# Walmart MoneyCard (prepaid debit card) at a Walmart in Mexico City?



## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

I am from the USA and will be traveling in Mexico City. Does anyone know if it is possible to get a Walmart MoneyCard (prepaid debit card) at a Walmart in Mexico City?

Thanks.


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

Can anyone help me out with this simple question?

Else I will have to travel to the USA only to get a prepaid debit card, if I can't get one in Mexico. I am going to be relocating from Thailand to Mexico City.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I have heard of prepaid debit cards in Mexico. There was a rumor that one political party was giving them out during one election. I have no idea about Walmart. I don't shop there.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Maybe the question isn’t so simple because no one here in this forum uses them. If you describe why you seek to use them, why you’d be looking for them, perhaps we can suggest an alternative that would be readily available in Mexico.


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

maesonna said:


> Maybe the question isn’t so simple because no one here in this forum uses them. If you describe why you seek to use them, why you’d be looking for them, perhaps we can suggest an alternative that would be readily available in Mexico.


I am relocating from Thailand to Mexico. I don't feel safe leaving my money in a online Thai bank account, but I don't have a bank account in the US or Mexico to transfer my money to. So I will bring the allowable amount on the plane with me. But I don't want to be having that much cash with me, while I am in Mexico City.

Thanks so much for any advice.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

moving-2-mexico said:


> I am relocating from Thailand to Mexico. I don't feel safe leaving my money in a online Thai bank account, but I don't have a bank account in the US or Mexico to transfer my money to. So I will bring the allowable amount on the plane with me. But I don't want to be having that much cash with me, while I am in Mexico City.
> 
> Thanks so much for any advice.


Maybe open an account in an international bank with branches in both Thailand and Mexico. Mexico has HSBC, BBVA, Scotia, CitiBanamex.


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

TundraGreen said:


> Maybe open an account in an international bank with branches in both Thailand and Mexico. Mexico has HSBC, BBVA, Scotia, CitiBanamex.


That is a great idea. I am sure HSBC and Scotiabank is here. But I am pretty certain they will want to see a work visa or maybe a large deposit. I will see if I can make it work.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Most banks in Mexico require at least a resident visa (not necessarily with authorization to work) but some people on a tourist permit have reported being able to open a bank account. In some cases, even different branches of the same bank have a different answer to the request of opening an account on a tourist permit, so it might be a question of going in person from bank to bank until you find one that says “yes”.

The usual requirements for opening a bank account are: •official ID (passport and visa); •proof of address (a bill for water, landline telephone, or electricity, no more than 3 months old, _doesn’t have to be in your name_); •names and contact information of two references; and •funds for the initial deposit. The size of the deposit required varies a lot, depending on the type of account, so it might not necessarily have to be big – some account types can be opened with just a few thousand pesos.


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

maesonna said:


> Most banks in Mexico require at least a resident visa (not necessarily with authorization to work) but some people on a tourist permit have reported being able to open a bank account. In some cases, even different branches of the same bank have a different answer to the request of opening an account on a tourist permit, so it might be a question of going in person from bank to bank until you find one that says “yes”.
> 
> The usual requirements for opening a bank account are: •official ID (passport and visa); •proof of address (a bill for water, landline telephone, or electricity, no more than 3 months old, _doesn’t have to be in your name_); •names and contact information of two references; and •funds for the initial deposit. The size of the deposit required varies a lot, depending on the type of account, so it might not necessarily have to be big – some account types can be opened with just a few thousand pesos.


It would be great if I could open a bank account in Mexico City. I will only qualify for a tourist visa. Just makes me nervous carrying around too much cash, until I get everything sorted out to apply for a bank account. Thanks for your detailed reply.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

moving-2-mexico said:


> It would be great if I could open a bank account in Mexico City. I will only qualify for a tourist visa. Just makes me nervous carrying around too much cash, until I get everything sorted out to apply for a bank account. Thanks for your detailed reply.


You wouldn't need to open a bank account here. Just use a debit card to get cash from your existing account in Thailand at an ATM machine in Mexico. The only advantage of having the account at a bank that exists in Mexico, is that you can go to branch of the same bank and save on fees.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

moving-2-mexico said:


> It would be great if I could open a bank account in Mexico City. I will only qualify for a tourist visa. Just makes me nervous carrying around too much cash, until I get everything sorted out to apply for a bank account. Thanks for your detailed reply.


You can walk into an HSBC branch in Thailand and tell them you would like to open a International account in Mexico. There are some 30 countries in which HSBC will let you do this. We did that years ago sitting in a US USBC branch. It took a couple hours of paperwork sitting with the rep. HSBC provides these accounts for such things as students, business executives etc. In our case we were moving to Mexico but had not yet received our resident visas. Nor did we yet have an address. In fact - one of our reasons for opening the account so we would have a check book. We wrote a physical check to secure a rental lease. The check was simply held for security and was returned to us. At one point my wife was being paid in euros while working remotely. Every month we were going through currency exchanges to dollars. HSBC suggested we open a euro based account and put us in touch with someone on an island off Europe (I can't recall which). You would earn no interest but you would get your debit card.

You can google (or duckduckgo) HSBC international account or such. You will find info/rules/costs.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

I don't know about other banks, but if you have a Scotiabank account anywhere in the world, you can use Scotiabank ATMs anywhere without paying any service fees as long as you keep some minimum amount in your account (I'm not sure what that amount presently is). They are loosely affiliated in that way, but if you were to lose your ATM card issued in Thailand, you couldn't walk into a Mexican Scotiabank and get a new card.

One thing to be aware of in Mexico is that there is lots of fraud- you should never use a ATM that isn't connected to a brick and mortar bank. Stand-alone ATMs sometimes have card readers stuck in them by criminals. Or if the machine should eat your card, you want to just be able to walk into the bank that it's attached to.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

You may want to research Transferwise. They have a debit card I believe is usable in Mexico. Don't know if you can initiate a fund account with them in Thailand - however worth a look.









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transferwise.com


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

Stevenjb said:


> You may want to research Transferwise. They have a debit card I believe is usable in Mexico. Don't know if you can initiate a fund account with them in Thailand - however worth a look.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I set up a Transerwise account, then learned it is only possible to send money to Thailand, not possible to transfer money out to their debit card. It is possible in many other countries.


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## moving-2-mexico (Nov 13, 2020)

Thanks for all your replies about banks. I will look into HSBC and Scotiabank. But I already have a bank account in Thailand. I am just worried about their online banking. I think what I will do is just keep my Thai bank account and like one person mentioned, it might be possible to het a bank account in Mexico on a tourist visa. So I will try to that. Then transfer my money asap. 

I am not a Walmart fan, but I used their prepaid debit card another time I was going to another country and it worked good. I hoped I could just do that again.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> Maybe open an account in an international bank with branches in both Thailand and Mexico. Mexico has HSBC, BBVA, Scotia, CitiBanamex.


Mexico also has Santander, where I do my banking.


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