriend ate most of the first and it was really good!
the remainder was 2-for-1 daily promo for 500 mL draft beers (Patagonia Amber) of which a total of 4 orders (8 beers) were consumed...don't judge! so, like $11 USD for 8 total beers (500 mL is bigger than the usual pint or 473 mL cans)

also for those wondering of prices, buying two 1-Liter beer bottles of Quilmes Clasica or IPA are 2,771 Pesos today at Carrefour Express. doing the math, that is about $2.59 USD for just over 67 ounces. so, in 500 mL beers like at the restaurant last night, each liter is $1.30 USD or 65 cents per large "pint" 500 mL, or 62 cents per 473 mL big cans, or 46 cents per 12-ounce standard beer can in the USA. not too shabby from buying individual bottles at the closest store in a touristy area like Palermo Chico! (of course you get charged an envase bottle deposit of like 250 Pesos or 25 cents, but you can return them with the original receipt).

continuing on...today's spend, including Flamingo's and @earlyretirement's spends, below (thanks!)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745563633432596986

Thanks! Where did you get the delicious chicken sandwich?

 

[StatusNomadicus]

delicious chicken sandwich?

it was like Chick-Fil-A! it's called 7167 Burger. i don't love their casera burgers (homemade)

7167 Burger & Drinks · Av. Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz 3110, C1425 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentinien

âââââ · Burgerrestaurant

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[barlow]

it was like Chick-Fil-A! it's called 7167 Burger. i don't love their casera burgers (homemade)

7167 Burger & Drinks · Av. Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz 3110, C1425 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentinien

âââââ · Burgerrestaurant

maps.app.goo.gl

Thank you! I love me a chicken sandwich! I will check it out.

 

[Mitch]

it was like Chick-Fil-A! it's called 7167 Burger. i don't love their casera burgers (homemade)

7167 Burger & Drinks · Av. Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz 3110, C1425 Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentinien

âââââ · Burgerrestaurant

maps.app.goo.gl

Thanks! I love Chick-Fil-A. Is there a review of this in the Food section? I will look it up if so.

Much much easier using credit cards since my last visit when there was white market and black market. Seems much easier now!

 

[StatusNomadicus]

I will check it out.

Andres is the barman/server from Colombia, he'll take care of you. enjoy the 2-for-1 draft beers (but last time out of 4 taps, all they had was the Patagonia Amber)

let me know how the food compares to your chicken sangwich experiences, and you too @Mitch - nope i haven't written a review of it there, i've just gone 3x now since it's a 5-min walk from my apartment and it's the cheapest draft beer i've found. and no Cubierto charge!

 

[Katyx]

Andres is the barman/server from Colombia, he'll take care of you. enjoy the 2-for-1 draft beers (but last time out of 4 taps, all they had was the Patagonia Amber)

let me know how the food compares to your chicken sangwich experiences, and you too @Mitch - nope i haven't written a review of it there, i've just gone 3x now since it's a 5-min walk from my apartment and it's the cheapest draft beer i've found. and no Cubierto charge!

Thanks! My boyfriend loves beer so I will tell him about it as he loves Amber!

 

[StatusNomadicus]

Amber

they had lots of Bohemian Pilsner by Patagonia, but i drank it all

today's rate was lower for Visa:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1745986578025971784

 

[earlyretirement]

I spent 71,400 pesos last night at dinner at La Mar. I used my Visa card and I got a rate of 1,017.67 to $1 US. This was for January 12, 2024.