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huesos
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Registered: 6-24-2013
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Banking in Mexico
Does it make sense to have a local bank account in Baja for a new resident? I know many who travel rely strictly on cards these days. It seems that
there might be an advantage to having an account near to your place of residence.
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greengoes
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Mood: Today I slay the Red Dot.
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Absolutely. If you plan on being a permanent resident check out Bancomer. You can deposit US checks up to any amount, get a good exchange rate and
have a Mexican debit card that is accepted almost everywhere.
No fees for using it, online banking and cash withdrawals only cost 6.5 pesos.
Don't bother with Banamex or Santandor, they don't offer these services to ex-pats as far as I am aware.
ANUNCIATE AQUI
DISPONIBLE
INFORMES LLAMA SNOWBALL - 646-115-7754
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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I highly recommend a local bank account if you reside in Baja because there are many places that will take a mexican bank card but not an foreign one
like at telegraph office bank machines in the more remote areas like Asuncion.
Also sometimes the foreign systems are down but you can get money out with mexican debit cards. I also like my dollar account as I can wait until the
exchange rate is higher to transfer dollars to my peso account.
I also pay bills online with online banking and can buy things at stores and building supply places and just zip them the money when I get home via
internet banking which saves carrying alot of cash.
I also pay workers, builders etc via internet transfer into their accounts.
having more options to access money is handy.
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weebray
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If you have an account with B of A in the states there is no reason to have an account here in Mexico. At any Santander or Scotia ATM, withdrawals
are free of any charges. Additionally a Charles Schwab credit card and their debit card have no associated ATM or foreign transaction fees. Finally
you will find that the account fees charged by Mexican banks can be pretty dramatic.
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greengoes
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Oh yea, you will need a Residente Temporal card and a utility bill - CFE - Cespe - Telnor.
ANUNCIATE AQUI
DISPONIBLE
INFORMES LLAMA SNOWBALL - 646-115-7754
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DENNIS
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I carry my bank in my wallet......an ATM card. Why get involved with a bank if it isn't a necessity?
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Udo
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Many Mexican businesses and workers have a Pay Pal account from which payments are transferred to and from their local banks.
The other advantage to a Mexican bank account is that you can transfer US money instantly and then withdraw it at your local Mexican bank for no fees.
| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
I also pay workers, builders etc via internet transfer into their accounts.
having more options to access money is handy. |
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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MitchMan
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What I know of maintaining a Mexican checking account is that it is more trouble than it is worth due to weird, impractical internal controls that the
bank imposes, especially Bancomer. Many independent contractors do not have checking accounts for that reason, among others.
Maybe things have changed, don't know for sure.
What would make it worth it, however, is whether or not you can do online banking and account transfers between your USD Mexican account and your MXN
Mexican account at good KNOWN exchange rates from within the USA. That way, one could play the currency exchange game very efficiently and make some
good change. If I were to do that, I still wouldn't use the accounts very much at all for transaction purchases (because of the stupid,
self-defeating internal controls), just currency arbitrage.
[Edited on 8-31-2013 by MitchMan]
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monoloco
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| Quote: | Originally posted by weebray
If you have an account with B of A in the states there is no reason to have an account here in Mexico. At any Santander or Scotia ATM, withdrawals
are free of any charges. Additionally a Charles Schwab credit card and their debit card have no associated ATM or foreign transaction fees. Finally
you will find that the account fees charged by Mexican banks can be pretty dramatic. |
+1 on the Schwab
account.
"The future ain't what it used to be"
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MitchMan
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+1 on the B of A account.
Saves me $20 to $80 USD per trip (at least six trips per year) compared to others that suffer ATM withdrawal bank charge, not-so-good ATM withdrawal
exchange rates. I save even more compared to those that pay for stuff off and on with USD.
