The Argentine Pablo Realini was a cabinetmaker and pastor of a Baptist church.
He is now
77 years old and retired
.
He lives in Colombia, where he moved
three decades ago
.
He was widowed ten years ago and shares his days with his daughter and his grandchildren, who live there with him.
His son, Juan Pablo, contacted
Clarín
to tell about the unusual situation that his father is going through these days.
Basically, what it says is that this month the man
was not able to collect his retirement
.
He receives the minimum, in addition to also being a creditor of his wife's pension.
With the discount of the commissions involved in the processing and transfers, the deposit in his account is the equivalent of
100 thousand Argentine pesos
.
For two, 200 thousand pesos translated into foreign currency.
Why couldn't Pablo get paid in March?
"Anses sends the funds to Banco Nación, which converts them to dollars and sends them to an intermediary bank - a branch of the same bank in Miami - which keeps
a commission
, and from there they send the money to the account in Colombia."
That's it, the operation.
But why, if until now he had been charging normally, did he now stop doing it?
“This month the deposit did not arrive on the usual date.
We began to find out, and after
much and much trying
- Anses does not answer by telephone, they have disabled the claims sector on the Web, they do not answer by e-mail and in the Retirement sector outside of Banco Nación you can spend all day calling by phone and there is no way for them to respond - I managed to contact the Miami branch, where they told me that nothing had arrived
for him
.
Queer.
They suggested that I write an email to Retirements Abroad.”
It was then that things began to become clear.
Or to darken: “Finally they explained to me,” Juan Pablo continued, “that because the bank has a minimum amount for transfers abroad of
120 thousand pesos
and the amount they deposit for retirement is
100 thousand
;
They couldn't send it to him.
"That they were going to wait until
next month
to send him
two retirements together
."
Despite the frustrating news, Pablo Realini's son says that he always sees his father with a smile.
The retiree's son says that he tried to reason with the banking interlocutors, hoping
that there was an error
: “My father collects his retirement and my mother's pension, which in total would add up to 200 thousand pesos, so “They should have been able to send it.”
However, they responded that “they transfer each benefit
separately
(in the same way that Anses sends them to them) and that is why they cannot make the transfer.”
All of this that Juan Pablo was now telling was read in the official response to his claim, in an email that he forwarded to
Clarín
.
There, with the sender “Retirements abroad”, it reads: “In relation to your email, please note that Banco Nación
has increased the limit
on the amount of transfers abroad for Retirement/Pension to
120 thousand pesos.
, meaning that transfers less than said amount will not be made.
For this reason, you have not received the amount corresponding to this month but rather it will be transferred
to the following month
when that minimum amount is covered.”
The letter did not end there, but also tried to convince the retiree that, in reality, this was done
for his benefit
: “It should be noted that the only objective of said modification is to prevent the intermediary bank from rejecting the transfer of funds for a low amount. for not covering their commissions, in addition to benefiting retirees living abroad who are affected by the exchange rate, by local commissions, commissions from the correspondent bank and intermediary bank.
Based on what has been stated, it can be concluded that we will only be charging
a single commission for transfers of two
or more monthly transfers.
What they did not contemplate in that response was that the retiree was going to have to manage for
the next thirty days
without the money that corresponded to him.
In addition to the fact that in dollars Pablo had now started to
earn half
, like all Argentine retirees but in the case of him and many others, outside the borders.
Based on the official responses, what affects Pablo Realini is a measure that would reach
all retirees who live abroad and earn the minimum
.
In the arguments put forward in the email, it is clear that the last drastic devaluation of the peso generated a mess of monetary equivalences with foreign countries that would not adapt to historical bureaucratic requirements.
Pablo Realini in an older photo with his wife, who died a decade ago in Colombia.
In other words, the minimum retirement abroad is now so poor in dollars that it
does not even apply
to be transferred.
Only with the sum of two assets does this procedure reach any semblance of opportunity in the real world.
Which in turn inaugurates a
new category of retiree
: the one who gets paid extra.
How does Pablo manage to live now with only the income of 200 thousand pesos in Colombia?
His daughter - who also has two children, Pablo's grandchildren - helps him as much as she can.
And Juan Pablo adds: “It's a crazy situation.
This month I had to
send him money
, but the touching they do generates a lot of anger.”
Finally, and as if this were not enough, the son of the affected retiree remarks “another crazy thing.”
He explains: “It turns out that when there are
bonuses or extraordinary payments
for retirees, my dad never gets paid, because since he earns 'two minimums' he doesn't reciprocate.
But to send the money there if they consider each benefit as an individual, harming him.”
P.S.