Get USD from agent or load Revolut card ?

Discussion
1

Hi

I’m confused. I’m going to Argentina and will be taking dollars.

  1. Am I best just exchanging sterling to dollars on the card than going to bureau de change ? Can I get dollars out of my Revolut card without high ATM charges ?
  2. Will I be able to make my Revolut card a dollar card so that when I make purchases in pesos, I will get charged dollars and not sterling ?

I see that the exchange rate on the Revolut card is v good (1.4) versus (1.37/1.38) in the market. That said if there are high atm charges, if makes sense to go to bureau.

Thanks

Julian

2

You can simply pay and withdraw directly in Argentina? Only keep in mind you have a withdrawal limit and there is a surcharge at weekends.

1 Like
3

Thanks. So withdraw via atm or via bank ? I gather you can only take out £200 per month without being charged ?

4

Are you saying put dollars on card via the exchange mechanism ?

5

Yes

What is your main currency?

6

Sterling . £200 per month is no good therefore can I withdraw From card via a bank withdrawal?

7

Where does USD then come in? You basically withdraw ARS in Argentina and that will be converted to GBP.

As for the limit, you can circumvent that. You can sign up for a premium account and get the limit to 400 but cash will always be limited. Try to stick to card transactions.

8

Ok thanks. The only reason I want dollars is because if I get cash out via Revolut then sterling is no use. But I won’t via atm because of charges. I assume if I took dollars out of Revolut via the bank counter I would also get charged ?

9

How would USD be better over ARS?

10

You can’t get arg pesos on the Revolut. You can pay for stuff on the card and it then charges to your default currency. Im told I’ll get a better rate for usd to pesos than sterling pesos…

11

What do you mean you cant get? I am not sure whether you can keep an account but you can withdraw. And who told you USD would get a better rate?

I’d simply try to pay as much as possible by card, also because it seems to be common in Argentina to charge for withdrawals (the owners of ATMs, not Revolut).

12

You can’t load the card with pesos unlike other currencies. They don’t support it. Think I’ll just send sterling to my card and as you say buy in pesos and do the conversion on the card

13

Thats what I meant by you cannot keep an account AFAIK but that does not prevent you from paying in that currency.

14

But contact support if you want a definite confirmation that there is no issue with ARS.

15

Thank you for your help !

16

For the rate: in traditional bureaus you can get better rate for USD but on Revolut it doesn’t matter: you get the same interbank rate from either currency.