# Banking and More



## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

(1) When I first came to Mexico three years ago to teach in Culiacan, my school set up a Banorte account for me which I have had ever since. I have always found their service to be kind of spotty, but until now I couldn't do anything about it because of the school-bank relationship. 

Now that I have moved from Culiacan to Mexico City, I am having worse experiences with Banorte than ever, so as soon as I take care of a few loose ends, I am going to close that account. But whom should I bank with? My new employer will direct deposit my paycheck to any Mexican bank.

In at least one earlier thread, I brought up a "Preferred Customer" program targeted at expats that I had heard existed at BBVA Bancomer. There was some doubt as to whether the program still existed. One of the things it promised was the availability of English language customer service on the phone, which would be most welcome; I've hardly ever encountered anyone at Banorte, either in person or on the phone, who spoke much English. (And yes, to answer your unspoken question, I am sure that contributes to some of my customer service problems with them; which is partly why I am looking for a better fit.)

So what say all of you? Which bank offers the best service to expats? How about the most reasonable rate on international wire transfers? Although frankly, I might just start sending money to my credit union account by Western Union, if that is feasible; it seems much less of a hassle than making a bank-to-bank international wire transfer, which at Banorte at least has never been less than a PAINFUL experience, and I've done it more than 35 times in three years. Every time I went to the branch in Culiacan, the process should have been the same, and I was unquestionably the same person, yet every single time the bank officer reacted as if she had never seen me before or handled such a transaction on my behalf before. She shook her head a lot as if an international wire transfer was the most difficult and unusual thing on earth. It was odd.

(2) Related to the above, but not strictly a Mexican question, although the phenomenon I'm going to describe is certainly encountered here - I've had it happen three times since arriving in Mexico City, twice at different Banorte branches, once at Telcel, and I've known several people at my old school to whom it happened at IMSS. Here's the situation. You ask an official at whatever concern you're dealing with what needs to be done in the given situation. (At Telcel I was doing this all in English.) You are given instructions which require you to do something and come back on a later day. You do so. On the return visit, you either speak to a different official, or sometimes even to the same one, and whatever instructions you were given earlier are completely disclaimed. You did the wrong thing. You must go and do something else. Now you, customer, are frustrated, possibly quite upset, and certainly confused, because how can you be sure that the new instructions are the correct ones? They too might later be disclaimed, and you could be trapped in an endless loop, arggh! Reasoning with the official on the second visit, to the best of your ability, is quite fruitless and yields nada in the way of results, except possibly irking him/her.

How do you handle this? I'm not handling it very well and I want to do better. And yes, I know, improve my Spanish, but what else?


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

PatrickMurtha said:


> (2) Related to the above, but not strictly a Mexican question, although the phenomenon I'm going to describe is certainly encountered here - I've had it happen three times since arriving in Mexico City, twice at different Banorte branches, once at Telcel, and I've known several people at my old school to whom it happened at IMSS. Here's the situation. You ask an official at whatever concern you're dealing with what needs to be done in the given situation. (At Telcel I was doing this all in English.) You are given instructions which require you to do something and come back on a later day. You do so. On the return visit, you either speak to a different official, or sometimes even to the same one, and whatever instructions you were given earlier are completely disclaimed. You did the wrong thing. You must go and do something else. Now you, customer, are frustrated, possibly quite upset, and certainly confused, because how can you be sure that the new instructions are the correct ones? They too might later be disclaimed, and you could be trapped in an endless loop, arggh! Reasoning with the official on the second visit, to the best of your ability, is quite fruitless and yields nada in the way of results, except possibly irking him/her.
> 
> How do you handle this? I'm not handling it very well and I want to do better. And yes, I know, improve my Spanish, but what else?


