# Transferring money into Mexico



## Polinero1

I have just gotten my FM3 and retired. I am planning to move to a house in Mexico that I bought. I have opened an account with HSBC and wonder if I put a large pot of money into the account, if I will have to file a Mexican tax return on the income OR if this is really a good idea to do at all. Might there be problems getting it out? anyone know about this?


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## TundraGreen

Polinero1 said:


> I have just gotten my FM3 and retired. I am planning to move to a house in Mexico that I bought. I have opened an account with HSBC and wonder if I put a large pot of money into the account, if I will have to file a Mexican tax return on the income OR if this is really a good idea to do at all. Might there be problems getting it out? anyone know about this?


If you are just moving money to a Mexican bank account, money that is already yours, there is no income involved and not tax involved in either country. If you have new income, that is a more complex question.

As far as whether it is a good idea: I don´t see why not. Many people just use a US/Canadian bank account and rely on ATMs for all peso expenses. I prefer to have a peso bank account that I use for peso expenses and obtaining cash. So I did what you are suggesting, moved some money to a Mexican bank account.

The question I thought, or maybe hoped, you were asking is: What is the best and cheapest way to move a large chunk of money from a US/Canadian bank account to a Mexican bank account? Electronic transfer? Cashiers check? Personal check? What pair of banks has the best and easiest system?


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## La Paz

Polinero1 said:


> I have just gotten my FM3 and retired. I am planning to move to a house in Mexico that I bought. I have opened an account with HSBC and wonder if I put a large pot of money into the account, if I will have to file a Mexican tax return on the income OR if this is really a good idea to do at all. Might there be problems getting it out? anyone know about this?


Since you specified "large pot of money"....please be aware that if you ever, for any length of time (even passing through an account for 5 minutes) have in excess of $9,999.99 in any bank outside the USA, at any time during the year, you are required to report it to Uncle Sam by filing form TD F 90-22.1. This is not filed with your Federal tax return, it's sent separately to: U.S. Department of the Treasury....it's notification & is not a taxable action.


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## RVGRINGO

Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account. In over ten years, living in Mexico, we have not found a reason to justify the hassle of having an account in Mexico, beyond a small investment account just big enough to keep check cashing privileges, or to provide a place to wire money for an unexpected or unusually large purchase.


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## grotton

> The question I thought, or maybe hoped, you were asking is: What is the best and cheapest way to move a large chunk of money from a US/Canadian bank account to a Mexican bank account? Electronic transfer? Cashiers check? Personal check? What pair of banks has the best and easiest system?



Me too. Does anyone have an answer to the above question? And I must admit, I've posted this question on a couple of threads hoping for a answer.


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## joaquinx

You might stroll by XE at XE Trade Money Transfers and see if their transfer of funds suits you.

Pair of banks. Bank of America and Santander. BofA offers a service called SafeSend to transfer funds from your BofA account directly to your Santander account. Free and quick. There are limits to monthly transfer amounts.


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## TundraGreen

RVGRINGO said:


> Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account. In over ten years, living in Mexico, we have not found a reason to justify the hassle of having an account in Mexico, beyond a small investment account just big enough to keep check cashing privileges, or to provide a place to wire money for an unexpected or unusually large purchase.


For me one reason to "justify the hassle of having an account in Mexico", is to be able to pay for things with a debit or credit card in pesos. I often pay bills either online or in person with a debit or credit card. If I use a US bank debit or credit card, there is a currency conversion involved and maybe fees. I would rather deal in pesos except for occasional block transfers of money.


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## anoutlaw

I just send the amount i need for a month and if i need to buy something like a new car i send for that.

I dont use ATM because my bank charges a atm fee, they charge a % comission on amount, and they win on exchange rate.... +++ not so long ago they reduced atm limit to 4000 MXN when it used to be 20,000 MXN. They said it was due to high incidents of fraud from mexico.

Then another bank i had an account with did the same thing.... 

So in my case, a wire transfer once a month (8 USD to send and about 250 MXN to receive) is the most convenient.

