BajaNomad

BBVA in US and Mexico

TLBaja79 - 3-30-2021 at 01:07 PM

We go to Loreto a bit and usually have trouble getting cash at the banks there at some point in our stay. It is intermittent and when it doesn't work it is not just for us but many other Americans/Canadians have the same issue.

I had this genius plan to open a bank account here in US for Bancomer which is the main bank in Loreto as well.
Has anybody done this will success? It seems easy enough to transfer money into Bancomer if I had an account and then it shouldn't be an issue getting money in Loreto at the bank???
I'm sure I'm not the only one to think of this so let me know your experience. Thx

I know there are other options but the flexibility to rely on ATM in Loreto sounds really nice!

Bob and Susan - 3-30-2021 at 01:40 PM

i did that
both banks are different

bbva in usa is an american bank
bbva in mexico is a mexican bank

bbva usa is selling out this summer to an east coast company so things may change

it works great currently with the ATM

with citibank we were getting locked out all the time

you can open an account usa online...easy

Bob and Susan - 3-30-2021 at 05:13 PM

bbva usa
and
bbva mexico

have an agreement to use the atm

no extra atm fee

TLBaja79 - 3-30-2021 at 07:02 PM

That is perfect and all I need to know. Thank you! I'm going to give it a try and have backups in case....

BTW Bob & Susan you have an epic property, hotel/situation. Someday we'll stay there, so far only stopped by to check it out!

HeyMulegeScott - 4-4-2021 at 08:49 AM

The problem with BBVA that most people run into on the ATM is exceeding the monthly limit of withdrawals. Xoom owned by Paypal is really easy to use. You can send yourself cash for pickup at BBVA for a low fee.

HeyMulegeScott - 4-5-2021 at 08:55 AM

Quote: Originally posted by lencho  
Quote: Originally posted by HeyMulegeScott  
The problem with BBVA that most people run into on the ATM is exceeding the monthly limit of withdrawals.

Monthly limit? What are the specifics?
I'd never heard of that before; any idea why they would do that? :?:


A friend found the fine print somewhere on their site. I think for non-account holders it's 2 withdrawals a month of 7500 pesos max each time. Banks in Mexican have increased measures due to money laundering in the past few years.

TLBaja79 - 8-21-2021 at 04:18 PM

So after the US BBVA was bought out by PNC do the accounts still work?

We were pleased the last couple times we were in Loreto (before PNC bought the US BBVA) our card worked flawlessly. Is this still the case??

We have had many times in Loreto when the ATM machines don't work for US/Canadian cards. Its somewhat comical to see the same people go from the bank to Ley to Azteca.....
But it does get frustrating when you end up spending time each day trying to get cash.

Bob and Susan - 8-22-2021 at 05:34 AM

the usa bank of bbva is now operated by pnc...before it was operated by another bank ...started with a c... i forget

bbva usa was not bought out...the underlying company bank was

seems to be working correctly right now

boe4fun - 8-22-2021 at 07:18 AM

We just opened a checking account at Charles Schwab. It comes with a debit card and there are no international ATM fees, Schwab absorbs them.

Durwin - 8-22-2021 at 07:33 AM

I used my Charles Schwab account while in Mexico and had no issues with Schwab itself.

They also reimburse me any ATM fees I might get charged.

During my trip I was accidently charged twice for gasoline at a Chevron in La Paz. I called Schwab, they reimbursed my account after looking through the transactions. Great customer service. Much better than Wells Fargo.

Mr. Bills - 8-22-2021 at 07:50 AM

Another positive experience with a Charles Schwab checking account and debit card. All ATM and transfer fees are automatically reimbursed at the end of the month. The exchange rate is as good as any commercial bank.

Another option is Wise.com, formerly Transferwise. I can transfer USD from my regular U.S. bank to my Wise account , convert the money in my account from USD to MXN when the exchange rates are in my favor, and draw MXN with my Wise debit card in Mexico without any transfer fees or currency conversion fees. However, Wise does not reimburse ordinary ATM fees. One good thing about Wise is that I can easily convert my pesos back to dollars upon my return home if I want, also when the exchange rate is in my favor. [Wise also works with Euros, British pound, etc. and if the recipient provides routing numbers confidentially to Wise, you can use it just like PayPal to send money in the currency of the recipient. I will be using Wise to pay my rent in San Miguel de Allende GTO this fall.]

wise.com

RFClark - 8-22-2021 at 11:58 AM

We have a BofA account in the US. Recently while working on our lot in The Cerritos Area we needed a lot of Pesos. We found that we could withdraw 20,000 pesos per day from the Banorte branch in Todos Santos. The fees are 1/2 BBVAs fees and you can decline their conversion rate and get a far better exchange rate from your institution in the US.

Mr. Bills - 8-22-2021 at 01:05 PM

ALWAYS decline the Mexican bank ATM's conversion offer. It is almost always if not always a terrible rate compared to the exchange rate of your home institution.

gallesram - 8-23-2021 at 11:11 AM

Quote: Originally posted by TLBaja79  
So after the US BBVA was bought out by PNC do the accounts still work?

We were pleased the last couple times we were in Loreto (before PNC bought the US BBVA) our card worked flawlessly. Is this still the case??

We have had many times in Loreto when the ATM machines don't work for US/Canadian cards. Its somewhat comical to see the same people go from the bank to Ley to Azteca.....
But it does get frustrating when you end up spending time each day trying to get cash.


I opened an account at BBVA USA (formerly Compass Bank & now PNC) so that I would have an ATM card to use at BBVA/Bancomer in Loreto and Mulege with lower ATM fees. When it worked, it was great; but many times it didn't work and I'd end up using my BofA ATM card instead. Then one time I used the BBVA debit card in Loreto for a purchase and misjudged the conversion rate which put my account into overdraft. The fees I was charged for that single transaction wiped out any savings that I had enjoyed over the previous 2 years! Given that it was unreliable and the fees for that single transaction (totally my fault, but still annoying), I concluded it wasn't worth it and canceled the BBVA account. The meager savings didn't justify the hassle.