BajaNomad - Mexican Bank recommendations?

Mexican Bank recommendations?

Alan - 11-24-2022 at 12:45 PM

I've been considering opening a Mexican bank account to make it easier to pay my CFE bill when out of the country, but I was wondering if anybody knows if it is necessary to have a resident visa to open an account or if they accept an FMM.

2nd would be, are there any recommendations as to which bank to choose and why?

bajatrailrider - 11-24-2022 at 06:52 PM

Good luck on that all bad

cabobaja - 11-25-2022 at 06:07 AM

It is my understanding that SAT (Mexican IRS) is requiring expats to
register with SAT and receive an RFC (tax) number to open a bank
account. Have clients that bought a home here in Todos Santos and
went to Bancomer to open a peso and dollar account and were told they
needed an RFC. They then went to CIBanco and were able to open accounts. They are now attempting to get an appointment with SAT
to receive their RFC.

JDCanuck - 11-25-2022 at 06:34 AM

This may have changed very recently, but we opened an account at the Intercam bank in La Paz to pay bills while we were still non-residents. We used our relatives' address, utility bill and a picture of their house showing the address. We needed our passport, SIN number, picture ID and they took our fingerprints as ID along with the passport when we withdraw funds at their bank. Took two weeks to get the account opened, funded and usable. We have been paying bills with it for the past 8 months, using SPEI transfers.
Since then, we have obtained temporary residency and have yet to get the RFC number.

[Edited on 11-25-2022 by JDCanuck]

freediverbrian - 11-25-2022 at 08:36 AM

I recently heard about an app called Dolar that let's you open a Mexican account with a credit card that gives you cash on purchases, 3% interest, gives the best exchange rate with no Mexican paper work. You can use zelle to transfer money from your US account. It sounds good has anyone used it?

Alan - 11-26-2022 at 07:20 AM

Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck

This may have changed very recently, but we opened an account at the Intercam bank in La Paz to pay bills while we were still non-residents. We used our relatives' address, utility bill and a picture of their house showing the address. We needed our passport, SIN number, picture ID and they took our fingerprints as ID along with the passport when we withdraw funds at their bank. Took two weeks to get the account opened, funded and usable. We have been paying bills with it for the past 8 months, using SPEI transfers.
Since then, we have obtained temporary residency and have yet to get the RFC number.

[Edited on 11-25-2022 by JDCanuck]

I think they just opened a branch near me on Abasolo. I'll stop in and talk with them next time I'm in town. I heard from a neighbor they were trying to attract expats and had several English-speaking tellers. Thanks

karenintx - 11-26-2022 at 08:48 AM

Quote: Originally posted by cabobaja

It is my understanding that SAT (Mexican IRS) is requiring expats to
register with SAT and receive an RFC (tax) number to open a bank
account. Have clients that bought a home here in Todos Santos and
went to Bancomer to open a peso and dollar account and were told they
needed an RFC. They then went to CIBanco and were able to open accounts. They are now attempting to get an appointment with SAT
to receive their RFC.

Since we are R/Ps, we just finished this process of getting our RFC...as required by Mexican Law this year, even though we do not earn any income in the country of Mexico.

The SAT office gave both of us our individual RFC numbers along with our individaul "Contancia De Situacion Fiscal" that we will take to CFE & Tel-Mex so they can attach this information to our accounts...both of our names our on both of these account.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/tax-reform-requires-expat-t...

karenintx - 11-26-2022 at 11:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck

A friend did the same thing in CSL however he is a R/P so it was pretty simple for him to open the account. InterCam set-up auto-pay for both his CFE and his Tel-Mex bills. Everything worked fine for about 10 months then he started getting emails from CFE & Tel-Mex saying there was a problem doing auto-pay so he called us to have us apply $$$ to his account until he could get back to CSL.

He is now back in town but still has not been able to find out what the problem is...is it InterCam or CFE/Tel-Mex. Hope you or other do not run into the same problem.

When I tried to talk with him about the new Mexican law requiring RFC...well he didn't want to hear about it. Said, "I have never need one of those so I am not going to get one."

Different website forums I am reading are reporting in the Yucatan area that both CFE & Tel-Mex are sending emails to their customers asking for their RCF #. Just saying...there may be some problems coming down the pipeline sooner than some "old timers" want to accept.

