Credit cards (Mastercard and Visa) Lower than the official exchange rate in Argentina in US dollars

[nikad]

Did the credit cards stop using the MEP rate? I am getting significantly lower than the MEP rates. I know they charge some % but it seems like it's not connected anymore. Any advice or insights on this?

 

[PhilipDT]

Did the credit cards stop using the MEP rate? I am getting significantly lower than the MEP rates. I know they charge some % but it seems like it's not connected anymore. Any advice or insights on this?

The reality is that ever since December 2022, the credit card exchange rate has often been well below the MEP rate. While the MEP is used as a reference for Visa and Mastercard, the actual rate applied by credit cards is typically 2.5% to 8% lower than the MEP—never equal to it, and never higher. This has been reported many times on these forums.

Rather than digging through old forum posts, I picked a random date to illustrate:



📅 On December 4, 2024, the MEP closed at ARS 1,076.34.

📅 On December 5, 2024, the Visa exchange rate (based on the previous day’s MEP) was ARS 1,008.18 per USD.


✅ That’s a 6.33% difference—Visa’s rate was that much lower than the MEP. And this isn’t a one-off—there are plenty of other examples, with some days showing a worse gap and others a bit better.

The reason the difference feels more noticeable now is because the official rate and the MEP are nearly the same—the brecha (gap) has basically vanished. So unfortunately, you might now be seeing credit card rates that are even lower than the official rate.

📉 For example, last month the Visa rate is 7.35% lower than yesterday’s MEP close.

Cotización Dólar MEP Histórico | Ámbito

Cotización minuto a minuto del dólar MEP. Conoce todo sobre el precio histórico del dólar MEP.

www.ambito.com

 

[Betsy Ross]

It's been like this for a long time. For me when I use my USA credit card it's about 6.5% to 7% below MEP rate.

 

[lemonade]

Was wondering what would happen if say I have $100 dollars in my account and spend that $100 on my credit card at official rate, and transaction approved/pending at this rate at the point of sale.

Then when transaction goes completed and tries to take say $108 with the MEP fees. If the extra money is not in my balance will the payment get declined? What would happen?

This MEP system worked fine when the rate was less than the completed rate, but this is not the case anymore.
Initially when this MC/Visa MEP rate came out first there were people gaming the system which were fixed.

 

[Finance Prof]

Was wondering what would happen if say I have $100 dollars in my account and spend that $100 on my credit card at official rate, and transaction approved/pending at this rate at the point of sale.

Then when transaction goes completed and tries to take say $108 with the MEP fees. If the extra money is not in my balance will the payment get declined? What would happen?

This MEP system worked fine when the rate was less than the completed rate, but this is not the case anymore.
Initially when this MC/Visa MEP rate came out first there were people gaming the system which were fixed.

If this happened, you would go in negative balance. Look at Revolut or Wise.