# US/Mexican Bank Agreements for no fee transactions



## La Osita

I have an US bank account with Wachovia/Wells Fargo. Does anyone know if Wachovia has an agreement with any of the Mexican banks that allows ATM debit card withdrawals without incurring a fee for the transaction? thx


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## La Osita

I forgot to ask if anyone knows which Mexican bank offers the lowest fee for a US debit card withdrawal from one of its' ATMS. The banking system here is difficult at best as I don't have an FM2 (or FM3).


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> I have an US bank account with Wachovia/Wells Fargo. Does anyone know if Wachovia has an agreement with any of the Mexican banks that allows ATM debit card withdrawals without incurring a fee for the transaction? thx


I have a Wachovia account as well. I also have a BoA account. Wachovia was no help as it seems they dont have any affiliations in Mexico.

My main bank is BoA and they have an agreement with Santander for no fees transactions.


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## tjfjrabm

conorkilleen said:


> I have a Wachovia account as well. I also have a BoA account. Wachovia was no help as it seems they dont have any affiliations in Mexico.
> 
> My main bank is BoA and they have an agreement with Santander for no fees transactions.


also scotia bank has no fee with bofa. fyi hope this helps


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## conorkilleen

tjfjrabm said:


> also scotia bank has no fee with bofa. fyi hope this helps


GOOD TO KNOW! Thanks. That makes my options allot better.


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## La Osita

I discovered this past week that Wells Fargo offers a service called Express Send. This allows me to send money to Mexico either in the form of cash or directly to a bank account (there are a number of them on their list) for a flat rate $6 fee. Once Wells Fargo sets the service up on the account transactions can be processed via online banking. The service has a $1,500 limit per day and as far as I can tell no cap on monthly or yearly totals. Once established, the funds are available immediately upon sending them (at least this is what they say).

Right now I'm liking this, as my funds stay in the USA up and until I want them in Mexico... the fee seems pretty low. I just did a 'test' run and sent $100 to Bancomer as cash. My fiance will pick it up. We want to see how much/if any funds Bancomer takes from the total. My experience with Mexican banks thus far has not been the best...


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> I discovered this past week that Wells Fargo offers a service called Express Send. This allows me to send money to Mexico either in the form of cash or directly to a bank account (there are a number of them on their list) for a flat rate $6 fee. Once Wells Fargo sets the service up on the account transactions can be processed via online banking. The service has a $1,500 limit per day and as far as I can tell no cap on monthly or yearly totals. Once established, the funds are available immediately upon sending them (at least this is what they say).
> 
> Right now I'm liking this, as my funds stay in the USA up and until I want them in Mexico... the fee seems pretty low. I just did a 'test' run and sent $100 to Bancomer as cash. My fiance will pick it up. We want to see how much/if any funds Bancomer takes from the total. My experience with Mexican banks thus far has not been the best...


My money stays in the US as well until I want it in Mexico. I just take cash out of the ATM with 0 fees.

I understand if you don't want to switch banks however. I know BOA has a easy send program called safe send or something like that. The fees are ridiculous. Mexico, as I have found, is a cash society anyway so it really wont help me here to have a mexican Bank account unless I want to get a cell phone plan or make payments on merchandise.


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## La Osita

conorkilleen said:


> My money stays in the US as well until I want it in Mexico. I just take cash out of the ATM with 0 fees.
> 
> I understand if you don't want to switch banks however. I know BOA has a easy send program called safe send or something like that. The fees are ridiculous. Mexico, as I have found, is a cash society anyway so it really wont help me here to have a mexican Bank account unless I want to get a cell phone plan or make payments on merchandise.


I agree with your take on Mexico being a cash society. My fiance has a bank account that we use just to handle the utility payments, etc. (BOA foreclosed on my house in FL (I lost my job with the school system) three years ago, so BOA is out of the question.) For all the problems/issues that Mexico has, I've been treated a whole lot better in Mexico than I was treated in the US when I lost my job and subsequently lost everything I had worked towards for 25 years. I'm not a big fan of banks whatever the country! If I find that Bancomer doesn't take a huge chunk out of the money sent thru Wells Fargo I'll be very happy.


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> I agree with your take on Mexico being a cash society. My fiance has a bank account that we use just to handle the utility payments, etc. (BOA foreclosed on my house in FL (I lost my job with the school system) three years ago, so BOA is out of the question.) For all the problems/issues that Mexico has, I've been treated a whole lot better in Mexico than I was treated in the US when I lost my job and subsequently lost everything I had worked towards for 25 years. I'm not a big fan of banks whatever the country! If I find that Bancomer doesn't take a huge chunk out of the money sent thru Wells Fargo I'll be very happy.


I'd be curious to know what your threshold is for a "chunk". Are you willing to sacrifice up to 15-25%. It it was that I would look into Western Union or another money sending service. Where I was living in North Carolina there were allot of Mexican stores and money sending services with very small fees. (ex. $200 cash sent to Oaxaca from the US had a $7 fee. I think with some services, on the other end the person receiving the money had to pay a few pesos as well). These services were really targeted for the non-documented in the area, however.

I think you will be fine with Wells Fargo...its the other end of the line you need to watch out for as you stated.


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## joaquinx

conorkilleen said:


> Where I was living in North Carolina there were allot of Mexican stores and money sending services with very small fees. (ex. $200 cash sent to Oaxaca from the US had a $7 fee. I think with some services, on the other end the person receiving the money had to pay a few pesos as well).


This begs the question: what was the exchange rate when sending 200 usd. I don't believe that it was a "good" rate.