It would depend on how much you would spen monthly and what is most convenient and cheapest...


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## La Paz

> The question I thought, or maybe hoped, you were asking is: What is the best and cheapest way to move a large chunk of money from a US/Canadian bank account to a Mexican bank account? Electronic transfer? Cashiers check? Personal check? What pair of banks has the best and easiest system?





grotton said:


> Me too. Does anyone have an answer to the above question? And I must admit, I've posted this question on a couple of threads hoping for a answer.


If it's a major amount, like for land or casa purchase, *if you plan ahead*, I believe most Mexican banks will accept a US check....the down side is that it usually takes 10-14 days for the funds to clear! I know Bancomer will accept checks written on my non-affiliated US bank account. If you don't have a USD Mexican account, the amount will be converted to the current exchange rate & deposited in pesos. Even in this era of electronic transfer, Mexican banks don't treat it like an instant electronic transfer, I believe they make use of your money for the 10-14 day period of time. Cashier's checks are basically meaningless in the eyes of Mexican banks; they treat them just like a personal check & won't release the funds immediately.

This is the cheapest method to get $$ down here. Fees are involved if you wire transfer & some banks actually charge a % of the amount received rather than a fixed fee regardless of the amount transferred. So you should do some local research to determine the best way for your particular locale, bank & personal circumstances. 

Keep in mind that there's a penalty tax imposed on all CASH deposits of USD over....if memory serves me correctly, $1,500 or $2,000 USD....I believe it's 3% tax, but can't swear to the %. Writing a personal check on your US account avoids that penalty tax for CASH deposits.


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## circle110

grotton said:


> Me too. Does anyone have an answer to the above question? And I must admit, I've posted this question on a couple of threads hoping for a answer.


There have been several threads in the last year or so on that very topic of large transfers. I suggest using the search function.

I have a checking account with Schwab and they refund all ATM/International fees for my regular biweekly withdrawals. They also have an international transfer department for large transfers and they charge $25 dollars for any size transfer of funds into a Mexican bank. 

Of course, you must have an investment account through Schwab in order to have a checking account so if you don't, this information isn't much use.


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## michmex

*There is a Mexican Equivalent to the FDIC*



RVGRINGO said:


> Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account. In over ten years, living in Mexico, we have not found a reason to justify the hassle of having an account in Mexico, beyond a small investment account just big enough to keep check cashing privileges, or to provide a place to wire money for an unexpected or unusually large purchase.


Mexico DOES have an agency, IPAB, Instituto para la Protección al Ahorro Bancario , that is the equivalent of the FDIC in the USA. It is not as widely advertised as is the FDIC in the USA. The IFAB coverage includes the most common accounts an expat would use such as savings, checking and debit. Since not all accounts are covered it is wise to ask the bank if the account you want is indeed covered by the IFAB. All major banks such as Bancomer, Banamex, Banorte, HSBC and Santander are covered. Coverage is up to maximum of 400,000 IDU's . The peso equivalent of 400,000 IDU's on July 15, 2012 is $1,901,074.40 Mexican Pesos or about $146,236 at an exchange rate of 1 US Dollar equals 13 Mexican Pesos.

The IFAB was created in 1998 by the Mexican Congress. Prior to the IFAB was the Bank Fund for Savings Protection (Fobaproa). It was created in 1995 to deal with the economic crisis of 1994-1995 also known as the "Tequila Crisis" or the " el error de diciembre — The December Mistake" Fobapro assisted in the stabilization of the economy and recapitalization of the banking system. During this period some banks were merged while others were taken over by others such as Citibank-Banamex, Confia-HSBC. 

For more information regarding IFAB and the protection of your accounts Google "IPAB Mexico"Or go to ipab.org.mx You can click on the English icon to read the site in English!