JDCanuck - 11-26-2022 at 01:46 PM

Thanks Karin: The first thing we will be doing when we are next down there will be to set up an appointment, when we were there last, there were zero openings in 3 weeks and we had to come home.

JDCanuck - 11-26-2022 at 02:11 PM

The problem with the RFC number is the difficulty in actually getting the appointment to obtain one. The CURP and temporary residency was far easier. done within a day with help from a pro. I wonder why the extra number is necessary? Seems to be a separate tax department issue.

karenintx - 11-26-2022 at 03:28 PM

JD...

Actually it was very simple to sign-up online for a virtual appointment.

We signed-up on June 22nd, monitored our place in line then on Nov 15th we both received emails giving us appointments on Nov 23rd. The hubby's appointment was @ 2:00 pm...he was allowed inside the SAT office @ 2:05 pm. My appointment was 3:15 pm...allowed in the office @ 3:10 pm. We both walked out of the office @ 4:15 pm. This was all done in CSL.

I agree it does take time getting the RFC appointment but like I remind the hubby...we are retired and I realize that other may not be.

One thing I did notice at the CSL SAT office was a line of Mexican national waiting for some kind of paper. A SAT employee would come outside, check their paperwork then collect a card from each of them(I do not know kind of card...maybe their INE card?) then go back inside. About 15 -30 minutes later the same employee would return then hand each Mexican their card along with a piece of paper. This happened the whole time I was waiting outside of the SAT office...the line never stopped. I can only assume they are getting their RFC #.

From what I have read, the reason for getting the RFC is Mexico in trying to stop money laundering so the government is updating their tax system and banks are NOT suppose to open a bank account for anyone that does not have a RFC #. President ALMO was the one to announce that any Mexican citizen or resident over the age of 18 years old will need to get a RFC # by June 30, 2022. The government had to extend the deadline due to SAT was not able to handle the volume of demand.

surabi - 11-27-2022 at 12:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck

The problem with the RFC number is the difficulty in actually getting the appointment to obtain one. The CURP and temporary residency was far easier. done within a day with help from a pro. I wonder why the extra number is necessary? Seems to be a separate tax department issue.

It depends on the regional SAT office, how busy it is, as to how long it takes to get an appointment. My nearest local office is Puerto Vallarta and my accountant managed to get both me and my friend appointments back in early Oct, and said we should jump on those, as there were no more openings until January.

Don't understand your question as to why an "extra" number is necessary. Every country has its own ways of doing things. It's like asking why your passport number isn't the same as your social security or SIN number, or your drivers license number. An RFC is a tax number and administered by the tax dept., SAT.

A Curp is a personal identification number given by the govt. It is issued at birth for Mexican citizens when registering a birth, but a baby or child would have no tax number, as they aren't of legal working age.

JDCanuck - 11-27-2022 at 01:54 PM

Karen: Yes, we hope to get the appointment while we are down there again this winter and we have 2 or 3 months available to get one booked. Hopefully they are more available then than our last visit.

MitchMan - 12-6-2022 at 12:23 PM

Hey, Alan.
FWIW, I pay my CFE directly on their website with a credit card while in the USA. Also, since the electric bill is only about $9.00 USD every two months that I am not there, I prepay at least 8 months of estimated usage so I seldom have to pay electronically.

Also, I have had a Mexican bank account and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. It has been over 10 years ago though. I don't know if things have changed with regard to bank policies, but I doubt it very much.

When I first opened up the account in La Paz, Bancomer, they gave me temporary paper checks without my name and address. They worked fine while in La Paz, but I tried using a check at Bancomer in TJ and they wouldn't accept it because the temp check didn't have my name and address typed on the check. IOW, they wouldn't accept their own temporary checks. That's the first stupid thing that happened.

Next, I had written many checks initially in the amount of $1,000 to $3,000 peso range. When I wrote a check for a larger amount of about $16,000 pesos, they did not clear it because the bank said it was an amount that exceeded the average of the previous checks by too much. That's the second stupid thing the bank did. That one caused a lot of problems for me as I was paying facturas for work on my house. The bank had never called me to let me know.

