# Banking options for Oaxaca, MX and US



## 4koelemans (Jan 8, 2018)

Hi All. I am new to this group - so excited to read about "all things Mexico" in the threads! We live in San Diego, CA and are in the process of purchasing a half built home (I'll explain later) in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca MX. We plan on going down there for frequent vacations to start, and then in a few years gradually lengthen our stays to a month at a time.
This home was started but the owner passed away half way through construction. It is basically the shell of the home, with a pool. Yes - we have a lot of work to do. 
We need to figure out how we are going to pay the engineers, contractors and laborers down there. Here is my first question - can we open an HSBC bank acct here in the states and withdraw money from an HSBC bank down there?
I need suggestions on the easiest way to transfer $$ to a bank in Mexico - we have friends down there who can physically pay the people - I just don't know the best way to get my friends the $$. Thank you!


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

4koelemans said:


> Hi All. I am new to this group - so excited to read about "all things Mexico" in the threads! We live in San Diego, CA and are in the process of purchasing a half built home (I'll explain later) in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca MX. We plan on going down there for frequent vacations to start, and then in a few years gradually lengthen our stays to a month at a time.
> This home was started but the owner passed away half way through construction. It is basically the shell of the home, with a pool. Yes - we have a lot of work to do.
> We need to figure out how we are going to pay the engineers, contractors and laborers down there. Here is my first question - can we open an HSBC bank acct here in the states and withdraw money from an HSBC bank down there?
> I need suggestions on the easiest way to transfer $$ to a bank in Mexico - we have friends down there who can physically pay the people - I just don't know the best way to get my friends the $$. Thank you!


We liked Puerto Escondido - but at the time it was a rather long drive from Huatulco airport . Just curious - are you on the north or south end ?

Times change - but we opened our initial HSBC Mexican checking account while we were in the states. At the time we had an HSBC premier US account (since closed). That was enough of a placeholder for us to get established in Mexico. We would NEVER use a transfer of funds from HSBC Mx <-> HSBC US. That is just like throwing money into the toilet.

We still have a premier HSBC Mexico account - and that is our primary Mexican bank. On the US side Schwab is our primary bank. Schwab let us set up a pre-arranged agreement such that I can send money to Mexico with no human intervention - and at very little cost (exchange rate). The Schwab <-> HSBC transfer does take 3 days to complete - you are basically purchasing pesos at an agreed upon rate and there is a 'settlement' period. 

You would be amazed how - when motivated - Mexican construction can happen quickly.


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## 4koelemans (Jan 8, 2018)

Thanks for the reply. The home is in Bacocho, north end of PE - next to Riconada. We take Interjet and fly directly into PE. 
So you can transfer $$ from your Scwab acct to your HSBC acct in MX? No problems? My husband did set up an acct with HSBC when he was In PE last month. I need to figure out the best way to get $$ from US --> MX --> my friend so he can pay the workers. And I hope you are right about the time, I want it finished yesterday!


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## luterdan (May 8, 2015)

4koelemans said:


> Thanks for the reply. The home is in Bacocho, north end of PE - next to Riconada. We take Interjet and fly directly into PE.
> So you can transfer $$ from your Scwab acct to your HSBC acct in MX? No problems? My husband did set up an acct with HSBC when he was In PE last month. I need to figure out the best way to get $$ from US --> MX --> my friend so he can pay the workers. And I hope you are right about the time, I want it finished yesterday!


If you are sending money to a friend can you use some of the tools like PayPal, venmo or xoom?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

luterdan said:


> If you are sending money to a friend can you use some of the tools like PayPal, venmo or xoom?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk


I'll defer to luterdan's expertise...


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Just curious: Sometime in the last decade, a friend from my home town in CA moved to PE and intended to build a home there. We corresponded for awhile and then I stopped hearing from her. She had heart trouble and was no youngster, so I'm wondering if it is the same person. Would you mind PMing me the name of the person whose house you're finishing?


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

This is not an answer to your question, I apologize, but just wanted to give you a heads up- it is really not a good idea to contract to have construction done here in Mexico in your absence. I know so many people who tried that ("oh, we have a great contractor, we have no worries about it....). One friend returned to find all her kitchen counters done in an ugly cheap looking green tile when she had left the builder a sample of the exact tile she wanted, which was available locally (the one she picked was green as well, so the builder thought it was fine to substitute, cause, hey, it's green), another came back to find that the roof line was totally reversed from how it was on the original plan, another, who was extremely organized, went around with her builder to other houses he had done, took tons of photos and put together a binder with the photos and detailed instructions as to where she wanted everything. Like one page had a photo of a floor, and said THESE TILES THROUGHOUT. Another page had a photo of a wall and said MASTER BEDROOM THIS COLOR. Another THIS WOOD FOR KITCHEN CABINETS. It couldn't have been more clear. She returned to find different floor tiles, different paint colors, totally different wood used for cabinets. 
So I try to warn people. I found I had to be on my job site every day. If I missed a day, I'd arrive to find a window frame had been built in the wrong place, or too high or too low, etc, etc.


