# Mailing bank cards to Mexico



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

For the first time since moving to Mexico in 2007, my new Bank of America card was issued and sent at a time when I was in Mexico. No problem, I thought. Since I use the address of a good friend in the States as my official address, the card was sent to her. A couple of weeks ago, at great expense, she sent the card to me, but it never arrived. So today she called the DHL office in Philadelphia that she used to send the card to me to make inquiries. After a few phone calls, the woman in the office found out that there is a new Mexican law forbidding the sending of bank and debit cards through the mail. Right now my card is sitting in Mexican customs and will eventually be returned to the DHL office in Philly. I have no idea how they figured out that the envelope my friend sent to me contained a bank card, but they did. I am, of course, quite disgusted and angry at this turn of events. Has this happened to any other forum members? Any ideas for a solution?


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

For starters - the one and only address the Bank of America has on file for us is our address in Mexico. That does limit what I can do with them (no investments - not even a CD). My current card expires 12/23.

I do have a Schwab debit card which is due to expire 6/19. I called them recently and they said if I don't receive a new one by the end of May - give them a call - otherwise they usually send international cards out via Fedex. They, also, have our one and only legal address which is in Mexico.

Something sounds fishy in your situation. If you have a long standing relationship with BofA, I would call them and update your address to Mexico. Then I might call and tell them I lost my credit card and see what comes of that.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> For starters - the one and only address the Bank of America has on file for us is our address in Mexico. That does limit what I can do with them (no investments - not even a CD). My current card expires 12/23.
> 
> I do have a Schwab debit card which is due to expire 6/19. I called them recently and they said if I don't receive a new one by the end of May - give them a call - otherwise they usually send international cards out via Fedex. They, also, have our one and only legal address which is in Mexico.
> 
> Something sounds fishy in your situation. If you have a long standing relationship with BofA, I would call them and update your address to Mexico. Then I might call and tell them I lost my credit card and see what comes of that.



I should let BofA know that I am living in Mexico and give them my Mexican address. Not being able to make investments with them is of no importance to me since I have no extra cash to invest.

My problem does not lie with BofA, but rather with Mexican customs, which according to the information my friend in Philadelphia just learned, will now not let foreign credit cards into the country. This may be a new regulation. Don't packages and letters sent by Fedex also have to clear Mexican customs? Please let us know when and if you receive your Schwab card.

I will take your advice and call BofA soon.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

You might want to call BofA and report the card missing, have them reissue a new card with a new card number.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Stevenjb said:


> You might want to call BofA and report the card missing, have them reissue a new card with a new card number.


But how will they get it to me? By Pony Express?


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

Isla Verde said:


> I should let BofA know that I am living in Mexico and give them my Mexican address. Not being able to make investments with them is of no importance to me since I have no extra cash to invest.
> 
> My problem does not lie with BofA, but rather with Mexican customs, which according to the information my friend in Philadelphia just learned, will now not let foreign credit cards into the country. This may be a new regulation. Don't packages and letters sent by Fedex also have to clear Mexican customs? Please let us know when and if you receive your Schwab card.
> 
> I will take your advice and call BofA soon.


I suspect that the folks at BofA and Schwab know the correct boxes to check on the import forms. Your friend - maybe not so much.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

Isla Verde said:


> But how will they get it to me? By Pony Express?


Can they BofA send the card to you directly in Mexico, or is there someone you know in Mexico they can send it to? Just a thought. Or if you know someone with a horse that could be an option.

As an alternative, if you can get a PayPal debit card, you could link that to your checking account as a backup.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I think the ball is in your court. Perhaps there is a learning experience in there for you !

Please tell us know what you learn...


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> I suspect that the folks at BofA and Schwab know the correct boxes to check on the import forms. Your friend - maybe not so much.



Excellent point!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Stevenjb said:


> Can they BofA send the card to you directly in Mexico, or is there someone you know in Mexico they can send it to? Just a thought. Or if you know someone with a horse that could be an option.
> 
> As an alternative, if you can get a PayPal debit card, you could link that to your checking account as a backup.


