BajaNomad

Bancomer dollar accounts?

me2zoomie - 1-4-2015 at 11:26 AM

My Bancomer does not have anyone proficient enough in English to explain their dollar accounts to me. Perhaps someone here can help.

Can I start one with pesos? Can I add pesos to a dollar account and end up with dollars? Can I get out pesos? Can I get out dollars? Are there fees?

Thanks. Please U2U me.

grizzlyfsh95 - 1-4-2015 at 11:55 AM

Beware of their Debit/credit cards. If they are compromised, Bancomer will not stand behind them and you will lose all the money in that account. Had an account for 20 years, and finally closed it after losing a lot, and they just shrug their shoulders.

Hook - 1-4-2015 at 12:34 PM

Unless someone is simply desperate, I dont know why anyone would willingly deal with Bancomer. They are the worst of the worst; banking, insurance, trusts, you name it. I don't have personal experience with this.........but I know a lot of people who do.

There are unbelievable horror stories over here about their trust departments; people waiting for trust paperwork for years and years, lost paperwork, denials of payments being made EVEN WITH RECEIPTS.

Steer clear, if you can.

Oh wait, I see you are in Mulege. No choice, I guess. Just make sure you are desperate enough to "need" them. If you are building and need access to large amounts of cash, I guess you could be.

If there is an alternate bank in Santa Rosalia, I would consider accepting the inconvenience of driving there every week or two. Isnt there a Banamex is SR?

shari - 1-4-2015 at 01:38 PM

I love our Bancomer employees in Vizcaino and my dollar account which I was forced to open when awhile back someone decided you couldnt deposit dollars in a peso account anymore. But I am glad I did now as I can deposit dollars and keep them there until there is a favourable exchange rate when I just transfer the dollars into my peso account via internet banking...easy peasy. Now of course you can deposit dollars again which is fine too.

Oh my word...where ARE my manners? Welcome to the sandbox...we are nearly neighbours I see!

[Edited on 1-4-2015 by shari]

Bob and Susan - 1-4-2015 at 02:28 PM

me2zommie...I was wondering why you need a bank account at all...

the ATM in mulege only dispenses pesos...
and connects directly to all usa bank accounts...

you can get 10k pesos out per day at the atm...
depending on your bank in the usa

business people like shari probably need an account but you...

I don't know why

bajaguy - 1-4-2015 at 03:47 PM

Why does it matter???

He was looking for specific information, not an interrogation
Quote: Originally posted by Bob and Susan  
me2zommie...I was wondering why you need a bank account at all...

the ATM in mulege only dispenses pesos...
and connects directly to all usa bank accounts...

you can get 10k pesos out per day at the atm...
depending on your bank in the usa

business people like shari probably need an account but you...

I don't know why

Bob and Susan - 1-4-2015 at 04:25 PM

no interrogation...

I too had a dollar and peso account...
I thought I needed them both but
why...

now I have a peso account and that's it...
we are in a country that uses pesos not dollars
I still don't know why anyone needs a dollar account

if you need to exchange dollars...
the bank does that by using the peso account
you can exchange $4000 a month before you get taxed

otherwise the ATM work fine for a usa bank

Russ - 1-4-2015 at 05:53 PM

I have a dollar account and for me it works well. The manager in Mulege speaks English. Yes you can deposit pesos into a dollar account. If you want to do online banking you'll also need some kind of peso account. I use my state checks to make deposits at no charge. But it take 10 days to clear. They always ask if I want pesos or dollars when I cash a check. I have no troubles with Bancomer for the last 10 years but before that it was a nightmare in either bank. Some of their procedures are different and require the manager's approval though.

thebajarunner - 1-4-2015 at 06:31 PM

In the "good old days" - whenever that was....
Mexican banks had dollar accounts that were exempt by federal law from peso exchange issues.
Totally safe!!!
Yep, trust me, sez they.
So I opened a Bancomer account for a close friend and over a couple years put something north of $10,000 (US Dollars) into his account-remember- this is safe from devaluation, per Mexican law.

Then came the massive devaluation in mid-70s where they had to reprint the money.

And, of course, along comes a delayed notice from Bancomer
"OOOPS, sorry about this. Law changed. Your $10k has basically vaporized, lo siento mucho."

"Trust Me" That may be the slogan for Bancomer and Mexican banking.

Yep, I trust them, every time I hit the ATM, but just long enough to extract the pesos until the next time.

Been there, done that, got screwed!!!

After rethinking the above=
it was Banamex, not Bancomer
same result, sad to say...