I’ve had this feeling whenever I dealt with INM. I would go in before my visa expired and ask them what documents I needed for the renewal. I had them *write down* the instructions. I followed them to the letter and never was told that I err somewhere.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

PatrickMurtha said:


> (1) When I first came to Mexico three years ago to teach in Culiacan, my school set up a Banorte account for me which I have had ever since. I have always found their service to be kind of spotty, but until now I couldn't do anything about it because of the school-bank relationship.
> 
> Now that I have moved from Culiacan to Mexico City, I am having worse experiences with Banorte than ever, so as soon as I take care of a few loose ends, I am going to close that account. But whom should I bank with? My new employer will direct deposit my paycheck to any Mexican bank.
> 
> ...


I have banked at Banamex for years and been pretty happy with the experience. When I was in the process of buying a house, I was in the bank many times over the course of a month and became well known to several of the bank officers. However, I experienced some of what you describe in that there seemed to be one hurtle after another. First they couldn't do something because my account was with a branch in a different city. So I opened a local account. Then they couldn't do something because my account was too new (never mind that I had been a customer in the earlier city for two years). Then they couldn't issue a check because the amount was too much. Eventually, it all worked out, but it required lots of persistence on my part. I have never encountered anyone who spoke English but managed to get by with my limited Spanish at the time. It would be much easier now.


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## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> I have banked at Banamex for years and been pretty happy with the experience. When I was in the process of buying a house, I was in the bank many times over the course of a month and became well known to several of the bank officers. However, I experienced some of what you describe in that there seemed to be one hurtle after another. First they couldn't do something because my account was with a branch in a different city. So I opened a local account. Then they couldn't do something because my account was too new (never mind that I had been a customer in the earlier city for two years). Then they couldn't issue a check because the amount was too much. Eventually, it all worked out, but it required lots of persistence on my part. I have never encountered anyone who spoke English but managed to get by with my limited Spanish at the time. It would be much easier now.


This sounds so familiar. It is especially frustrating when the hurdles are revealed piecemeal, so you think you're done when, oops!, something else comes up.

I have tried the "I've banked with you for three years" bit several times at Banorte, and it has been met with what seemed to me to be incomprehension that the fact would be at all relevant. So I guess I'll drop that my repertory.


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## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

joaquinx said:


> I’ve had this feeling whenever I dealt with INM. I would go in before my visa expired and ask them what documents I needed for the renewal. I had them *write down* the instructions. I followed them to the letter and never was told that I err somewhere.


It doesn't help that the rules have changed, but no one seems too clear what the new rules are. 

I am semi-convinced that the reason that "what needs to be done" seems so often to be a moving target is that officials are making it up as they go along half the time. It's whimsical (not in the funny sense).


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

We have no experience with Banorte so can´t speak to that issue but we have been banking with Bancomer witha savings account for 13 years and Banamex with a checking account for six years . We opened the Bancomer account back in 2001 because that was the only full-service bank branch in Ajijic in those days. Sincé then, several other options for full banking services have opened up in Ajijic such as HSBC, Banco Multiva, Intercam Banco and so forth. When we bought a home in San Cristóbal de Las Casas in 2006, we opened a checking account with various investment options at Banamex in San Cristóbal mainly as a convenience banking down there when the Bancomer branch in San Cristóbal was too busy which was quite often and highly irritating to us.

We have decided that the Banamex checking account is not useful for us since we have found no need to ever write personal checks down here and also because Banamex once returned one of our personal checks written to an important service provider much to our embarrassment so that was the last personal check we ever wrote there. 

Bancomer has been OK service-wise and personnel at the Ajijic branch, with that town´s large expat English speaking colony do generally speak decent English which is important when discussions turn to available bank services. However, when we are in San Cristóbal where virtually no one speaks English and they don´t recognize expats as "Preferred Customers" , we need to cope in Spanish which is OK for us but a burden for those not at least conversant in Spanish. We also pay all of our utility bills through Bancomer which is a useful and free service. Mínimum balances required there for a no service charge account is $2, 000 Pesos. We will keep the Bancomer account but close the Banamex account as their service has been less than desirable, they have a mínimum balance requirement of $20,000 Pesos for a service charge free account on the type of account we maintain and the checking account feature has proven unnecessary and even undesirable.