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## TundraGreen

La Paz said:


> If it's a major amount, like for land or casa purchase, *if you plan ahead*, I believe most Mexican banks will accept a US check....the down side is that it usually takes 10-14 days for the funds to clear! I know Bancomer will accept checks written on my non-affiliated US bank account. If you don't have a USD Mexican account, the amount will be converted to the current exchange rate & deposited in pesos. Even in this era of electronic transfer, Mexican banks don't treat it like an instant electronic transfer, I believe they make use of your money for the 10-14 day period of time. Cashier's checks are basically meaningless in the eyes of Mexican banks; they treat them just like a personal check & won't release the funds immediately.
> 
> This is the cheapest method to get $$ down here. Fees are involved if you wire transfer & some banks actually charge a % of the amount received rather than a fixed fee regardless of the amount transferred. So you should do some local research to determine the best way for your particular locale, bank & personal circumstances.
> 
> Keep in mind that there's a penalty tax imposed on all CASH deposits of USD over....if memory serves me correctly, $1,500 or $2,000 USD....I believe it's 3% tax, but can't swear to the %. Writing a personal check on your US account avoids that penalty tax for CASH deposits.


I have done this with as well. I was charged a 1% fee to deposit a personal check in dollars drawn on a US bank to my peso account with a Mexican bank.


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## pappabee

TundraGreen said:


> I have done this with as well. I was charged a 1% fee to deposit a personal check in dollars drawn on a US bank to my peso account with a Mexican bank.


I use BBVA and have had no problem at all. I do have a savings account with them so all I have to do is to give them a check drawn on any US bank (not just one of mine) and they will deposit the amount in my account. Now there are a few rules. The deposit must be made prior to 3PM weekdays (the exchange closes at 3 and the bank must know what the exchange rate is for that day). The bank will hold your check for 8 working days (to give the check enough time to clear the issuing bank and your bank). There are no extra charges and the exchange rate is the lowest one published on that day. 

I've done this with checks from my own US account and checks from other peoples accounts. No problem with either.


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## joaquinx

The one thing you should verify when transferring funds, no matter the bank or method, is the exchange rate. Check their rates with XE or Oanda. Perhaps, some more costly methods will give you a better exchange rate and thus be cheaper.


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## joaquinx

circle110 said:


> Of course, you must have an investment account through Schwab in order to have a checking account so if you don't, this information isn't much use.


When I went to the Schwab site, there is no mention of having an investment account before opening a checking account. Could this have been a very early restriction? 

I seriously have to get out of BofA and am looking for a better bank.


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## DNP

joaquinx said:


> When I went to the Schwab site, there is no mention of having an investment account before opening a checking account. Could this have been a very early restriction?
> 
> I seriously have to get out of BofA and am looking for a better bank.


I've been thinking of opening a BofA account. Why are you dissatisfied, if you don't mind my asking.


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## Tucson

*MX - US Bank transfers*

Last year, we opened a "savings" account with BBVA Bancomer. It is free and BBVA Bancomer has staff dedicated to foreign banking transactions. We live in the state of Q. Roo but do not think that should make any difference where you live. Our agent is such a help, going out of her way to help us set up all the auto bill pay mechanisms and, in fact, our banker even walks over to the government office and pays our property tax personally for us (our government office is not too advanced technologically). We just transfer whatever we need into our BBVA Bancomer office account and get the receipt for property tax payments from our agent, when we come to town. 

Any questions about anything and we are on the phone to our representative who gives us all the help we need. It's a free service they offer so might as well utilize it.

Opening this account allows us to do our secure banking on-line meaning we can sit home in the states and transfer money from our Wells Fargo bank into that account. We can also pay our regular MX bills remotely (like TelMex or CFE), as well as transferring pesos into our condo complex HOA account. 

Before we opened this account with BBVA Bancomer, we used to go to our US bank and get wire transfers to send to Mexico to pay whatever we needed to pay; we paid about $35 each time we did this. No more transfer fees now (absolutely none!), and, of course, it is way more convenient to do this from our home computer. 

The MX account has to be a "savings" account to accomplish this. I hope this has been helpful information to the original poster. We've owned in MX for upwards of 12 years now and life just got so much easier after we opened the account. You can always go into your Bancomer office, ask for a foreign business specialist, and talk it over. They are all bi-lingual so some of us foreign language challenged folks aren't at a disadvantage.


