Travelled to New York/USA, with the following results:
Basically ALL banks in the US will charge you ATM fees. They vary between 3 and 3.50 dollars. Major banks such as HSBC and Citibank will charge you the lower fee. Even smaller banks will charge a fee, like ICBC, some Asian banks with NY branches, etc.
You will need cash for street food and eventual tips, that apart, you can pretty much use your debit cards anywhere. Be aware that some US POS will require you to have the magnetic strip of your card activated, namely the MTA machines when you arrive and try to buy yourself a metro card. POS transactions will usually ask if you want to leave a tip, there is always an option “no tip”, and this is at your discretion.
5 Likes
Argentina - Travelled in Argentina (May 2023) - The USD is still quoted at 250 pesos per dollar, while the “blue dollar” has been oscilating around 500-550 pesos.With the current economical situation, you have the following options:
1 - Bring approximately USD 30-50 per day of travel, in dollars cash, you can change with street changers. You will get “blue dollar” rate
2 - Bring a small amount of USD cash as per above procedure, and for the rest of the days, sign up for Western Union in your own country and wire-transfer yourself to collect in pesos as you travel around the country. Be aware some WU representatives may charge you 400 pesos to collect your cash, some others may have a queue and some be open only Mon-Fri.
3 - Use the (both/one of the) procedures above, and also use your Revolut Cards - apparently the Argentinean government has now a THIRD rate for the USD, which is only for foreign cards. You will get approx. 440 pesos for the USD, which is much better than the 250 pesos official rate.
No ATMs will dispense money for free, so using ATMs in Argentina is not advisable at this moment.
5 Likes
Hello @alexfrmrio 
,
Thank you so much for sharing these with us. This will definitely help our other users. 
SG | Community Team
3 Likes