The problem seems to be Mexican Customs regulations, not having someone in Mexico to send the card to, me or a friend. I will call them tomorrow and what solution they can offer.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> I think the ball is in your court. Perhaps there is a learning experience in there for you !
> 
> Please tell us know what you learn...


I'll keep you all posted as I figure out how to solve this problem.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> I'll keep you all posted as I figure out how to solve this problem.


I will also be interested in what happens. I do the same thing you have done. I have a US address on a couple of bank accounts in the US, primarily because I find they are more flexible when you have a US address. I use my son's address and he has been fedexing me the cards when they change. The last time was just last month. I received it with no problem but if your experience is going to become the norm, I may have to rethink the situation.


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## Ajijic Lady (Jan 19, 2009)

I may have had a similar problem. 
I own a home in the US and "commute" between there and Ajijic. I use USPS Premium Forwarding to a TX mail forwarder. Every week my local USPS office bundles my mail into a flexi envelope. Works fine...or did until last month when 2 of my shipments were rejected by MX authorities and sent back to my local USPS office. 

Since I was on my way back to the US, I asked my local PO to hold the 2 mail shipments that had been returned to them. 

I had expected to find some issue with the USPS shipment....in reality it was now just 1 shipment as when the first one was returned, there was a new one ready to go to me, so my PO inserted one into the new one. The 2nd was then rejected and returned to them.

There was no problem on the USPS shipment...it was in flexi envelope, was not thick or heavy, address was fine.

But there was one big difference from other shipments (have been doing this method for over 2 years successfully).....there was a check in the mix of mail. 

I believe somehow, the MX authorities were able to recognize that check....some sort of scan/x-ray, quien sabe?? That is the ONLY reason I can attribute to the rejections. 

I rarely get checks in the mail....this was a fluke, an unexpected refund (the check was apprx. 1,800 USD).


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

lat19n said:


> For starters - the one and only address the Bank of America has on file for us is our address in Mexico. That does limit what I can do with them (no investments - not even a CD). My current card expires 12/23.


I should correct that (even though it is not relevant at the moment).

As far as BofA is concerned I am the same customer if I have a US address or a Mexican one. BUT - we have been with them since 1989. They do have these silly tiers based on how much you have on deposit. We have a checking account that earns pennies a month. We have a money market account which earns perhaps dimes. I could purchase a CD but considering the current rates, why bother. 

With my Mexican address on file I tried to open a brokerage account with Merrill (which would have been linked to my BofA accounts). They would not let me do that. I therefore have less money on deposit with BofA (lower tier). It now earns quarters at Schwab.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

The OP stated that the problem was *A NEW MEXICAN LAW* forbidding the sending of those cards to Mexico. Clear enough?


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

I wonder if Mexican customs is screening mail for fraud and money laundering - ie, envelopes containing 'envelops' with negotiable items and bank cards. 

My thought is if the bank could send the card directly then it may clear customs.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

lagoloo said:


> The OP stated that the problem was *A NEW MEXICAN LAW* forbidding the sending of those cards to Mexico. Clear enough?


Do I sense an attitude ? 

Could you kindly post a reference to this new Mexican law. Thanks a bunch !


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

The only attitude involved here is a strong suggestion that people READ the OP before posting answers that don't address the question raised.

It would be helpful if the OP would give us a reference to that new law. I'm not affected as yet since I have cards in hand, but could well have problems in the future. My U.S. bank has my Mexican address and sends anything to my house.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Last night I spoke to my friend in Philly whose address I use for BoA purposes. She told me that when she mailed my card to me, she had to indicate what was in the envelope she was sending and that she indicated it contained a debit card. She has no idea if the law referred by the person she dealt with in the DHL office is a new one.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

Well then - might it be fair to assume that there is no such new Mexican law until we have firm evidence of such a law ? As far as I understood - Isla has a friend in Philly who had a conversation with a DHL employee, who claimed there is a new law. Hmmm. 

To be honest - I have an issue with the title of this thread - seems a little sensational/unfounded to me (personally). 

But - you are correct. The only post that should be present on this thread is Isla's original post - since apparently she is the only person who has had this problem and apparently there is no one else who has had success in receiving such a card in the mail recently. 