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## joaquinx

DNP said:


> I've been thinking of opening a BofA account. Why are you dissatisfied, if you don't mind my asking.


I've had a BofA account since 1996.

1. I tried to buy furniture and at another time a refrigerator and both time BofA froze my account. I had to call them and unfreeze it. I had been living here for 8 years and they still think that I live in the US. Yet I can withdraw funds at an ATM without problem.

2. I had to have my account address in the US in order to wire money to my Mexican bank. If the address was in Mexico, the wire request would error out with an "Invalid Address". 

3. Two years ago, when my debit card was nearing its expiration date, BofA sent me a card by post rather than as before DHL. I called them up asking where it was and then they froze the account and issued a new card. This also invalidate my current card, so I had not way to get funds. The next two cards were also sent by post rather than my requested DHL. The fourth was sent to my address in the US (a friend's). The fifth attempt arrived 1 month after the expiration date along with two others. The third was never found. 

4. Now I need around 3,000 usd and needed to wire it to my Mexican bank. Now you can only wire 1,000 at a time (35 or 45 usd each wire) unless you are registered with their SafePass program. There you need to have an US cell phone number or pay 19.95 for a SafePass card. 

5. Getting to talk to a "real" person at BofA is a chore.

There has to be a bank that services US expats better than this.


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## norocysuerte

RVGRINGO said:


> Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account.


I just opened a bank account at HSBC Mexico and before doing so had the same FDIC concern. I found that they do have an FDIC equivalent called IPAB. 

IPAB


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## sparks

Intercam charges $8us to cash a check. Largest I've done is 4k for house construction. $100 or 4k is $8. Don't know if they can handle big bucks like to buy a house.

Small amounts they can do cash but larger will give you a bank draft


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## grotton

sparks said:


> Intercam charges $8us to cash a check. Largest I've done is 4k for house construction. $100 or 4k is $8. Don't know if they can handle big bucks like to buy a house.
> 
> Small amounts they can do cash but larger will give you a bank draft


I've settled on a solution with Bank of America. I've ordered their SafePass card which generates six digit security codes that are required to be entered when performing an online wire. With the six digit code generated by the card you are able to transfer up to a million dollars via bank wire. The card comes preloaded with approximately 6000 codes and you need to sink it with your banker online; it does not receive a signal of any sort unlike the system where they send you the code via text message. Card costs just under $20.00 and it is powered by a small watch type battery.


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## RPBHaas

grotton said:


> I've settled on a solution with Bank of America. I've ordered their SafePass card which generates six digit security codes that are required to be entered when performing an online wire. With the six digit code generated by the card you are able to transfer up to a million dollars via bank wire. The card comes preloaded with approximately 6000 codes and you need to sink it with your banker online; it does not receive a signal of any sort unlike the system where they send you the code via text message. Card costs just under $20.00 and it is powered by a small watch type battery.


HSBC Mexico has the same "item" called an OTP. It does not cost anything and allows me to transfer or pay virtually anything payable inside Mexico. It does not allow for international transfers leaving Mexico. It arrives already synched with the codes. I have been using one for all of my HSBC accounts for quite some time.


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## grotton

RPBHaas said:


> HSBC Mexico has the same "item" called an OTP. It does not cost anything and allows me to transfer or pay virtually anything payable inside Mexico. It does not allow for international transfers leaving Mexico. It arrives already synched with the codes. I have been using one for all of my HSBC accounts for quite some time.


I'd switch to HSBC if I wasn't so inextricably entwined with BOA for so many things.


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## joaquinx

The only problem with wires from BofA is the exchange rate. BofA will give you a exchange rate when you make the transfer and will lock the rate in until the actual transfer is made. Check that rate with any of the on-line currency exchange rates. Shocking!! The difference can be up to 50 centavos per dollar.