We will open a savings account at Walmart Bank in Ajijic where we can bank while there and while there is not Walmart in San Cristóbal, there are both Sam´s Club and Bodega Aurrera stores in San Cristóbal where we can take advantages of full service banking while down there. We can also bank at any Walmart, Sam´s Club or Bodega Aurrera store nationwide so when we are on the road we have the alternatives of our Bancomer, Walmart or U.S. bank accounts at ATMs everywhere when we need money.

If one maintains a mínimum balance of only $1,000 Pesos at Walmart bank one earns over 3.0% on savings account balances and, since we plan to keep much more than that in the account, we will earn even higher interest rates which today is a yield of 3.85%. Ts beats the hell out of Bancomer and Banamex both of which pay us virtually zero interest on our accounts no matter our balances.

Good luck.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


TundraGreen said:



I have banked at Banamex for years and been pretty happy with the experience. When I was in the process of buying a house, I was in the bank many times over the course of a month and became well known to several of the bank officers. However, I experienced some of what you describe in that there seemed to be one hurtle after another. First they couldn't do something because my account was with a branch in a different city. So I opened a local account. Then they couldn't do something because my account was too new (never mind that I had been a customer in the earlier city for two years). Then they couldn't issue a check because the amount was too much. Eventually, it all worked out, but it required lots of persistence on my part. I have never encountered anyone who spoke English but managed to get by with my limited Spanish at the time. It would be much easier now.

Click to expand...

_I don´t get it TG; first you say you are "pretty happy" with the Banamex experience and then you recite a littany of reasons why you should be very unhappy. 

We have had an account at Banamex in San Crsitóbal de Las Casas for six years yet, when we had a problem needing resolution while here at Lakeside, the Banamex branch in Chapala was of no use to us treating us rudely and as if we were imposing on them so we simply walked out. All this because our account is domiciled in San Cristóbal rather than Chapala even though it is a special account designating us as preferred l clients worthy of exemplary service anywhere in Mexico. Recently, afer all those years maintaing some hefty balances, they turned us down for a credit card request _*BECAUSE I AM OVER 70 YEARS OLD *_(72 to be precise) even though we have a lifetime of perfect credit, own two homes outright in Mexico and (at least in the past) have maintained quite substantial balances at Banamex. I should also point out that they never informed my of the disposition of my credit card application until I got in their faces like a bulldog on steriods.

That Banamex account with its average balances exceeding $40,000 Pesos., is history and those funds will shortly be in Walmart bank. Adios to bad rubbish.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

By the way the 70 year old limit for credit card is the same at Walmart..


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> I don´t get it TG; first you say you are "pretty happy" with the Banamex experience and then you recite a littany of reasons why you should be very unhappy.


Maybe I should be but I am not even a little unhappy. That experience was not that different than I have experienced with other bureaucracies in Mexico (INM; IMSS, SAT), so I am pretty used to it, I guess.

I am happy with Banamex because they charge me no fees, I can pay for things online with my debit cards, I can pay utility bills from the bank web site, I have a BankKey that generates a number I have to enter to access my account online, so security is way better than my US banks, they have a take-a-number system and chairs for when you are waiting in line at the bank, and the bank staff have always been very friendly and helpful.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

I have lived in Mexico for well over a decade without a Mexican bank account. I bank online from my US account and use ATMs for cash. Simple, and at 76 I can still use my cards.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Well, RV, that works for you. Nice.
Some of us lost souls who banked with Banamex USA were kicked to the curb earlier this year. Just to make it better, there are hardly any U.S. banks who will accept new customers who do not have a *valid *U.S. address. That word "valid" is important, because many of us don't even have a relative up there who will lie for us. It's been a real adventure since then. We had to deal with a Mexican bank to receive our SS checks. Now we are trying to surmount the credit card matter, since our way of paying it no longer involves clicking "transfer" from our former U.S. checking account. The mails are slow, so sending a check from a dollar account we might set up with Actinver may not reach the credit card dept. in the states in time to avoid interest.
That's the banking fun here. Thanks to the U.S. policies in force lately, we are all suspected of money laundering and our old banks don't want to deal with that. Much easier to just close expat accounts, no matter that we've been customers for ten plus years.
So yes, now we need a Mexican bank account.


