Has anyone used Monzo in Argentina so far? If so, please share your advice here!
Used the card in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil in August / September. Generally worked as expected.
Used the card to withdrawal cash in Mendoza from Citibank ATM, no problems. Did charge a fee though.
Currently in Buenos Aires; been unable to use the card at any cash machine. Iāve paid for my hostel with it but very few places out here accept master card. Almost all of the banks seem to run the same system on ATMs and it doesnāt like Monzo.
My guess is the ATMs that youāre trying to use arenāt chip & pin enabled.
If youāre an iOS user, with the latest version of the app, you can temporarily enable magstripe withdrawal support from within your app. Android app users need to send a message to customer support.
The default option of magstripe disabled is to reduce instances of fraud.
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Or it could be you have not had your ID verified
Anyone found a bank that doesnāt charge ATM fees in Argentina. Using a Mastercard before I couldnāt find one anywhere in the country. The only way I heard to do this was with a Citibank account.
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Generally works in stores.
I didnt ever find a cash point which didnt charge high fees to extract money (c. 5gbp) .
I also took two taxi journeys in Buenos Aires with Uber. The journeys should have been charged at 234 Argentine Pesos and 139 agentine pesos but they were actually charged as 234 US dollars and 139 US dollars. it put my account into a 237 GBP overdraught. Firstly i was surprised the card could go overdrawn but discovered for payments with no pre determined cost the merchant has authorisation to charge what it likes and you are responsible for the debt until the matter can be sorted. In terms of sorting it, Monzo were engaged and responded quickly but were powerless to do anything . It took a week for Uber to address the currency error.
I was hoping for a wider use of the card but shall confine it to instore purchases atleast for the short term.
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In relation to jphās question. Citibank have sold all of their banks to Santander so they dont have a direct presence in Argentina anymore.;even when they did it was very difficult to find an ATM which didnt charge as even ATM machines on the premises of Citibank often charged ( because of a jv arrangement; the culprit machines had more than one logo)
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Many places take card and most places have offline card machines, pre-paid travel cards were normally declined.
Several places, such as Carrefour, key in the card number and CCV and make online payments at the till!
You have to sign every single receipt even if you have used your PIN.
Most places ask to see identity documents and add the ādocument numberā to the receipt. Some places are stricter than others, and do not want to accept drivers licences as ID.
Some places, and taxis, only take cash so it is generally good to have cash on hand.
Queues for ATMs are crazy long, and often only one out of several machines could be used for withdrawals.
Generally speaking it cost 175 Pesos to withdraw cash (approx Ā£7) and you could get a maximum of 3000 Pesos.
The cheapest fee I found so far was in bank Santa Cruz. Which unfortunately you find mostly only in Santa Cruz province. Each withdrawal costed only around 114 pesos. Yesterday in Salta, I paid 202 pesos in atm nearby.
I just spent a few days in Buenos Aires. We found we couldnāt get cash out from any banks on the Link network, but could get them out from the Banelco network ATMs (indicated by a red/maroon B). Unfortunately had to pay 380pesos to take cash out at Santander Rio or BBVA and 376 to take cash out at Citibank. There was a 3000 pesos limit (unsure if daily or per transaction) and not everywhere takes card, so we did need cash.
So the present situation about a year later still is that itās impossible to avoid ATM fees in the country?
In Beunos Aires
Current max withdraw is 2000 pesos
Fees range from 275 to 400ish. Seemingly cheaper at Bancos but some have a lower withdraw limit.
Luckily most places take card here BUT Iāve had a couple of occasions where they only take Visa cards
Iāve been introduced to an alternative method of withdrawing cash using the UK app āAzimoā
Slightly worse exchange rate but significantly cheaper when you withdraw larger amounts .
Still having trouble in BA.
A lot of places only accept Visa.
On top of this, it seems the banks shut down for āmaintenanceā in the afternoon - no cash machines, and no online transactions.
If a merchant uses online transactions - quite common for the smaller restaurants / shops then the payment may be rejected.
These things together can make paying for lunch quite tricky. I would recommend having some cash.
Also, keep an eye on your bank feed; so far every atm withdrawal or online transaction has been duplicated. (I am hoping refunds will come through later)
Finally, all cash machines currently include a fee of 365pesos for withdrawing any amount.
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We are visiting Argentine soon. Seems you cannot buy Pesos in the UK so we are taking dollars. Monzo will be good for restaurants - has anyone used Monzo in a Buenos Aries restaurant? What was the experience like?
I was in Argentina in October.
You have to pay a fee for withdrawal
I used cuenta corriente (current account) as an option
Mastercard is not as widely accepted as Visa, even in places were they accept it sometimes it does not work, so I was withdrawing a lot of cash.
I paid in some restaurants, but asked to charge me first (buying a water for example, so I can test it).
I recommend cash!
I had to extract a max of 3600-3500 pesos each time. But you can do it several times (they charge a fee every extraction)
A nightmare. Thanks God I had my Amex and a couple of Visas and Mastercards.
The ATMs will charge you on Monzo. My 1st attempt was declined and my message to Monzo was not replied in 24 hours as expected, not replied at all actually. I had to send another message with the āURGENTā button.
It seems that my card was frozen automatically as I was not in the UK. I had to manually enable the magnetic strip for 24 hours ion order to use the ATMs, then it worked ok but with a local bank charge 
I tried 3 times to use Monzo in supermarkets or stores and was declined all the time :(
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Hi Harry,
Can you please explain how this worked for you?
Thanks!