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## Longford

joaquinx said:


> The only problem with wires from BofA is the exchange rate. BofA will give you a exchange rate when you make the transfer and will lock the rate in until the actual transfer is made. Check that rate with any of the on-line currency exchange rates. Shocking!! The difference can be up to 50 centavos per dollar.


That would make the difference ... 3.5%.


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## joaquinx

Longford said:


> That would make the difference ... 3.5%.


Good observation. Who would want to get 13.50 pesos to the dollar at an ATM when you can pay 35 usd to wire funds at 13.00 pesos to the dollar?


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## World_Traveler

You can transfer up to 1500 usd per day with Wells fargo to banks like Bancomer and several others. The fee is 6-8 dollars per transaction and takes a few days. Yesterdays rate was about 13.6 pesos to a 1 usd. If Im not mistaken.


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## Tucson

Good Morning, World Traveler,

We use "Express Send" to make our Wells Fargo deposits into our Bancomer account in Mexico. I am looking at the "Wells Fargo Express Send Remittance Transfer Record" sheets that Wells Fargo mails to us after these tranasfers are made. There is a place for Wells Fargo to record a "service fee" as well as "total transaction fees" and zero is the amount entered for both. All the money sent by Express Send was transferred in each instance with no service/transaction fee.

We have been using Express Send for about 2 years and decided to go this route because there were no transfer fees, saving the $35 wire fee each time we used to send money to Mexico.


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## wv gal

La Paz said:


> Since you specified "large pot of money"....please be aware that if you ever, for any length of time (even passing through an account for 5 minutes) have in excess of $9,999.99 in any bank outside the USA, at any time during the year, you are required to report it to Uncle Sam by filing form TD F 90-22.1. This is not filed with your Federal tax return, it's sent separately to: U.S. Department of the Treasury....it's notification & is not a taxable action.


Forgive me for being a bit confused but does the $9,999.99 amount mean there can not be more than that for any one deposit, no more than that in the account at any one time, or does it mean there can not be more than that amount in the account for the entire year cumulative?

Beware all. I'm going to have a lot more stupid questions and I'm just getting into the Mexico moving idea.

Thanks.


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## TundraGreen

wv gal said:


> Forgive me for being a bit confused but does the $9,999.99 amount mean there can not be more than that for any one deposit, no more than that in the account at any one time, or does it mean there can not be more than that amount in the account for the entire year cumulative?
> 
> Beware all. I'm going to have a lot more stupid questions and I'm just getting into the Mexico moving idea.
> 
> Thanks.


Consider all the bank accounts you have in non-US banks. Sum the balances of all to get the total balance. If at any time during a year, this total is $10,000 or greater, you are required to file a TDF-90-22.1 form by June 30th of the following year. The form is sent to the IRS but it is not part of your tax return. It is a simple form, just your name, address and bank balance(s), and signature.


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## pappabee

*very confusing*

This entire thread has almost as many parts as a DYI project. The OP asked a few different questions, none of which had anything to do with transferring money.

Now we have had suggestions and comments regarding all sorts of transfers.

Let's stop a second and try to sort out a few things.

There are many different ways to move money between banks and businesses.

1--move money from a US or Canadian bank to a bank in Mexico.
2--move money from a Mexican bank to either a US or Canadian bank
3--move money from your government payments SSI, Disability, Federal Pension, etc.
4--move money from your Personal retirement to your Mexican bank.
5--pay US/Canadian bills from your Mexican bank.

Most of these have been asked and answered at least once but since many posters don't attach their response to the posted question it becomes very hard to understand what you are answering. 

For clarity sake, if you are answering a specific posting, please attach your answer to that posting.:confused2::clap2:


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## joaquinx

pappabee said:


> This entire thread has almost as many parts as a DYI project. The OP asked a few different questions, none of which had anything to do with transferring money.
> 
> Now we have had suggestions and comments regarding all sorts of transfers.
> 
> Let's stop a second and try to sort out a few things.
> 
> There are many different ways to move money between banks and businesses.
> 
> 1--move money from a US or Canadian bank to a bank in Mexico.
> 2--move money from a Mexican bank to either a US or Canadian bank
> 3--move money from your government payments SSI, Disability, Federal Pension, etc.
> 4--move money from your Personal retirement to your Mexican bank.
> 5--pay US/Canadian bills from your Mexican bank.
> 
> Most of these have been asked and answered at least once but since many posters don't attach their response to the posted question it becomes very hard to understand what you are answering.
> 
> For clarity sake, if you are answering a specific posting, please attach your answer to that posting.:confused2::clap2:


You take all the fun out of posting.


