TLBaja79
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Registered: 10-17-2013
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BBVA in US and Mexico
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!
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Bob and Susan
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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
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Bob and Susan
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bbva usa
and
bbva mexico
have an agreement to use the atm
no extra atm fee
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TLBaja79
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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!
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HeyMulegeScott
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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.
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HeyMulegeScott
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Quote: Originally posted by lencho  |
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.
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TLBaja79
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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.
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Bob and Susan
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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
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boe4fun
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Mood: Circling the drain........
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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.
Two dirt roads diverged in Baja and I, I took the one less graveled by......
Soy ignorante, apático y ambivalente. No lo sé y no me importa, ni modo.
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Durwin
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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.
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Mr. Bills
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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
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RFClark
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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.
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Mr. Bills
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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.
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gallesram
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| 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.
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