Forums > General > General Forum

Exodus

Jun 14, 2004, 8:40 AM

Post #1 of 12 (653 views)

Shortcut

personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

I dont think it is safe to do personal banking at internet cafes, however convienient that may be for out of town visitors.
What do you think?
What are some good ways to get cash, besides carrying it? when the visit is for months at a time?

Howard Botz

Jun 14, 2004, 8:46 AM

Post #2 of 12 (643 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Exodus] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

ATM machines.
I live here and I get all my money from ATM machines.

Howard

johanson

Jun 14, 2004, 9:42 AM

Post #3 of 12 (629 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Exodus] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

As has been said on other posts on the subject, it is a bad idea to use someone elses computer to do your online banking. Many in Ajijic, simply bring their laptop to the cafe and only make banking transactions on their computer.

Chumley

Jun 14, 2004, 1:21 PM

Post #4 of 12 (590 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Exodus] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post |

One of the best deals around, and few talk about it, is the fact that if you hold an American Express card, you can go to their local representative office in the city you are visiting, and if they are a full service Amex travel agency, they offer check cashing privileges to card holders. Green card check cashing limit each month I believe is $1,500. Gold card holders can cash more personal checks. The amount is converted into Pesos, and since you have written a personal check, there is no card fee for the service, or commisson fee. It has been a life saver for me. However, in order to use the service, you must have registered with Amex to use it, have personalized checks, bring your passport and card to the agency. But really that is no hassle compared to the convenience offered.

gpk

Jun 14, 2004, 4:03 PM

Post #5 of 12 (564 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Chumley] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

Several years ago, the AMEX office in San Miguel de Allende would only give you travelers checks charged to your card, about $200-300 per week, I think. No check cashing, as such. This may have changed.

Marlene

Jun 14, 2004, 10:19 PM

Post #6 of 12 (513 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Exodus] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

Before I purchased a computer locally, I did online banking at internet cafe's with no hesitation. (Finding a machine that was set up for it was another matter, but once I did, no problem) Of course you don't tell the computer to save your password, and you sign out and clear yourself out of all windows when you are finished. You can even clear the cache, etc... on the computer you are working on, and there won't even be a trace of the website you accessed. It is done every day all around the world.

johanson

Jun 14, 2004, 10:35 PM

Post #7 of 12 (511 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Marlene] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

Before going to an internet cafe and going on line to do your banking I would urge you to read posts made by persons knowing more than I on the subject at

Technical Mexico:
Internet Cafe Data Security...

They convinced me it was a bad idea. Check out Kirkswig's comments

sfmacaws

Jun 14, 2004, 11:43 PM

Post #8 of 12 (504 views)

Shortcut

Re: [johanson] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

I understand the risks but sometimes you have to do it. When traveling and the bills are due, I need to find an internet cafe to pay them. What I've done is to look for a busy inet cafe, pick a machine where I can prevent others from looking over my shoulder and never, never return to the same place twice. It's of course a gamble but I'm banking on a busy inet cafe having too much data running through it for them to record everything, and on the lack of predictablility being in my favor. So far, so good.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Chumley

Jun 15, 2004, 5:13 AM

Post #9 of 12 (497 views)

Shortcut

Re: [gpk] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post |

At one time that was true, but you only had to take the traveler's checks to a casa de cambio to exchange them for pesos, so it still was a great deal. Now, they give pesos directly at the current exchange rate.

Texwheel

Jun 15, 2004, 7:44 AM

Post #10 of 12 (465 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Chumley] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

I had a little trouble exchanging money on my recent visit to Ajijic, so maybe I can save someone a few anxious moments. After clearing customs I went to the Cook's booth to exchange money, but they would not cash my Amex traveler's checks. Then went to the ATM and without thinking got just 400 pesos. Realizing, then, I might need more quite soon, I tried to get more but it wouldn't let me. At least I had enough for cab fare. Later in Ajijic I got plenty at the BanaMex ATM at the Plaza. Oddly, the BanaMex would cash Amex traveler's checks, but not after noon. No such problem at the little exchange place a half block away.
Tom Williams
Georgetown, Texas
Texwheel@aol.com

esperanza

Jun 15, 2004, 3:45 PM

Post #11 of 12 (417 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Texwheel] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post | Private Reply

Just for clarification's sake: the bank on the plaza in Ajijic (the only bank in town) is Bancomer.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

kirksotherwig

Jun 18, 2004, 5:09 PM

Post #12 of 12 (334 views)

Shortcut

Re: [johanson] personal banking at internet cafes

Can't Post |

You know, it´s funny, but here I am sitting in a cafe in Mazatlan and I just did some online banking. :) In a contest between sleeping on the street vs. online banking, online banking wins every time. So if I´m not willing to follow my own advice, why should anyone else?

But here are a couple of other thoughts on the subject:

People who know more about this than I do are generally disgusted at the state of security in most American bank sites. Here´s a link to a discussion thread that delves into some of the gorier details.

One of my pet peeves has to do with the fact that there are mail sites out there that are more secure than banking! For instance, here´s a link to the login screen at the site where I do my email. See that link at the bottom that says "Virtual Keyboard"? If you click it up pops a window that lets you point and click on the characters that make up your password, instead of typing the letters in. That way, key loggers are useless. So my question is, why aren´t banks doing the same thing? Surely my money is worthy of more protection than all the spam I get over email, yes?
---
Posting under this name because my real (and paid) account kirkswig appears to be inoperative.