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## Tucson

Sometimes a question evolves, as we add our own additional questions, thoughts, valuable input (we like to think so, anyway), and, isn't that what a forum is all about? Conversation and dialogue providing us all with an opportunity to learn more about an issue that we all feel is important enough to comment upon.


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## pappabee

joaquinx said:


> You take all the fun out of posting.


My kids always said that I could take the fun out of most things.:eyebrows:


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## pappabee

Tucson said:


> Sometimes a question evolves, as we add our own additional questions, thoughts, valuable input (we like to think so, anyway), and, isn't that what a forum is all about? Conversation and dialogue providing us all with an opportunity to learn more about an issue that we all feel is important enough to comment upon.


I agree completely and that is what is so great about this site. What I said was that if you are responding to a specific post please attach it to that post. With all the different options on some posts it becomes very difficult to keep track as to what you are commenting about. 

Please comment on ANY topic. Spread the knowledge. But try to help us slightly ancient ones to understand what you are commenting on. (now you know why I was never an English teacher---just speech)


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## DennyDaddy

Tuscon...

Wells does charge you a fee at time of the transfer....$2.50 but now went up to $3.oo!

The other fee is the bank gives a lower exchange rate...not much, but its really like a fee. I keep a ap on my phone and always check it to deside to transfer some money.

That official rate is always higher that what they quote at the time of transfer!

But all in all, we do have to pay for the service from Wells! But really its worth it to get funds to MEXICO.

And its quick and easy to use a banker or do it on line.

Then can check on line with the Mex bank to vertify it being received!

DD


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## Tucson

DennyDaddy said:


> Tuscon...
> 
> Wells does charge you a fee at time of the transfer....$2.50 but now went up to $3.oo!
> 
> The other fee is the bank gives a lower exchange rate...not much, but its really like a fee. I keep a ap on my phone and always check it to deside to transfer some money.
> 
> That official rate is always higher that what they quote at the time of transfer!
> 
> But all in all, we do have to pay for the service from Wells! But really its worth it to get funds to MEXICO.
> 
> And its quick and easy to use a banker or do it on line.
> 
> Then can check on line with the Mex bank to vertify it being received!
> 
> DD


Thanks, DD, for the info. I called Wells Fargo 1-800-556-0605 and asked why we do not get charged while others do and the answer is: we have a PMA account with Wells Fargo. The Wells Fargo rep said that the usual charge for customers is $6.00 to transfer money to Mexico via ExpressSend. Your post made me curious enough to make a call and find out why some are charged for "ExpressSend" and others are not. Always good to learn more! 

It really does make life a lot easier to be able to transfer the money and get all the help you need making the transfer. Maybe it is worth asking what is involved with getting an active Wells fargo account set up as a PMA account. From past experiences, many types of service fees are waived.

I like that current currency rates can be checked with a phone ap; you can also call that 800 number (above) to check on the daily rate (there is a menu choice for that).

However, on the Mexican side, the Bancomer account is actually completely free (to our knowledge and based upon our experiences). We've never seen a charge for anything and we've had our Bancomer "Savings" type account for a couple of years now.


