# Receiving New Debit Card in Mexico



## MissThing (Nov 12, 2015)

Figures as soon as I leave the U.S. my bank notifies me that I have to activate a new debit card they mailed to my old address. I called them and reminded them that I was traveling indefinitely and they asked if they could send the new card to me in DF.

Is the mail service here reliable? What type of delivery service should I be asking them to use?

Anyone have any suggestions?


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Have it sent by FedEx instead of mail.


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## michmex (Jul 15, 2012)

MissThing said:


> Figures as soon as I leave the U.S. my bank notifies me that I have to activate a new debit card they mailed to my old address. I called them and reminded them that I was traveling indefinitely and they asked if they could send the new card to me in DF.
> 
> Is the mail service here reliable? What type of delivery service should I be asking them to use?
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?


DHL has the best international service here in the DF. They are more difficult to locate in the USA though. USPS mail service to Mexico and then delivery here by Correos de Mexico is the least preferred. FedEx falls someway in the middle depending on your location in the DF.


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## MissThing (Nov 12, 2015)

It seems that from what I understand so far here is that homes are erratically numbered and the best place to get a delivery is not to your personal address but to a postal office. I'm in a pretty sprawling and hard to figure out area of Tlalpan.

Anybody have any experience with picking up a package at a designated postal office?


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

MissThing said:


> It seems that from what I understand so far here is that homes are erratically numbered and the best place to get a delivery is not to your personal address but to a postal office. I'm in a pretty sprawling and hard to figure out area of Tlalpan.
> 
> Anybody have any experience with picking up a package at a designated postal office?


I FedExed some official documentation from Toronto to my husband who was in Tepoztlan, Morelos. Having them deliver it to Tepoztlan was going to add a couple of days and extra cost, so I designated for him to pick it up at a FedEx location in Cuernavaca. I actually put the FedEx office closest to Tepoztlan as his address, and he picked it up the next day with no problem.

If I had not put the closer FedEx office as his address, but just requested the "For Pick Up at FedEx Office" option, by default it would have gone to a different FedEx location in Cuernavaca that was on the other side of the city. The only way to allow him to pick it up at the closer office was by writing that office as his address (but I added that he would be coming to pick it up there, and I put his cell number on as well). 

So I would suggest you find the FedEx location closest to you, then have it sent to you c/o that FedEx office.


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## MissThing (Nov 12, 2015)

Hi thanks for the tip. Will try this. Seems the most fool proof!!


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

My bank sent DHL and the driver claimed he couldn't find the house. I finaly called the office in Manzanillo and they had it. Said they only hold for 10 days and then send it back. 

My bank forgot to charge me the $40+/-

Don't keep the cards in your wallet in your back pocket ... mine cracked


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## MissThing (Nov 12, 2015)

After an almost one hour phone call with customer service reps who are clearly stumped by people who are traveling for indefinite periods my bank said they can't send my new debit card to Mexico because it's a "high risk" country so they would send it to a friend in NY and my friend could send it to me. "Global banking" yeah, right...


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## diablita (May 7, 2010)

MissThing said:


> After an almost one hour phone call with customer service reps who are clearly stumped by people who are traveling for indefinite periods my bank said they can't send my new debit card to Mexico because it's a "high risk" country so they would send it to a friend in NY and my friend could send it to me. "Global banking" yeah, right...


I'm having a similar problem with my bank right now, Wells Fargo and I'm thinking about switching banks.


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## MissThing (Nov 12, 2015)

I bank with Citibank. Ugh.

A few days into arriving in Mexico, they send me an email telling me to activate a new debit card just sent to at an address in the U.S. where I probably won't be returning any time in the near future. When I tell them this, they tell me they're blocking that unactivated card then as well as the one in my wallet since it has the same number. I can't log into the online banking system and replace my U.S. address with a Mexican one because that can only be done at a branch office in the U.S. What tha...?

Their policies are so backwards -- only geared towards people taking vacations as opposed to traveling without an itinerary or timeline....every customer service person I spoke to using a singsong form of English that bordered on gibberish. I know it's cheaper to outsource, but the stress it puts on customers to try and make sense of some of these reps...


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

sparks said:


> My bank sent DHL and the driver claimed he couldn't find the house. I finaly called the office in Manzanillo and they had it. Said they only hold for 10 days and then send it back.
> 
> My bank forgot to charge me the $40+/-
> 
> Don't keep the cards in your wallet in your back pocket ... mine cracked


Wallets in back pockets are more vulnerable to pickpocketing. Two of our friends in Pátzcuaro can attest to that.


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## roni (May 12, 2009)

Every piece of mail sent to us air mail (to Merida) has arrived, including debit and credit cards. No problems.


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