BajaNomad

Moving money to Mexico

SFandH - 6-2-2022 at 04:33 PM

How do you guys move large sums of money (>10K) from a US bank account to a Mexican bank account? I prefer to do it online. I don't want to go to the US bank to initiate the transfer.


JZ - 6-2-2022 at 05:23 PM

Contact your US bank. A lot of them support foreign wire transfers that can be done online. One of them is Wells Fargo.

You need to understand what is your max daily transfer. To get it increased with Wells you need to go into a branch.

I just did a domestic transfer using a small business bank I have an account with and they increased my transfer limit substantially by sending them an email.

Every bank will be different.


bajatrailrider - 6-2-2022 at 05:45 PM

Wells fargo only small amounts my other bank Chase any amount if over 5 grand no wire fee. They convert pesos before they wire it to my Mex bank. Always a better rate then you get in Mexico.

pauldavidmena - 6-3-2022 at 05:11 AM

I've used Zelle to transfer money to Mexico from my bank (Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod), but daily and weekly limits vary widely depending upon the bank. Here is an article I found regarding these limits.

[Edited on 6-3-2022 by pauldavidmena]

Cancamo - 6-3-2022 at 05:06 PM

Transferwise,

now called simply Wise. International bank transfers efficiently and inexpensive. Check it out online.

JDCanuck - 6-4-2022 at 12:01 AM

If you are an USAmerican, Wise has the best overall exchange rates plus fees, if Canadian, XE Transfer, slightly poorer exchange rates but no fees.
Both are exceedingly better than wire transfers through a bank, or Wells Fargo to transfer money globally into a foreign currency.

JZ - 6-4-2022 at 12:49 AM

Today, we’re changing our name from TransferWise to Wise.

Our customers now need us for more than money transfers. Sending, spending, and receiving money internationally is too expensive, slow, and inconvenient. We’re fixing that for people and businesses.

https://wise.com/us/

[Edited on 6-4-2022 by JZ]

SFandH - 6-4-2022 at 05:47 AM

I was successful yesterday using wise.com, but for only $1000. I haven't tried a larger amount yet. It's a pretty slick system.

"Wise has accounts all over the world. When you want to send money abroad, you actually pay with your local currency into Wise's local account. Then the Wise account in the overseas country you want to send money to will send local currency to the recipient. The money you pay never actually crosses borders."

https://www.moneydashboard.com/blog/how-does-transferwise-wi...



bajatrailrider - 6-4-2022 at 08:15 AM

I have not found better deal then Chase bank. Anything over 5 grand free. For sure they make there money on exchange rate. so far exc. rate always better then Mex bank or money Exc office. Wells fargo slight bit better exc. rate . Except small amount per day.

JDCanuck - 6-4-2022 at 08:39 AM

If you are Canadian, Wise is only available to transfer to another Canadian domiciled account, so XEtransfer becomes the best deal, no fees and a very very tight exchange rate, I have used it extensively for amounts from 300 CAD up to 30,000 CAD and takes about 3-5 banking days to be recognized in the target account. Especially useful for very large payments, like building a home.
Transfer funds to 130 different countries globally.
I've also used Wells Fargo a couple times when the speed of the recipient getting cash was the primary issue.

Cancamo - 6-4-2022 at 12:27 PM

Use Wise,
Transfer dollar account, (US), to dollar account, (MX), dollar for dollar.... deal with the exchange rate later, if needed, (many prefer payment in dollars when available).
Minimal fees.

mtgoat666 - 6-4-2022 at 01:17 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Cancamo  
Use Wise,
Transfer dollar account, (US), to dollar account, (MX), dollar for dollar.... deal with the exchange rate later, if needed, (many prefer payment in dollars when available).
Minimal fees.


No need to use a 3rd party. Use your existing bank for transfers. Mine is Wells Fargo. Used to have to go into bank branch to wire money. Later talked to bank and got set up so can initiate all wires online. Wells Fargo also used to limit transfer amount, but simple request to banker and they upped limit. Easy peasy!

SFandH - 6-4-2022 at 01:42 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Cancamo  
Use Wise,
Transfer dollar account, (US), to dollar account, (MX), dollar for dollar.... deal with the exchange rate later, if needed, (many prefer payment in dollars when available).
Minimal fees.


Do you do this? I didn't see an option on the wise website to transfer dollars to a dollar account at a Mexican bank. What I saw was that when I selected a recipient in Mexico, pesos were going to be deposited, with no option for dollars.

bajatrailrider - 6-4-2022 at 08:30 PM

I get a much better Ex rate moving pesos to Mex.

JZ - 6-4-2022 at 08:47 PM

Using a bank like Chase or Wells seems like the best bet to me. You can work with both to set your max transfer amount.

Wise seems sketchy to me. Maybe Canadians don't have other options?

surabi - 6-4-2022 at 09:15 PM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ  
Using a bank like Chase or Wells seems like the best bet to me. You can work with both to set your max transfer amount.

Wise seems sketchy to me. Maybe Canadians don't have other options?


You seem not to have read what was posted. As JD said, best option for Canadians is xetrade. And Wise isn't "sketchy"- people have been using it for years and not had any issues.

Bank transfers cost a wire fee. And if it isn't wired in pesos, the receiving bank will set the exchange rate, which is usually bad, and also often charge a currency conversion fee.

XE is an EFT transfer. There are no wire fees.

JDCanuck - 6-5-2022 at 06:29 AM

Jz: As Surabi says, it's about the exchange rates, which the majority of people ignore because they can't read the going exchange rates on FX markets at the time they make the transfer. Banks and other transfer agents have a very large offset from the exchange rate midpoint, approaching 4% loss in the amount actually deposited. Wise for Americans and XETransfer for Canadians have a very low loss (less than 0.5%) from the exchange rate midpoint when buying Pesos from a foreign currency. The amount of pesos that actually get into your Mexican accounts will be much higher using either of them. XETransfer has NO FEE, Wise for Americans has a very small fee, but will give you an even better exchange rate.
They can do this because the volume of money transferred is very high and they have both been in business for over a decade. On our house build, this amounted to over ten thousand dollars saved when we made several large transfers to builders' Pesos based accounts.

JDCanuck - 6-5-2022 at 06:47 AM

Do a very simple calculation at whatever bank or transfer agent you use, take the mathematical inverse of the "buy" rate, subtract the "sell" rate and do a percentage difference calculation. Divide that in half, and you will see the offset from the midpoint of the actual exchange rates on foreign exchange markets. Add whatever fees they are charging at both the sending and receiving banks and that is what you are leaving with the banks to transfer the funds.
When converting CAD to USD I use my online broker and I have two accounts I withdraw money to, one in CAD, and one in USD. I pay 2.86 brokerage fee to trade 25,000 right at the midpoint the same as I would any stock right on the foreign exchanges. I cannot trade Pesos in my brokerage account so had to find an extremely low cost foreign exchange agent instead.

john68 - 6-6-2022 at 05:46 PM

What’s the name of the Chase program that has no fees for transfers over $5000 U.S.? Folks at our local branch don’t have a clue.

Thanks.

bajatrailrider - 6-6-2022 at 07:37 PM

you log in your account go to money transfers . I have Mex bank i send to from chase .