The next stupid thing that happened was that the bank automatically closed my account after a 3-month period of not writing any checks. That one caused me a lot of grief. No one called me to let me know.

That was the last straw. I closed that account and will never get another Mexican bank anything for the rest of my life.

Mexico has a massive problem of under-the-table payments for labor and materials. It is exacerbated by their requirement for formal facturas and due to the above-described problems with their absurd banking internal controls. I don't see their remedying that situation any time soon. In order to deduct valid expenses on a Mexican income tax return or to properly get credit for payments that add value to the home, all payments must be paid related to valid formal facturas (official Mexican Invoices). Mexican vendors and consumers try to avoid facturas. As a result, the Mexican government doesn't get the income tax that they should get and consumers don't get the added tax cost basis of their home that they should when they go to sell it.

What should happen is the banks need to knock that nonsense off with their ridiculous internal controls, the government needs to stop the nonsense with the factura requirement and accept normal expense receipts, require all small businesses to maintain a proper set of accounting records, and perform tax audits at a level to keep people honest. The changes I suggest would never be perfect, but you would get much higher compliance, make things much easier for everyone, greatly improve and facilitate commerce and then you would get closer to economic and financial reality and equity.

[Edited on 12-6-2022 by MitchMan]

mtgoat666 - 12-6-2022 at 06:04 PM

Grupo Mexico is in talks to buy Banamex from Citigroup. What does that mean? Who knows!

surabi - 12-6-2022 at 07:52 PM

"...the government needs to stop the nonsense with the factura requirement and accept normal expense receipts, require all small businesses to maintain a proper set of accounting records..."

Anyone could collect a ton of counter receipts- the whole point of a factura is that your tax number is on it, so they know you paid that amount. And a business giving facturas is also exactly how businesses maintain a proper set of accounting records. I don't understand why you think it's nonsense.

MitchMan - 12-13-2022 at 09:47 AM

In my experience with accounting and finance, I have learned that the best way to analyze a problem company (or an economy) is to start at the current end point and look backwards through the facts and records to discover the flaws that got you to the current flawed end point. That is what a certified audit does.

An under-the-table economy causes tax revenue shortfalls that lead to higher rates on everybody else. Higher tax rates discourage tax-reporting compliance and entrepreneurial investment. That’s not a good thing for an economy nor for the people of the country. Shunts expansion and the economic future.

To rely on the factura system alone that is soundly skirted by many, builds in the above-mentioned tax revenue shortfall and potential increased tax rates there from. To rely on the factura system for bookkeeping only institutionalizes, perpetuates and condones the flaw. Also, poor bookkeeping/accounting systems are a leading cause of business underperformance and a precursor to business failures.

Tax fraud is against the law, big time, whether in Mexico or the United States. Would you advise making a practice of “collecting a ton of counter receipts” as the way to go here in the United States where we do not have a factura system. If not, ask yourself “why not?”

In the USA, businesses are all required to have adequate and sufficient accounting/bookkeeping records for tax reporting. Taxing authorities do random audits and assess interest and penalties for under reporting income. Furthermore, our banking system is used by virtually all people and certainly all legal businesses. The more banks are used by all people and businesses, the easier it is to discover fraud.

USA banks don’t have the stupid internal controls I described in my original post to this thread. The USA has widespread use of banks by virtually all businesses and residents. The banking system is the nation wide audit trail. The IRS requirement for adequate and sufficient record keeping exists. IRS audits are performed. No need for facturas. Last I checked, USA population is 2.5 times larger than Mexico’s, but our per capita GDP is 7 times larger.

bajafreaks - 12-13-2022 at 02:08 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Alan

I've been considering opening a Mexican bank account to make it easier to pay my CFE bill when out of the country, but I was wondering if anybody knows if it is necessary to have a resident visa to open an account or if they accept an FMM.

2nd would be, are there any recommendations as to which bank to choose and why?

To answer your questions.
We opened an account with Intercam about 2 years ago in Los Barriles, we are non-residents, but we do have property which we showed them a utility bill with the address, and they asked for a local resident's referral, so we gave them the contact info for one of our local Mexican friends/residents. Approved in a few days. So yes, I would recommend Intercam.