[Edited on 1-5-2015 by thebajarunner]

rts551 - 1-4-2015 at 06:35 PM

I have not had problems with Bancomer, Vizcaino either....but that is our only option for Mexican banking

chuckie - 1-4-2015 at 07:19 PM

Don't do it!

pacsur - 1-6-2015 at 01:28 PM

I have dollar and peso accounts in two banks, one I use for business and the other for personal.
My personal account is with Santander and I always transfer dollars to pesos online, also Santander seems to almost always have a much better online rate than any other banks I deal with, yesterday I got 14.86 online at Santander, Scotia was 14.10, I also pay my Telmex, Telcel, and CFE online, I receive those bills online also. Unfortunately unless you live in a place with a fair amount of people I guess your stuck with whatever bank is willing to open in your area.
As far as being able to deposit $4000 usd each month tax free goes I must be getting screwed, my banks will not allow me to deposit more than $4k in cash dollars total per month combined, I'm not sure of the amount, but I believe I am being charged 2% tax on everything above $1000-$1200 usd.
I would love to see some current documentation concerning the $4000 amount.

It was federal, for sure

thebajarunner - 1-6-2015 at 06:21 PM

Quote: Originally posted by lencho  
Quote: Originally posted by thebajarunner  
Your $10k has basically vaporized, lo siento mucho." ... it was Banamex, not Bancomer
same result, sad to say...
Yeah, I don't think that had to do with individual banks, but the federal law change. Mexicans and foreigners alike got burned on that one, except the few privileged insiders who had advanced warning.



I always wondered just who benefited by converting my $10k to pennies....
The bank had to make out just fine on that deal,
unless somehow the MexFeds took over all the USD accounts.
I flunked Econ in college so I never could figure it out.

chuckie - 1-6-2015 at 06:32 PM

I got burned on the north end of 10K in the big devaluation back in the day....Today with ATM's everywhere, I cant imagine why ANYONE who is NOT in business in Mexico would even want a bank account Need money? Hit the ATM...Move money? use electronic banking..Keep it simple..

thebajarunner - 1-6-2015 at 08:38 PM

All the adjustments just showed up on the bank statement
On the face of it you would deduce that the bank made out like bandits.
But, my guess is that the MexFeds sent out a query as to how much was "converted" for each bank and extracted the major portion.
Either way, they were the screwers and we were the screwees.

And as I recall that deval took place in several stages.
First time it took about 90% and you figured it could not get worse so you let the 10% ride,
Yep, it got worse.

I had a friend that sold his telecom biz to WorldCom for stock,
and the mega-millions went way down, so he figured it could not get worse, and sure enuff it got worse, and he chased it right down to zero.

That all had a familiar ring to it from my Mexican dollar account ride.

boe4fun - 1-7-2015 at 10:15 AM

We have our Mexican account with Bancomer, but we keep a minimal amount there as it's easy and inexpensive to transfer electronically. My rational for doing it this way is because my neighbor in BA had a Bancomer account and they changed the rules for a minimum balance. She then lost about $500.00 USD in account charges over the course of about a year.

MitchMan - 1-7-2015 at 10:41 AM

Banking is too complicated for the Mexican banking industry to handle. They're constantly changing their abusive and seemingly arbitrary internal control policies in ways that make it difficult (not to mention expensive) for people to get normal conveniences that we here in the USA get from our banking system. Mexican banking has become so cumbersome and costly that most people that could and should otherwise use banking services (such as but not limited to independent contractors and service providers) decline to open Mexican accounts.

I think that, even if one were to live in Baja permanently, it would make sense to keep all funds in USA bank accounts. Just continue to use ATM withdrawal only and pay everything in cash. That doesn't cost anything if you use the right USA bank accounts and it keeps money safe from Mexican devaluation.

chuckie - 1-7-2015 at 11:51 AM

What I said....

Pescador - 1-8-2015 at 08:42 AM

Well, it all depends on where you live and what you want to do. In Santa Rosalia, the Banamex is a real joke and almost everyone here uses Bancomer. The manager is a very sharp and personable person who is always available. Since I live in Mexico, I figured a dollar account was a waste of time and opened a peso account. I can transfer money from my US account by wire and have no problems. Since I transfer pesos into my account I do not have to pay the anti-drug laundering tax they imposed several years ago for deposits over $5,000 pesos. Branch office in Mulege that does a good job and has less lines than the Santa Rosalia office who has longer lines than the US Post Office. It sure makes it easy to pay my elec, phone, TV and all that kind of stuff online and I don't have to carry a wheelbarrow to pay for boat gas when I go load up on that. In the big cities like Ensenada, Tijuana, Cabo, or La Paz, I might do something different, but my experience with Bancomer has been very good.

Hook - 1-8-2015 at 09:47 AM

It's a good time to ask this again. Is anyone using a service like XE.com to fund a peso account in Mexico? If so, please tell us about your experiences; i.e., costs, ease, efficiency, etc.

There are quite a few people who are VERY happy with Santander over here. Of course, it isnt a Mexican bank, though.:biggrin:

Gulliver - 11-26-2015 at 08:02 PM

The ATM at Bancomer in Mulege isn't working at all for my VISA cash or Debit cards. On inquiring in the bank they say that there has been something wing with the Plus Network for the past week.