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Lee
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| Quote: | Originally posted by weebray
If you have an account with BofA in the States there is no reason to have an account in Mexico. At any Santander or Scotia ATM, withdrawals are free
of any charges. Additionally a Charles Schwab credit card and their debit card have no associated ATM or foreign transaction fees. Finally you will
find that the account fees charged by Mexican banks can be pretty dramatic. |
I'll second that. As long as you have money at BofA or CS, there's no problem and no fees. I can use my BofA debit card at any ATM in MX for a
fee. My thinking might be stuff of urban legends, but I am too paranoid or something to have my money in a MX bank thinking there'll be no
problems. I have recourse with BofA but none in MX -- maybe I'm wrong on this.
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monoloco
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Go with Schwab, B of A is EVIL!
"The future ain't what it used to be"
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Lee
My thinking might be stuff of urban legends, but I am too paranoid or something to have my money in a MX bank thinking there'll be no problems.
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It was no urban legend in the 80's when I was in Ensenada the day the federales, armed to the teeth with machine guns, took over the privately owned
banks. They went on the roofs and exchanged the flags with bank logos to the national flag.
It was Harvard trained Salinas who sold them back to his buddies.
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bajajudy
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Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Do not choose HSBC....they will not take cash dollars....period.
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
... the federales ... took over the privately owned banks.
It was Harvard trained Salinas who sold them back to his buddies. |
Never ceases to amaze as to how these things happen. Privatization of hospitals, health ins companies, and utilities in our own country saw private
interests get into these industries for artificially well under market prices and immediately saw consumer prices for the corresponding products
spiral up dramatically.
The exchange rate of the pesos has stabilized dramatically since NAFTA. Mexico's financial industry neither engaged in subprimes nor did they invest
in US subprimes or any of the weird products or practices that together crashed the financial industry in Europe and in the USA. That reflects
positively on Mexico's banking system.
Doesn't mean Mexico "can't" ruin itself in the future, but at least it doesn't suffer directly from our type financial structure mayhem brought on by
our Crash of 2007/8
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rhintransit
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Posts: 1588
Registered: 9-4-2006
Location: Loreto
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have lived in BCS for 8 years, and traveled extensively in Mexico for 7 years before that. have never had a Mexican bank account.
reality\'s never been of much use out here...
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mtnpop
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 9-8-2009
Location: Colorado/mulege
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If you get 100 responses you will have 100 different responses probably..
Each of us does what works best for us and you have to do what you will think is the best course of action for your circumstances...
Our experience.. We do everything in BAJA with Pesos .. Fuel, groceries, restaruants etc.. works for us... At Bancomer,, you only need a tourist
visa and a utility bill of some kind to set up an account.. We set up a Peso account for the above.. It comes with a debit/atm card.... We don't
keep boocoo bucks in the account.. In the states we have a Wells Fargo Global Transfer account.. We go online and transfer usd to Bancomer Peso at
the current exchange rate.
This allows us to have ready cash to pay workers, contractors, and daily living.
The funds are in the Bancomer account within minutes...
The fees, if you watch what you are doing are not over the top.. You also get a checkbook with your Bancomer account if you want to pay someone that
way.
Also, we have for our park a Mexican paypal account with a link to a Bancomer peso account.. for park expenses owners pay to the paypal acct and we
transfer to Bancomer as needed... at the current rate again... works very well for us also... since all the owners are US or Canada this helps us
keep track of all our financials..
Again, this is strictly our experience and so far we are comfy with what we are doing.. Others would not be....
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13052
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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in Vizcaino you USED to be able to open an account with a tourist visa but that changed with the new bank president and now you need a residency
card...he called it FM2 or 3 as he probably isnt current on the new immigration status....so it sounds like policy may vary from branch to branch.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
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Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mtnpop
Our experience.. We do everything in BAJA with Pesos .. |
Only an amateur uses dollars any more unless you get jambed up and it's all you have.
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mtnpop
Senior Nomad
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We had new folks in Mulege open a Bancomer accounts this last spring with only the tourist visa... of course that could have changed this summer as I
am now hearing that they have changed the limit we can transfer to Bancomer now.
sometimes it just depends on the day..
and yes try to always pay with peso... no tellin what you wind up payin if you let them convert.... learned the hard way some time back...
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