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YucaLandia


Jun 16, 2012, 6:22 PM

Post #1 of 13 (3481 views)

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Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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The same issues about how to get the best exchange rates, how to avoid fees, etc repeatedly pop up in expat forums, so, we took a stab at addressing the common issues that arise from exchanging money in foreign countries, using credit cards, using ATMs, using traveler's checks, avoiding bank card skimmers and CC fraud, etc.

We look forward to your feedback on " Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico " at http://yucalandia.wordpress.com/...ards-atms-in-mexico/
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Read-on MacDuff
E-visit at http://yucalandia.com

Rolly


Jun 17, 2012, 2:55 PM

Post #2 of 13 (3391 views)

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Re: [YucaLandia] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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Excellent work, Steve!

Rolly Pirate

joaquinx


Jun 17, 2012, 4:09 PM

Post #3 of 13 (3375 views)

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Re: [YucaLandia] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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If you live in Mexico and get paid in pesos, you might also find you have friends who will gladly do wire transfers into your US account, so they can get pesos from you at the best rates. (We need US dollars and I sell pesos, so the expat gets the pesos they want and I get the dollars => win-win.)

I don't quite understand this sentence well. Wire transfers cost anywhere between 35 and 45 usd, so it could be expensive to do this. Am I right to assume that these are people in Mexico with dollars that are willing to send dollars to the US in exchange for you exchanging them for pesos?

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Debit card transactions from many banks are be posted to your checking account almost immediately, which means you get the exchange rate of that moment, which may be different than the “official” posted rate for the day. . . .

When I have used my debit card to withdraw funds and then check almost immediately the exchange rate on the Internet sometimes it is a few pennies short of the rate. Yet, at other times, it can be 10 to 20 cents lower. This is using OANDA (an app on my cell phone) to find the rates. I get an email from my bank almost immediately after an ATM withdraw.

Finally, it is nice to find one place with a sufficient information that you don't have to visit other sites to garner mis-information. Good Job!
_______
My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.

YucaLandia


Jun 17, 2012, 11:22 PM

Post #4 of 13 (3323 views)

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Re: [joaquinx] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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If you live in Mexico and get paid in pesos, you might also find you have friends who will gladly do wire transfers into your US account, so they can get pesos from you at the best rates. (We need US dollars and I sell pesos, so the expat gets the pesos they want and I get the dollars => win-win.)

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I don't quite understand this sentence well. Wire transfers cost anywhere between 35 and 45 usd, so it could be expensive to do this. Am I right to assume that these are people in Mexico with dollars that are willing to send dollars to the US in exchange for you exchanging them for pesos?

Yes, I hand them pesos here, and they have banks in the US who do not charge for wire transfers, so they wire transfer US dollars from their US accounts to our US account - which we use to pay US bills and for airline tickets etc.


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Debit card transactions from many banks are be posted to your checking account almost immediately, which means you get the exchange rate of that moment, which may be different than the “official” posted rate for the day. . . .

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When I have used my debit card to withdraw funds and then check almost immediately the exchange rate on the Internet sometimes it is a few pennies short of the rate. Yet, at other times, it can be 10 to 20 cents lower. This is using OANDA (an app on my cell phone) to find the rates. I get an email from my bank almost immediately after an ATM withdraw.

It is possible that the currency exchange rates are fluctuating rapidly during the periods when the differences get large. Our personal experience of 6 years of tracking exchange rates finds that XE.com seems to report much more consistent and reliable rates than OANDA, since we have often seen OANDA report values with large differences from the other currency reports and different than the official Mex. Gob. bank rate, while XE seems to track them better. (??)

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Finally, it is nice to find one place with a sufficient information that you don't have to visit other sites to garner mis-information. Good Job!

Thanks for the kind words.
-
Read-on MacDuff
E-visit at http://yucalandia.com

joaquinx


Jun 18, 2012, 7:22 AM

Post #5 of 13 (3286 views)

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Re: [YucaLandia] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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It is possible that the currency exchange rates are fluctuating rapidly during the periods when the differences get large. Our personal experience of 6 years of tracking exchange rates finds that XE.com seems to report much more consistent and reliable rates than OANDA, since we have often seen OANDA report values with large differences from the other currency reports and different than the official Mex. Gob. bank rate, while XE seems to track them better. (??)

The only problem in currency sites be it Reuters, Bloomberg, XE, OANDA, et al, is that we don't know what service our bank uses. They all will show an increase in the exchange rate or a drop. Should we be concerned about a 5 centavo difference in the rate when we withdraw 5,000 pesos? I suppose that we could wait until we believe that the exchange rate is the best for us, but, at best, it's a turkey shoot.
_______
My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.

Sculptari

Jun 18, 2012, 2:54 PM

Post #6 of 13 (3214 views)

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Re: [joaquinx] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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Wire transfers are also a mystery to me. We have Canadian credit, so it is easy, cheap and simple to use Canadian issued credit cards. Now the problem is, many/most U.S. internet connected suppliers are refusing a credit card payment for delivery to another country. In other words I cannot pay with a Canadian card to ship to Mexico. They insist on an international wire, either from Canada or Mexico. As has been pointed out - this is very expensive at $40 d each. I suggest they discover Paypal, I don't mind waiting a few days for a transaction to clear to save $40 - but for some reason they do not like Paypal at all. To me, this situation has gotten worse over the past couple of years - too much credit fraud I guess, but also an apathy to 'foreign' markets.

