# changes in banking rules



## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

My wife went to our branch of BBVA in Ajijic last week and was told that the laws had changed and the bank was no longer allowed to accept US checks for deposit into Mexican bank accounts. is this true????????


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

pappabee said:


> My wife went to our branch of BBVA in Ajijic last week and was told that the laws had changed and the bank was no longer allowed to accept US checks for deposit into Mexican bank accounts. is this true????????


It is probably more accurate to say that the bank chooses to no longer accept deposits because the reporting requirements that banks must meet have become more onerous.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Yet another interesting and short article on our ongoing banking problems here in old Mexico http://wallstcheatsheet.com/business/why-are-banks-refusing-to-transfer-your-money-abroad.html/?a=viewall


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

I deposited a US check to my BBVA Bancomer account on June 10.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

makaloco said:


> I deposited a US check to my BBVA Bancomer account on June 10.


That could be the last time.

Sent from my XT919 using Expat Forum


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

This seems to me to be much ado about nothing. I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer. If I need extra money to, say. buy a house or a car, I can wire transfer those funds from my U.S. bank at no fee and a favorable dollar/peso exchange rate to either Banamex or Bancomer and deliver a Mexican bank cashiers check in pesos to affect the transaction.

By the way, if you have a good bank/investment house in the U.S., it´s best to change dollars to pesos before wiring the funds as there are less fingers in the pie.

As for transferring pesos exchanged into dollars back to the U.S. - why would anybody do that? 

This is not complicated despite the new U.S. laws.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> This seems to me to be much ado about nothing. I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer. If I need extra money to, say. buy a house or a car, I can wire transfer those funds from my U.S. bank at no fee and a favorable dollar/peso exchange rate to either Banamex or Bancomer and deliver a Mexican bank cashiers check in pesos to affect the transaction.


You didn't mention how you got the 10,000 pesos to your bank. Wiring moneys? Yes, this seems to be the only service that US banks are offering. Banks are ditching all the easier, faster methods and checks - gone. Wire and using a non-bank service to transfer the funds such as xoom or XE are what's left..


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

joaquinx said:


> You didn't mention how you got the 10,000 pesos to your bank. Wiring moneys? Yes, this seems to be the only service that US banks are offering. Banks are ditching all the easier, faster methods and checks - gone. Wire and using a non-bank service to transfer the funds such as xoom or XE are what's left..


You don't have to put pesos in your US Bank. They are kind of magical. You put dollars in and take pesos out. And depending on the US bank you choose, they don't even charge for this magic.

You do have to put dollars into the US bank, but most sources of dollars these days do direct deposit. I also have discovered that I can move money between US banks by writing a check on one and scanning it with a smart phone/tablet app from the other. I haven't tried this yet, but it seems like a useful feature.

I can still take money out of my Mexican bank. I haven't tried depositing money to it lately. But when I do I will probably withdraw pesos from a US bank at the ATM then walk into the bank and deposit pesos. That is what I did last time.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=joaquinx;4708345]You didn't mention how you got the 10,000 pesos to your bank. Wiring moneys? Yes, this seems to be the only service that US banks are offering. Banks are ditching all the easier, faster methods and checks - gone. Wire and using a non-bank service to transfer the funds such as xoom or XE are what's left..[/QUOTE]_

Forgive me, joaquinx but I don´t understand the nature of your question. The money I have in my U.S. bank (actually an investment house with an attached bank) is IRA money and that plus social security benefits is what I live on. It may not be a lot of money but $10,000 Pesos is only about a little over $800USD so that´s not a lot of money. While I do not plan to wire any money down here to buy a house or a car, I presume such a monetary transfer would be easy by wire so what´s all the fuss about?


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_[. I haven't tried depositing money to it lately. But when I do I will probably withdraw pesos from a US bank at the ATM then walk into the bank and deposit pesos. That is what I did last time.[/QUOTE]_

That´s exactly what I do. I go to any ATM in Ajijic or San Cristóbal or anywhere else in Mexico for that matter even in crappy small towns, withdraw equivalent pesos from my U.S. bank and deposit the pesos into my Mexican bank account. Sincé my Mexican baks. Bancomer and Banamex, have branches all over Mexicom that´s no problem ever anywhere. If I have the need for a large sum of money to buy a house or car. I simply wire the funfds for free from my U.S. bank to one or the other Mexcan banks who have branches everywhere in Mexico. EVERYWHERE!

We have lived in Mexico for over 13 years. We have experienced no problems whatsoever with banking here. 

What´s the big deal?


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Dog, you said " I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer". Nice to know. Can I assume this magic is done by ATM? Or is there another method?