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## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

Hound Dog said:


> I don´t get it TG; first you say you are "pretty happy" with the Banamex experience and then you recite a littany of reasons why you should be very unhappy.
> 
> We have had an account at Banamex in San Crsitóbal de Las Casas for six years yet, when we had a problem needing resolution while here at Lakeside, the Banamex branch in Chapala was of no use to us treating us rudely and as if we were imposing on them so we simply walked out. All this because our account is domiciled in San Cristóbal rather than Chapala even though it is a special account designating us as preferred l clients worthy of exemplary service anywhere in Mexico. Recently, afer all those years maintaing some hefty balances, they turned us down for a credit card request _*BECAUSE I AM OVER 70 YEARS OLD *_(72 to be precise) even though we have a lifetime of perfect credit, own two homes outright in Mexico and (at least in the past) have maintained quite substantial balances at Banamex. I should also point out that they never informed my of the disposition of my credit card application until I got in their faces like a bulldog on steriods.
> 
> That Banamex account with its average balances exceeding $40,000 Pesos., is history and those funds will shortly be in Walmart bank. Adios to bad rubbish.


I laughed at the "bulldog at steroids" bit. I've gotten that way a couple of times, but I am not happy when I go there, because it kind of ruins my day.


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

I've been with Bancomer since 2006, and it works fine for me. They autopay my Telmex bill, their debit card is widely accepted, and I can keep track of my account online. My SS payments are deposited there and available immediately. If I need more money, I deposit a US personal check, which involves no fees but takes eight days to clear. If in a hurry, I get cash with my US debit card. I've had a few problems over the years (e.g., wallet stolen), but they've sorted them out with minimal hassle. When I first moved here I knew virtually no Spanish and it was rare to find anyone at Bancomer who spoke English, but I didn't expect it and simply muddled through. For a while there was a "Preferred Customers Unit" for foreigners at one of the local branches (essentially one bank officer who spoke English) but it disappeared about a year ago, I think.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Well TG you havemgotten it, have no expectations or low expectation and you will not be disappointed. 
The secret to happiness anywhere.


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## michmex (Jul 15, 2012)

My wife and I do most of our banking with HSBC and Bancomer here in the D. F. HSBC with its English roots generally can provide English speaking help. We have some experience with Santander which we have found to be satisfactory.

My recommendation would be to look for a Bancomer or HSBC branch close to your home or work. Pick the one that seems the most efficient ( shortest lines - most teller stations, etc.) The availability of English speaking assistance will not vary much between the 2. Both have ATM's located throughout the D. F. and in stores such as Walmart, Soriana and Chedraui with perhaps a nod given to Bancomer for accessibility.

I cannot recommend Banamex (or its owner Citibank)for many reasons. Their branches are generally the most crowded, often with long lines. We closed our account because of the incessant phone calls to sell additional services such as insurance of various types. The customer service department is also generally unresponsive in such areas as incoming wire transfers and duplicative account debits involving their ATM's.

CREDIT CARDS and The RANT

When I worked in the D. F. in 1995 to 1997 I banked with Confia which was subsequently bought by Banamex. Like, HD, I also had a few important checks returned, although for me it was because they claimed my English type signature was way too different than the typical cyclic signature that is common in Mexico and , of course, must be a forgery. 