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

OMG!!! Never trust a Mexican contractor . Your house will be built with he cheapest materials available. Buy the book "God and Mr. Gomez. It is out of print but used ones pop up.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

surabi said:


> This is not an answer to your question, I apologize, but just wanted to give you a heads up- it is really not a good idea to contract to have construction done here in Mexico in your absence. I know so many people who tried that ("oh, we have a great contractor, we have no worries about it....). One friend returned to find all her kitchen counters done in an ugly cheap looking green tile when she had left the builder a sample of the exact tile she wanted, which was available locally (the one she picked was green as well, so the builder thought it was fine to substitute, cause, hey, it's green), another came back to find that the roof line was totally reversed from how it was on the original plan, another, who was extremely organized, went around with her builder to other houses he had done, took tons of photos and put together a binder with the photos and detailed instructions as to where she wanted everything. Like one page had a photo of a floor, and said THESE TILES THROUGHOUT. Another page had a photo of a wall and said MASTER BEDROOM THIS COLOR. Another THIS WOOD FOR KITCHEN CABINETS. It couldn't have been more clear. She returned to find different floor tiles, different paint colors, totally different wood used for cabinets.
> So I try to warn people. I found I had to be on my job site every day. If I missed a day, I'd arrive to find a window frame had been built in the wrong place, or too high or too low, etc, etc.


Wise words. Our house in Mexico is being built in stages, and work is done only when my Mexican husband is there to oversee, source the materials, etc.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

How about requesting a bathtub and a child sized tub, non-returnable, appearing? the contractor came highly recommended. It was a good thing that we weren't away from the scene and were able to stop that installation in time. Advice: BE THERE.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lagoloo said:


> How about requesting a bathtub and a child sized tub, non-returnable, appearing? the contractor came highly recommended. It was a good thing that we weren't away from the scene and were able to stop that installation in time. Advice: BE THERE.


What excuse did the "highly recommended" contractor give for ordering the wrong size bathtub?


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Isla Verde said:


> What excuse did the "highly recommended" contractor give for ordering the wrong size bathtub?


It took imagination on his part. Something about the "wrong measurements"needing to order small tub. I lost it a bit at that point and he ended up having to move a wall to accommodate a normal tub. Needless to say, we ended the relationship shortly after that and did not "highly recommend" him to anyone.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lagoloo said:


> It took imagination on his part. Something about the "wrong measurements"needing to order small tub. I lost it a bit at that point and he ended up having to move a wall to accommodate a normal tub. Needless to say, we ended the relationship shortly after that and did not "highly recommend" him to anyone.


Ah, ha! I'll bet he ordered the small tub in hopes of avoiding moving the wall.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Isla Verde said:


> Ah, ha! I'll bet he ordered the small tub in hopes of avoiding moving the wall.


Nah. He had no idea that a mere ****** female would question his judgment. This guy was really full of himself. Fortunately, there were two of us glaring at him; one of them a big old guy, and we were the peso providers. That moved the wall.


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## [email protected] (Nov 12, 2017)

*God and Mr. Gomez*

I just tonight received my copy of this book ( via ebay ). So looking forward to reading this. Thank you for mentioning this on this forum.



Bobbyb said:


> OMG!!! Never trust a Mexican contractor . Your house will be built with he cheapest materials available. Buy the book "God and Mr. Gomez. It is out of print but used ones pop up.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

On the Original Topic, one good solution for banking would be to set up a US checking account with Schwab and use their Platinum Visa Debit ATM card to withdraw pesos from any Mexican ATM (Schwab refunds the ATM fees at the end of the month). Mexican banks have a daily withdrawal limit, but with the Schwab card you can max out several different Mexican banks' ATMs in the same day if necessary. I haven't hit my Schwab daily limit yet, so I don't know what it is. 

I got 12,000 pesos from an HSBC ATM in a single pull this month, over $500 US. This keeps your money in a US bank, with FDIC insurance, eliminates fees other than currency conversion spread, gives you access to more than one bank's ATMs, and doesn't convert your money to pesos until you need it. It also lets you pay the workers in cash.

And you can keep the big money in the brokerage account and move it to the checking account a bit at a time by computer or smartphone. The brokerage account is SIPC insured (only the checking account is FDIC insured).

If you're going to pay thousands of dollars in a single payment to the contractor, you might need to plan ahead and start pulling money a few days early depending on what the daily Schwab limit turns out to be, but using a wire to move money from the US would entail the same pre-planning and more fees.


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