I further mentioned that they only other means of transferring monies from the US to Mexico is via wire or 3rd party methods such as xoom or xe. Plus, it seems that banks are curtailing easier methods of transferring funds and leaving us only with wire as a bank service. 

Am I clear?


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=joaquinx;4708681]Dog, you said " I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer". Nice to know. Can I assume this magic is done by ATM? Or is there another method?

I further mentioned that they only other means of transferring monies from the US to Mexico is via wire or 3rd party methods such as xoom or xe. Plus, it seems that banks are curtailing easier methods of transferring funds and leaving us only with wire as a bank service. 

Am I clear?[/QUOTE]_

Sorry, joaquinx - I meant to say by ATM. Otherwise I must transfer money by wire. A safe and encoded process.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> joaquinx said:
> 
> 
> > Dog, you said " I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer". Nice to know. Can I assume this magic is done by ATM? Or is there another method?
> ...


 Safe but expensive, unless you have a source that wires money without a fee.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I was doing the ATM route from BofA to my Mexican bank until last November when BofA upped the conversion rate from 1% to 3%. Now, I have heard that the fee-free withdrawals from Santander have been halted -- adding another cost to ATM usage. I am finding xoom.com cheaper than ATM withdrawals. I can be sure of one other thing and that is it will be getting more and more difficult for expats to get funds from the US in the future.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Hound Dog said:


> This seems to me to be much ado about nothing. I can get up to $10,000 Pesos a day from my U.S. bank which I can then deposit in my Mexican checking account at Banamex or my Mexican savings account at Bancomer. If I need extra money to, say. buy a house or a car, I can wire transfer those funds from my U.S. bank at no fee and a favorable dollar/peso exchange rate to either Banamex or Bancomer and deliver a Mexican bank cashiers check in pesos to affect the transaction.
> 
> By the way, if you have a good bank/investment house in the U.S., it´s best to change dollars to pesos before wiring the funds as there are less fingers in the pie.
> 
> ...


Hound Dog, is that $10,000 peso daily withdrawal via your US bank credit or check card? Is that fee-free wire transfer normal? Would you disclose the name of your bank here or in pm? Thanks.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> Hound Dog, is that $10,000 peso daily withdrawal via your US bank credit or check card? Is that fee-free wire transfer normal? Would you disclose the name of your bank here or in pm? Thanks.


MM:

I don´t mind telling you my banks:

In the U.S. it´s Charles Schwab. In Mexico they are BBVA Bancomer and Banamex plus I have an account at Intercam. 

Good luck to you.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

joaquinx said:


> I was doing the ATM route from BofA to my Mexican bank until last November when BofA upped the conversion rate from 1% to 3%. Now, I have heard that the fee-free withdrawals from Santander have been halted -- adding another cost to ATM usage. I am finding xoom.com cheaper than ATM withdrawals. I can be sure of one other thing and that is it will be getting more and more difficult for expats to get funds from the US in the future.


Three days ago I made a withdrawal from my Santander account and no fees were charged, as far as I can tell. Where did you hear that fee-free withdrawals are now a thing of the past?


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

I also have Schwab Bank account where I can withdrawal $2000 USD a day ( aprox.24,000+ pesos) from any ATM with all fees reimbursed monthly...
I also have CitiBank with the same withdrawal limits and no fees at Banamex ATM's...


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> Three days ago I made a withdrawal from my Santander account and no fees were charged, as far as I can tell. Where did you hear that fee-free withdrawals are now a thing of the past?


He is talking about withdrawals at a Mexican bank ATM from a US bank dollar account. It does not apply to withdrawing pesos from a Mexico bank account at a Mexico bank ATM.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> He is talking about withdrawals at a Mexican bank ATM from a US bank dollar account. It does not apply to withdrawing pesos from a Mexico bank account at a Mexico bank ATM.


But most of the money in my Santander account comes from the direct deposit of my monthly US Social Security check.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

TundraGreen said:


> He is talking about withdrawals at a Mexican bank ATM from a US bank dollar account. It does not apply to withdrawing pesos from a Mexico bank account at a Mexico bank ATM.


Isla's question made me look up where I saw that information. I saw it this morning and now I can not find the url. I apologize and will try and find it unless someone who withdraws from Santander with a BofA card can refute or verify what I wrote.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

joaquinx said:


> Isla's question made me look up where I saw that information. I saw it this morning and now I can not find the url. I apologize and will try and find it unless someone who withdraws from Santander with a BofA card can refute or verify what I wrote.


The withdrawal I mentioned was done with my Santander card, not my BofA card. The next time I use the latter card to make a withdrawal, I'll let the forum know if any fees were deducted.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Hound Dog said:


> MM:
> 
> I don´t mind telling you my banks:
> 
> ...


Thanks much, Hound Dog. Appreciate it.


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