My regular VISA credit card works fine at local businesses.

Has anyone else been having this problem and does anyone know anything about this issue?

shari - 11-27-2015 at 07:57 AM

I have both a peso and dollar account at Bancomer as it is the only nearby bank and am very very happy with both as well as the service and employees at the bank.

I love it that I can stash US dollars away in an account and easily transfer some to a peso account when the exchange rate is favourable with my internet banking as well as pay all my bills, use the debit cards at the stores etc.

In my opinion if you live in Mexico part time or full time you would be crazy NOT to have a peso account.

monoloco - 11-27-2015 at 08:29 AM

Quote: Originally posted by shari  
I love our Bancomer employees in Vizcaino and my dollar account which I was forced to open when awhile back someone decided you couldnt deposit dollars in a peso account anymore. But I am glad I did now as I can deposit dollars and keep them there until there is a favourable exchange rate when I just transfer the dollars into my peso account via internet banking...easy peasy. Now of course you can deposit dollars again which is fine too.

Oh my word...where ARE my manners? Welcome to the sandbox...we are nearly neighbours I see!

[Edited on 1-4-2015 by shari]
In traveling around mainland Mexico, we found no consistency in Bancomer's policies. In BCS Bancomer will allow you to deposit up to $2000 dollars a month cash into a dollar account, in San Cristobal they refused to accept any dollar deposits in any accounts, but in Palenque, they would accept a dollar deposit, but only into a peso account, converted at that day's exchange rate.

BajaBlanca - 11-27-2015 at 07:27 PM

I have a banamex peso account and sometimes it is a right nightmare. My debit stopped working - had to go to santa rosalia. They weren't able to get me a new card to use right away, it would not start working until the next day. Ri di cu lous.

Then I wanted to take cash out of MY account and they did not want to let me. Eventually they said OK...but wait a bit til the mgr. can bring the cash. This is at 8 am and I was the FIRST in line. So, I stand in place waiting, right? No, they wanted me to give up my place to the next person.

not gonna happen since Les is outside seething mad already

customer service is not understood here and like monoloco said - different branches of the very same bank have different rules. When I got to la paz and asked about a new debit card (arriving there with 2 minutes to spare to closing), they gave me one within minutes and I was able to test it right away. go figure.

Les had a bad experience at bancomer where they charged so much in fees that he ended up owing money and closed his account immediately.

bajatrailrider - 11-27-2015 at 09:13 PM

I have Bancomer,its the worse bank ever.They told me if I write U.S check to myself.The money will be in Mex bank in two weeks.They told me no charges what so ever.Not true,worst service also.My Mexican freind,lost 5 grand.Because someone cleaned out his account.Bancomer would not refund his money.Happy ending,he sued them.He won,and they had to pay all legal fees.I will be changing banks soon.

Santiago - 11-28-2015 at 07:42 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajatrailrider  
Happy ending,he sued them.He won,and they had to pay all legal fees.I will be changing banks soon.


BTR: Are you telling us that a Mexican citizen sued a Mexican bank in a Mexican court and got a judgment against said bank that not only included his loss but costs as well and then the bank actually paid? I, for one, would be interested in hearing more.

bajatrailrider - 11-28-2015 at 06:20 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Santiago  
Quote: Originally posted by bajatrailrider  
Happy ending,he sued them.He won,and they had to pay all legal fees.I will be changing banks soon.


BTR: Are you telling us that a Mexican citizen sued a Mexican bank in a Mexican court and got a judgment against said bank that not only included his loss but costs as well and then the bank actually paid? I, for one, would be interested in hearing more.
Yes sir, Lawyer made bank pay all legal fees,after they won.I think it took eight months.What else would you like me to ask him.He is pastor of Church here.

Alm - 11-30-2015 at 07:50 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Hook  
Isnt there a Banamex is SR?

Yes, there is some bank across from Bancomer - must be Banamex.
Agreed, not everybody needs bank accounts. But that's the OP problem.

Some strange questions. "adding pesos and end up with dollars"? Yes... if the account is in dollars. You deposit local currency either via ATM or at cashier's, and you end up with the currency that your account is in. Duh.

Brinloor - 11-30-2015 at 09:19 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Gulliver  
The ATM at Bancomer in Mulege isn't working at all for my VISA cash or Debit cards. On inquiring in the bank they say that there has been something wing with the Plus Network for the past week.

My regular VISA credit card works fine at local businesses.

Has anyone else been having this problem and does anyone know anything about this issue?


Been having the same problem here in Bancomer Mulege, but cards work in Leys Sta. Rosalia. Have had to use my Bancomer peso account to get money, and now they are sending me email surveys on my last ABM experience.