Unlike HD, I had no problem obtaining a credit card. I went to the branch and applied but had a few problems, again with my signature because a couple of "y,s" went outside the little block for my signature. 2-3 weeks later my card arrived by courier. I opened the envelope and discovered that my nice new card had a credit limit of 1 (ONE) peso. I returned to the branch and spoke with a supervisor who assured me this was the bank's mistake and not an indication of my credit worthiness. The supervisor assisted me with a new application and, again, I waited for my new card. 2-3 weeks later it arrived AND NO IT COULD NOT BE; a 1 (ONE) peso credit limit. 2 credit cards - 2 Pesos and I could not buy a package of gum using both of them. 

So much for my dealings with Confia. Obviously the Confia people now are an integral and important part of the Banamex consumer credit operations.

Regarding age and credit worthiness - Mexico has a long way to go in regards to discrimination, whether in hiring or in credit approvals. But, then, ability to repay is certainly an important criteria as well as the general character of an individual. I quote,

" I stated in an earlier post that I had joined the Marines in 1960 --- When I graduated from PLC in the summer of 2004, Vietnam was still evolving as a U.S. war"

I can easily see that 40+ years to graduate from Marine PLC (even for a Marine that's a very long time) and still not knowing that the Vietnamese conflict had pretty much wound-down by 2004 could easily have been a factor in assessing credit worthiness!

ME?

U. S. Army 1979-1973 11B60 with minors in 11C and 11H

This ranting must be a southern thing???

LSU 1979 (Only 3 Years to Graduate includes Summer School) - Geaux Tigers!

AND, Before HD has the chance to mention it, from the immortal lyrics of Randy Newman from "********", "And college men from LSU - Went in dumb - come out dumb too."


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

Anyone has any experience with WalMart Bank ?


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## lhpdiver (Jul 30, 2014)

I just read this thread and had a couple thoughts along the way.

Someone mentioned getting something like 3.85% on a savings account at Walmart. I question that a little. We have a checking account at HSBC which gets 0% interest. Then we have both CD's and Funds at HSBC. The rate on CD's is fixed but that is not the case with the funds. Is it possible that that 3.85% is the current rate on a fund ?

Our relationship at HSBC is one of the best banking relationships we have ever had. We have a premium account and always work with the same woman. I like to do stuff on the internet, but everytime I bump into some daily limit (SPEI transfer, fund investment etc) or a CD maturing next week say - I can simply ask her to take care of it for us and I can forget about it. 

Recently we opened an account with CetesDirecto and have purchased a small amount of Cetes. At the moment I am also looking at UDIBONOS (also at CetesDirecto). Tomorrow our contract with GBMHomeBroker should arrive and I have a contract for Actinver I need to review. At a Sunday lunch two Mexican neighbors insisted that we have a talk with their person at Banamex. Apparently they have some sort of investments that quarentee your principal yet offer the potential for very decent returns.


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

I think the 3.8% interest only comes with a 180 day CD.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

michmex said:


> _CREDIT CARDS and The RANT
> 
> ...Unlike HD, I had no problem obtaining a credit card. I went to the branch and applied but had a few problems, again with my signature because a couple of "y,s" went outside the little block for my signature. 2-3 weeks later my card arrived by courier. I opened the envelope and discovered that my nice new card had a credit limit of 1 (ONE) peso. I returned to the branch and spoke with a supervisor who assured me this was the bank's mistake and not an indication of my credit worthiness. The supervisor assisted me with a new application and, again, I waited for my new card. 2-3 weeks later it arrived AND NO IT COULD NOT BE; a 1 (ONE) peso credit limit. 2 credit cards - 2 Pesos and I could not buy a package of gum using both of them.
> 
> ...


 *
HD Insert: Runnin´ round Atlanta in they alligator shoes, gettin´drunk every weekend at the barbeque*"

Thanks for the entertaining tales mitchmex. I particulalry enjoyed the one peso credit limit and the bank´s solution which was to doublé the limit to two pesos with two cards. I guess you can thank the intercession by the bank branch supervisor in the re-application process for that bit of largesse exhibited by the bank´s credit card department. We have learned our lesson in the age matter. The next time we apply, my wife, who is under 70 will be the primary applicant and the geezer here will be a secondary card holder but still 72 and just as prone to buy the farm at any time without notice. 