I was wrong to suggest to her that she change her BofA address to Mexico - as that was not her question.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> Well then - might it be fair to assume that there is no such new Mexican law until we have firm evidence of such a law ? As far as I understood - Isla has a friend in Philly who had a conversation with a DHL employee, who claimed there is a new law. Hmmm.


The DHL employee made several calls before telling my friend that there was a law forbidding the sending of debit/credit cards through the mail and Mexican customs. She did not say whether or not it was a new law. I hope this clears things up for the moment. More information to follow . . .


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Through the mail or through DHL?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

citlali said:


> Through the mail or through DHL?


It was sent through DHL, but it was held up in Customs, not by DHL.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

Let me throw this possibility out there.

I believe that every time I have received a bank card via any delivery mechanism, from any source, anywhere - the card was enclosed in a sealed clear plastic envelope with a warning message to confirm the card was authentic etc. Kind of confirming no tampering.

Is it possible that your friend opened that plastic envelope prior to sending it to you ? If so - I can appreciate how a Mexican customs agent might have had a suspicion that a stolen card was being transferred. And if the plastic envelope was intact - it was the only item in the pouch ?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> Let me throw this possibility out there.
> 
> I believe that every time I have received a bank card via any delivery mechanism, from any source, anywhere - the card was enclosed in a sealed clear plastic envelope with a warning message to confirm the card was authentic etc. Kind of confirming no tampering.
> 
> Is it possible that your friend opened that plastic envelope prior to sending it to you ? If so - I can appreciate how a Mexican customs agent might have had a suspicion that a stolen card was being transferred. And if the plastic envelope was intact - it was the only item in the pouch ?


lat19n, I appreciate your interest in my predicament. It is possible that my friend did open the plastic envelope you mention. I will ask her the next time we speak.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Well, I just got off the phone after a longish conversation with a BofA agent. He was the nicest guy, but since he had a thickish Oklahoma accent, at times, I had trouble understanding what he was saying, which is rather ironic, ¿verdad? In any event, he knew nothing about a rule (old or new) about not being able to send bank cards through Mexican Customs. 

Once he ascertained that I was indeed the holder of my BofA account, we decided not to change my address for the moment. However, with great difficulty and lots of patience on his part, I gave him the address of a friend who lives very near me to which he will expedite the mailing of a new card. The biggest challenge was for him to get the correct spelling of Col. Cuauhtemoc, but I think he got it. Hopefully, the card will arrive in the near future. Wish me luck! I thank everyone for their comments on this thread, even the ones that didn't directly deal with my problem.


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## dwwhiteside (Apr 17, 2013)

Just tossing in some personal experience with this. I maintain a private mail box address in the U.S. and generally use that address for accounts with U.S. banks. I have had several debit / credit cards sent to that address and then forwarded by UPS to me here in Mexico. 

I have never had one returned or not get to me. However, all of the mail I have forwarded from my U.S. mail box to Mexico is opened when it arrives. All of my mail is opened somewhere, sometime in Mexico before it gets to me. So, they are fully aware of what the envelopes contain because they are opening them while they are in transit to me. 

I always monitor to make sure there is no suspicious activity on my accounts after I receive a new card. And so far, there has been none. But, it is still a bit disconcerting. Nonetheless, it is what it is and there is really nothing I can do about it. 

I do not remember the last time I received a new card here in Mexico. Not that long ago but probably sometime in late 2018. Again, so far at least, no card I have had shipped to me here in Mexico as been sent back.


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

Good for you !
At some point please consider changing the title of this thread to include the word resolved (or such) ....


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lat19n said:


> Good for you !
> At some point please consider changing the title of this thread to include the word resolved (or such) ....


Done!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

OI once received a amexpress via Fed Ex , it was opened at customs and the said it was. The card was cloned and our ID stolen.. customs can do funky things... Good luck , let us know what happens.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

citlali said:


> OI once received a amexpress via Fed Ex , it was opened at customs and the said it was. The card was cloned and our ID stolen.. customs can do funky things... Good luck , let us know what happens.