Has anybody found an inexpensive and reliable way to 'wire' U.S. Dollars, from Mexico, to an American company?

Aaron+

Jun 24, 2012, 12:54 PM

Post #7 of 13 (2993 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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Has the US company flatly declined to accept your Canadian credit card for a shipment to Mexico -- with you indicating the proper Canadian bill to address and the proper Mexican address -- or has your Canadian card issuer/bank declined, for your security, to accept the charge? If you have not informed your card issuer that you will be in Mexico during the period in which you place the order and would receive it, the bank most likely will not accept the charge. This is the easy case.

If the US firm has a policy of NOT accepting a credit card or E-Bay's Paypal no matter what, and your bank charges something like $40 for a wire transfer (and may even require you to come to a branch to place the order!), you might consider opening an account with Xe.com. Be sure to open the account tied to your Canadian residence or business, with your Canadian bank account as the source of funds. Owing to Canadian and US anti-money laundering laws etc, Xe.com will NOT open an account with your address being in Mexico.

Once you go through Xe.com's laborious and irritating sign up process, and your bank verifies that your account is in your name(s), you will be able to place an order over the Internet for Xe.com to make an EFT debit your $CDN account. Xe.com does not charge for making such an ACH debit, and many but not all banks do not charge for such a debit being charged. If the US firm will accept an ACH credit to their account, you can have Xe.com send the $USD amount as an ACH credit, with the firm's invoice number as the reference number. Or if a wire transfer is insisted upon, Xe.com's wire transfer charge is fully stated prior to your confirming a trade, and is likely to be much less than a bank's charge.

You can also use Xe.com to change $CDN to $MXN, with EFT (ACH) debit and credits completing the circuit between your Canadian bank and your Mexican bank. Banorte receives and credits our account within 6 business days of our placing an Xe.com trade.

For more info, consult Xe.com. Disclosure: I do not have any financial interest in any money transfer firm. Am always interested in hearing of other money transfer alternatives (besides Monex, which is a good choice, or any other US bank, etc. Xe.com operates currently through the business side of Western Union's Custom House).

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Incidentally, I see a mention of Australian-based OANDA in this thread. Curious as to why their quotes would at all be relevant. When I queried them over a year ago, they would not wire, let alone ACH, pesos to Mexico. And to use them or any of the Irish or UK houses would involve big bucks for wire transfers for me from my Philadelphia bank.

joaquinx


Jun 24, 2012, 3:25 PM

Post #8 of 13 (2983 views)

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Re: [Aaron+] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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In Reply To
Incidentally, I see a mention of Australian-based OANDA in this thread. Curious as to why their quotes would at all be relevant. When I queried them over a year ago, they would not wire, let alone ACH, pesos to Mexico. And to use them or any of the Irish or UK houses would involve big bucks for wire transfers for me from my Philadelphia bank.

OANDA was mention as a site for exchange rates. Although OANDA might be owned by Australians, there business and offices are around the world.

On a side note, in checking Bloomberg, Reuters, XE, and OANDA today, the exchange rate for Mexican pesos to dollars varied by 1 or 2 centavos.
_______
My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.

Sculptari

Jun 25, 2012, 7:06 AM

Post #9 of 13 (2926 views)

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Re: [Aaron+] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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It seems that U.S. companies who are used to dealing on a business to business basis, are reluctant to even take credit card payments. If you conduct business on an informal basis, and you are based in Mexico, this is a big problem.

This company has been suggested as providing reasonable price wire transfers - they also cash U.S. and Canadian checks (cheques). They are also a securities company and foreign exchange. Apparently you have to open an account with them, but there does not have to be any cash deposited.

http://www.intercam.com.mx/

careyeroslib

Jun 25, 2012, 6:26 PM

Post #10 of 13 (2838 views)

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Re: [YucaLandia] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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So much great work and research.

I don´t want to be critical, but I glaze over at your detail sometimes.

You have great info, but I personally wish you could summarize, but perhaps others appreciate the lengthy explications, graphics, etc. I personally would prefer a more succinct explication.

Thanks for all you do and forgive me if I am being inappropriate or ungrateful.


(This post was edited by careyeroslib on Jun 25, 2012, 6:31 PM)

chicois8

Jun 26, 2012, 7:27 AM

Post #11 of 13 (2798 views)

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Re: [joaquinx] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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I use the Banco de Mexico site which this morning is $1=13.95 Pesos and OANDA is $1=13.87...

On June 6th at a Banamex ATM I received $1=14.14 while Casa de Cambios
were posting $1= 13.50 Pesos.

sioux4noff

Jun 26, 2012, 10:47 PM

Post #12 of 13 (2715 views)

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Re: [careyeroslib] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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Like careyeroslib, I would appreciate a more concise format. Perhaps an overview followed by more charts, details, examples for those who would like them.
A lot of work that you should be proud of!

sanjuan

Jun 29, 2012, 9:46 AM

Post #13 of 13 (2580 views)

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Re: [sioux4noff] Banking, Exchanging Currency, & Using Credit Cards & ATMs in Mexico

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Yes too much extraneous material there. Most people will never read it.
 
 
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