As for Dawg having attended Parris Island in 1960 and then, PLC Marine Corps officer training graduating from PLC in 2004. Perhaps it was 1964 and just seemed like 2004 by the time I finally left Quantico wi th its infamous "Hill Trail" daily tortures but, at least, unlike Parris Island where we had zero free time and zero drinking for 13 weeks, during basic training, we could get drunk on the weeekend at Quantico.

Sincé you brought up my hero Randy Newman and his classic álbum "_*******__s_", (We´re ********, we´re ********, we don´t know our ass from a hole in the ground,", I am reminded that it may have been Randy Newman who wrote of LSU graduates disparagingly if amusingly, who spoke of the stringent requirements imposed by the University of Georgia for an undergraduate degree. It seems the primary requirement was that one drive down Main Street in downtown Athens and they would throw a diploma through your open window unless you had an Auburn sticker attached to your bumper. 

Dawg, fortunately, went to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa from 1961 to 1966 and to give you some idea as to the intellectual achevement my diploma in General Business Administration represented at Alabama in those days, Joe Namath, who had flunked out of the University of Maryland (for God´s sake) only to be picked up on a full athletic scholarship at Alabama by Bear Bryant in 1961, and I , shared many essential crip courses together from _Principles of Journalism 101 _(Reading newspapers for 40 minutes a day, three days a week) to _Elementary Home __Economics 101 _which, as memory serves me, had a large contingent of Bear´s football players intermingled with the future homekeepers of Alabama for the next generation. You may have heard that the life expectancy of a Marine 2nd Lieutenant on the beach at Tarawa during WW 11 was minus two seconds. Well, the career curve of any professor or assistant professor at Alabama who flunked one of Bear Bryant´s charges from the "ape dorm" in the 1960s had a career path leading straight from the halls of academe to pumping gas down at the ReddyMart and the transition took a nanosecond. 

¡Roll Tide!


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


coondawg said:



I think the 3.8% interest only comes with a 180 day CD.

Click to expand...

_
Thanks for the heads up coondawg. I´ll clarify the interest yield question when I return to WalMart this week. If one must purchase a 180 day CD to get the 3.85% on,say, $20,000 Pesos, the question is what is the yield on fully liquid funds. I was simply quoting the WalMart Bank representative with that interest rate quote. 

We are not in the habit of investing large sums of money in any investment instrument in Mexico - too much exchange and sovereign risk for geezers primarily interested in capital prservation so our savings stays mainly in the U.S. 

Speaking of the U.S., we have IRA money invested in CDs in the U.S. in dollars and those CDs are returning only a fraction of the 3.85% a 180 day CD at WalMart Bank would pay if, indeed you are right. For instance, a substantial USD CD at Compass bank for 180 days is paying 0.15% interest which means the CD is only valuable as a tool to get FDIC insurance.

Even if WalMart pays anything at all on liquid funds in a savings account there, that will be an improvement over the zero return we are now getting at Bancomer and Banamex so, what the hell. After I re-visit WalMart Bank in Ajijic, I´ll clarify what I find out then and let you guys know.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

PatrickMurtha said:


> How do you handle this? I'm not handling it very well and I want to do better. And yes, I know, improve my Spanish, but what else?


You _handle this_ by not getting stressed-out. Too many Mexicans disrespect persons other than themselves and that's very evident by the oftentimes lack of customer service, and, of course, the corruption (which is a different, but no less important topic). It's just another one of those things that gets under your skin that you can do little about (and it bothers many Mexicans, as well). Things aren't going to change overnight and I don't think one bank provides better service than the next. Well, maybe if you're Carlos Slim you get respect ... but it takes a lot of wealth and power to find it IMO.


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

Dawg, I think that the CDs are in multiples of 100,000 pesos, and the interest goes up as the multiple goes up. But, let us know.