Bad story! I will let you everyone know what happens, hopefully not what happened to you. How did you figure out that your card had been cloned?


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

citlali said:


> OI once received a amexpress via Fed Ex , it was opened at customs and the said it was. The card was cloned and our ID stolen.. customs can do funky things... Good luck , let us know what happens.


The benefit to the 'chip' cards is that they can't be cloned.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I said cloned the truth is that we have no idea what they did but they got into the account changed the passwords on a sunday got into the account asked for a large travel advance and were pulling money from the schwab accounts via American Express. As all the passwords were changed , Schab would not talk to us so we could not do anything right away.. We went through a couple of months of nightmares..and they screwed up our credit...not that it matters as we do not have credit cards in the US ever since that day but still it was awful.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

citlali said:


> I said cloned the truth is that we have no idea what they did but they got into the account changed the passwords on a sunday got into the account asked for a large travel advance and were pulling money from the schwab accounts via American Express. As all the passwords were changed , Schab would not talk to us so we could not do anything right away.. We went through a couple of months of nightmares..and they screwed up our credit...not that it matters as we do not have credit cards in the US ever since that day but still it was awful.


It sounds like a dreadful experience for you and Bob! When the passwords were changed, I'm surprised that Schwab didn't contact you to make sure the change was legitimate. When did this happen? I hope it doesn't happen to me!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Scwab sent us confirmation of the changes at the "old e-mail, thank god and we got the e-mail, that is how started looking into it but when we called them on a sunday they would not speak to us because the password to speak with them had been changed.. Yes it was freaky..


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Banks are lame! Something similar happened to me and when I called the bank they said: "it's a glitch in the system and don't worry". Thieves withdrew in the 5 figures, but it could have been worse. Bank did reimburse me but the first person in the fraud department I talked to said: "Are you sure you haven't sold a Honda recently?" Geez, blame the victim, from a bank!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I've been anxiously following the journey of my bank card from Dallas to the CDMX via the DHL website. I was anxious because of the strange way Ciudad de Mexico was written on the website. It was supposed to arrive at my friend's building late on Monday, but the credit-card gods were kind, and it arrived this afternoon! Now I can relax and enjoy the weekend.

P.S. It was sealed in a large DHL cardboard envelope, which had not been tampered with at Mexican Customs, or anywhere else along the way.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

Awesome; so the system does work.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Stevenjb said:


> Awesome; so the system does work.


It all depends on the mood of the post-office gods!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes it does.. I ordered a bunch of things on Amazon all arrived except for one item and that one has been in customs since last January.. t is a large size T-Shirt, you would think they could tax it or whatever and let it go..


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## [email protected] (Nov 12, 2017)

*Shipping Clothing to Chiapas*



citlali said:


> yes it does.. I ordered a bunch of things on Amazon all arrived except for one item and that one has been in customs since last January.. t is a large size T-Shirt, you would think they could tax it or whatever and let it go..


Mis vecinos ( with three children ) were sent by me a few years back sweatshirts from June Lake, CA. The clothing store who sold them to me were very kind, extending a discount to me, as they too donate clothing items to Latin American communities. I send these 3 sweatshirts via UPS, including custom's invoice, etc., "clothing gifts" something like that. Customs slapped on a tax which was twice the cost of the sweatshirts!!! Mis vecinos couldn't afford to pay that, UPS said they would return the items to me, or I could pay. I paid, and laughed at myself and how upside down it is about international tariffs and duties. 
Whatever one's politics, that wasn't fair trade. From then on I brought mis regalos with me in my bags.
the youngest child still wears his June Lake Loop sweatshirt on those cold nights in San Cristobal de Las Casas. 
con una sonrisa.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

yes there are taxes on clothes from the US.. sometimes you get things through and sometimes you do not.. I bought jeans for my husband as I could not get his size in San Cristobal and paid twice as much because of taxes, although the jeans were made in Mexico(shipped to the store in the US who sold them back into Mexico...
.I do not know if you know it but when Mexicans artisans go to the States to sell ther goods, ther is no tax from the US on entering with artesania but the artisans have to pay a tax on their merchandise when they re enter the country... How much sense does that make?


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