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## TundraGreen

Tucson said:


> Thanks, DD, for the info. I called Wells Fargo 1-800-556-0605 and asked why we do not get charged while others do and the answer is: we have a PMA account with Wells Fargo. The Wells Fargo rep said that the usual charge for customers is $6.00 to transfer money to Mexico via ExpressSend. Your post made me curious enough to make a call and find out why some are charged for "ExpressSend" and others are not. Always good to learn more!
> 
> It really does make life a lot easier to be able to transfer the money and get all the help you need making the transfer. Maybe it is worth asking what is involved with getting an active Wells fargo account set up as a PMA account. From past experiences, many types of service fees are waived.
> 
> I like that current currency rates can be checked with a phone ap; you can also call that 800 number (above) to check on the daily rate (there is a menu choice for that).
> 
> However, on the Mexican side, the Bancomer account is actually completely free (to our knowledge and based upon our experiences). We've never seen a charge for anything and we've had our Bancomer "Savings" type account for a couple of years now.


Wells Fargo PMA accounts require either a $30/mo fee, or a $25,000 balance in deposit accounts or a $50,000 balance other types of accounts.


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## DennyDaddy

Ah ha! Wells raised their rates again??? I know for a long time it was for me $2.50! But the last couple transfers they charged me just 3 bucks..2 months ago!

But still cheap, they have to make money anyway. I was never charged 6 bucks, unless the fee just went up, or there are variances in different areas in their service area.

But, when I use my Mex Bancomer debit card....there is a fee from them at the ATM.

DD


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## dstan

Tucson said:


> Thanks, DD, for the info. I called Wells Fargo 1-800-556-0605 and asked why we do not get charged while others do and the answer is: we have a PMA account with Wells Fargo. The Wells Fargo rep said that the usual charge for customers is $6.00 to transfer money to Mexico via ExpressSend. Your post made me curious enough to make a call and find out why some are charged for "ExpressSend" and others are not. Always good to learn more!
> 
> It really does make life a lot easier to be able to transfer the money and get all the help you need making the transfer. Maybe it is worth asking what is involved with getting an active Wells fargo account set up as a PMA account. From past experiences, many types of service fees are waived.
> 
> I like that current currency rates can be checked with a phone ap; you can also call that 800 number (above) to check on the daily rate (there is a menu choice for that).
> 
> However, on the Mexican side, the Bancomer account is actually completely free (to our knowledge and based upon our experiences). We've never seen a charge for anything and we've had our Bancomer "Savings" type account for a couple of years now.



I was charged a hefty service charge by Bancomer when I wired (bank transfer) some money from a Canadian bank. The fee was a standard $45 dollar fee from Canada, but I was unable to determine how they calculated what seemed like a hefty fee on the receiving end in Mexico. Im sorry, but I don't remember the amount, just I was surprised that it was substantial.


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## Tucson

dstan said:


> I was charged a hefty service charge by Bancomer when I wired (bank transfer) some money from a Canadian bank. The fee was a standard $45 dollar fee from Canada, but I was unable to determine how they calculated what seemed like a hefty fee on the receiving end in Mexico. Im sorry, but I don't remember the amount, just I was surprised that it was substantial.


If you have a Bancomer "savings" (not checking) account, ask your Bancomer rep to help you coordinate with your Canadian bank to set it up for bank-to-bank transfers. In the USA, we have ExpressSend as an option. We needed to begin the process in Mexico and finish it with our Wells Fargo bank rep in the USA through an ExpressSend account. We enderstand that Wells Fargo charges non-PMA account holders $6 for this ExpressSend service. PMA account holders pay $0. 

Can you begin by asking if your bank has an ExpressSend option there in Canada? Those wire fees really add up over time and I am glad we don't have to pay those any more. You do avoid wire fees by bank-to-bank transfers between your two accounts but the accounts have to be set up for this to work.


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## trkdrivinfool

Polinero1 said:


> I have just gotten my FM3 and retired. I am planning to move to a house in Mexico that I bought. I have opened an account with HSBC and wonder if I put a large pot of money into the account, if I will have to file a Mexican tax return on the income OR if this is really a good idea to do at all. Might there be problems getting it out? anyone know about this?


I use scotiabank in Canada and Mexico. Although the name is the same the procedure to open a Mexican account was daunting. Once open though electronic transfer to your account was simply a call to Canada bank, have them convert the sum of money to pesos and 45. fee and bam! Money is in Mexico in 2 days. Hope this helps a little.


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