The 'Argentinian way' to pay

Buen dia! 

I'm in the process of buying a flat in BA. I don't have a bank account here, but the estate agent tells me that the 'Argentinian way' of paying without a bank account is to give the entire balance to a finance company that specialises in that. But it seems that the 'Argentinian way' is not entirely legal, so there would be no contract, no receipt, just hand the money over. The estate agent assures me that this is the normal way that Argentinians pay, because they're trying to avoid tax!


I can't open a bank account because the procedure depends on me receiving my police record from the UK govt, which is unbelievably slow and won't arrive on time.


Does anybody know anything about this payment system?

You can make business without paper based on word, but better to be ready for retribution is deal goes sideway. So best to employ some businessman in an escrow based service when the actions executed is scam appears and that particular finance company dealt with accordingly.

Usually when they notice that the another party is prepped they don't try stupid things as that would be very unhealthy when they get a visit from the businessman who would like to access the escrow funds.