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## dwwhiteside (Apr 17, 2013)

I have an account at Scotiabank and have been very happy with their service. I am sure that different branches with different personnel will have different levels of service but, overall, I have been very happy with Scotia.


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## wonderphil (Sep 7, 2013)

dwwhiteside said:


> I have an account at Scotiabank and have been very happy with their service. I am sure that different branches with different personnel will have different levels of service but, overall, I have been very happy with Scotia.


I opened up a account with Scotia bank last year. I deposited 9000 pesos in the account at the time and it has been there unused since that time. I want a local account such as this to pay my local bills when needed. My local contact (the branch manager) was really great in Mazatlan unfortunately the web site does not have english translation even thou this is a Canadian controlled bank Bank of Nova Scotia. So when I tried to pay my Texmex bill a few day ago via a debit card they gave me I can not get the transaction to be approved. I will try again later. 

Anyway things can be improved. Telmex USA was sending me marketing spam to my address in the USA in Spanish. I looked on their web site TELMEX USA and even called the customer service and no english. Carlos Slim can afford this in the USA their are many companies and government agencies that provide Spanish translation.

So in my opinion one or more of these banks should step up to the plate, provide much needed service to expats and so gain costumers in the long run.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

coondawg said:


> Dawg, I think that the CDs are in multiples of 100,000 pesos, and the interest goes up as the multiple goes up. But, let us know.


Well, CD, we decided to open an account at Banco Walmart in Ajijic, Jalisco with the understanding that, while there is no Walmart in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, there is a Sam´s Club and Bodega Aurrera there and we will be able to transact any banking business in Chiapas or anywhere else in Mexico with Walmart affiliates as well as at Lake Chapala where our account is domiciled. We´ll see when we return to Chiapas in a few months and I actually try to transact banking business there. Over 13 years of living in Mexico I have learned to be skeptical of easily delivered assurances.

We opened a small $10,000 Peso fully liquid savings account with a debit card feature and a $50,000 Peso 90 day TCD which earned us 3.45% interest with interest credited to our savings account in advance - something I have not seen before. We purchased a TCD that will roll over every 90 days unless we notify the bank a day ahead of maturity of the CD that we wish to cancel that arrangement. Banco Walmart offered TCDs at various mínimum investment levels starting with very small deposited funds but, of course, the interest yield varied with the amount of the TCD purchased and length of time to maturity. TCDs were offered at 90 day maturities up to one year maturities or more. I suggest you inquire at your local Banco Walmart as to various investment products currently available,

One nice thing about the Banco Walmart savings account with the debit card feature is that when one pays for purchases at Walmart with the debit card, one reeives a 1.0% cash rebate from the cashier at checkout. A small advantage to be sure but when coupled with the ease of the use of the debit card to shop - why not? If one´s purchases are material the 1.0% rebate is fun and one can use a part of that rebate to tip the bagger. Beats canned spinach.


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## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

wonderphil said:


> I opened up a account with Scotia bank last year. I deposited 9000 pesos in the account at the time and it has been there unused since that time. I want a local account such as this to pay my local bills when needed. My local contact (the branch manager) was really great in Mazatlan unfortunately the web site does not have english translation even thou this is a Canadian controlled bank Bank of Nova Scotia. So when I tried to pay my Texmex bill a few day ago via a debit card they gave me I can not get the transaction to be approved. I will try again later.
> 
> Anyway things can be improved. Telmex USA was sending me marketing spam to my address in the USA in Spanish. I looked on their web site TELMEX USA and even called the customer service and no english. Carlos Slim can afford this in the USA their are many companies and government agencies that provide Spanish translation.
> 
> So in my opinion one or more of these banks should step up to the plate, provide much needed service to expats and so gain costumers in the long run.


Thanks for these details - Scotia Bank is one of the ones I've been considering. But if I switch banks, the new bank MUST offer telephone customer service in English, as Korea Exchange Bank does in Korea.


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