I have a Mexican bank account in which I keep a few thousand pesos. I use it to make purchases rather than my US bank debit card. If I lose it or have it stolen, the lose is small and I can get it replaced quickly. Not so with the US card where I keep all my funds. Replacement is real difficult. The US card is for withdrawing funds from the ATM - nothing else not even Internet purchases.


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## conorkilleen

joaquinx said:


> This begs the question: what was the exchange rate when sending 200 usd. I don't believe that it was a "good" rate.
> 
> I have a Mexican bank account in which I keep a few thousand pesos. I use it to make purchases rather than my US bank debit card. If I lose it or have it stolen, the lose is small and I can get it replaced quickly. Not so with the US card where I keep all my funds. Replacement is real difficult. The US card is for withdrawing funds from the ATM - nothing else not even Internet purchases.


Not sure what the exchange rate was for the service location my fiance used but it was along the same lines as what would be expected with any international money wiring service that is not a bank. They had promotions a few times a year when the rates were better (X-mas and Semana Santa, ect).

I have often thought about having a MX bank account at Santander, but the "safe send" that Bank of America has is a rip off. 40-50 bucks for a transfer last time I checked with my banker plus some other fees. What I have thought about doing was opening a Santander account, taking cash out of my BoA account with the Santander ATM without any fees, then depositing that same cash into the Santander account. I think this would save a ton of fees, but I have not looked into it further than just daydreaming about it.

I am too afraid of losing my ATM BoA card here in Mex because that would kill me. It would be at least a month before I would get a new card (meaning I would need to go back to my branch to apply for a new one and then wait a few weeks for a new one to come). However last time I lost my card they gave me a temporary card till my new one arrived. Still, it would be a major pain.


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## La Osita

15-25% would not be ok with me! But I know that Mexican banks have been known to do such things. We'll see what Bancomer does. I'll be calling my fiance in a couple hours to see what happened. A $6- fee for $1,500 though is perfectly acceptable from Wells Fargo. I'll post back to let you know. If that's the only cost I'll be delighted. 

To answer your questions joaquinx: The exchange rate I received from Wells Fargo was 11.6.. My slip from the bank shows $150 sent by me from Wells Fargo (I goofed my amt in my previous post) with an exchange to 1,745 pesos. I'm happy with that. I doubt I could do better anywhere else. My fiance and I use our bank account only for paying the 'monthly' utility and cell phone bill... we take one monthly withdrawal for all other expenses and pay for everything with cash. We never use debit or credit cards, either Mexican or US.


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## La Osita

I too would get a bit paranoid about losing my ATM card if I had to use it to move money while in Mexico. I am hoping that by using Wells Fargo's online banking my transactions will be safe. And, my money stays in the US up and until I need it. If I choose to send money as 'cash' and not direct deposit it to our bank account, there are quite a number of locations/sources where I can choose to pick it up. I just have to show i.d. and the transaction code. The only person(s) allowed to pick up the money are the individual(s) I listed on the Wells Fargo Express Send agreement when I set it up. Unlike BOA there are no $40ish fees... no maintenance fees, no yearly fees, etc. etc. It's a NO COST program other than the $6 flat fee for each transaction (at least on the US side). I'll keep you posted on how well it works out.


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## joaquinx

conorkilleen said:


> I have often thought about having a MX bank account at Santander, but the "safe send" that Bank of America has is a rip off. 40-50 bucks for a transfer last time I checked with my banker plus some other fees. What I have thought about doing was opening a Santander account, taking cash out of my BoA account with the Santander ATM without any fees, then depositing that same cash into the Santander account. I think this would save a ton of fees, but I have not looked into it further than just daydreaming about it.
> 
> I am too afraid of losing my ATM BoA card here in Mex because that would kill me. It would be at least a month before I would get a new card (meaning I would need to go back to my branch to apply for a new one and then wait a few weeks for a new one to come). However last time I lost my card they gave me a temporary card till my new one arrived. Still, it would be a major pain.


In checking with BofA, there is NO fee for SafeSend transfers. There is a $35 to $45 usd fee for wire transfers depending on the speed of transfer you opt for.

Losing a Debit Card (not an ATM card) can be troublesome. You have to call to get it canceled and then BofA will MAIL you another one. That can take up to 4 weeks depending on where you live in Mexico. The last time my debit card was expiring, BofA sent me one via MAIL and it arrived three weeks after the expiration. Before it expired, I called and asked why it hadn't been delivered yet. When they heard that, they froze my still good card and left me without any way to get fund for the simple things like rent and food. Luckily, I had wired money to my Mexican bank account before, thus was able to send money to myself.


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> Unlike BOA there are no $40ish fees... no maintenance fees, no yearly fees, etc. etc. It's a NO COST program other than the $6 flat fee for each transaction (at least on the US side). I'll keep you posted on how well it works out.


Like I mentioned, I have a Wells fargo account too. This may be a better option. I'll look into this for sure! I may be telling BOA to go take a hike.

Please let me know how it works out for you.


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## conorkilleen

joaquinx said:


> In checking with BofA, there is NO fee for SafeSend transfers. There is a $35 to $45 usd fee for wire transfers depending on the speed of transfer you opt for..


My banker must have been full of it or not known what they were talking about. I have paperwork somewhere that has the fees noted on it and it was a "safe send" information booklet. I'll have to dig it up. Thanks for the enlightenment! I'll be back in the US for business in May and I will be sure to revisit the case.


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## La Osita

conorkilleen said:


> My banker must have been full of it or not known what they were talking about. I have paperwork somewhere that has the fees noted on it and it was a "safe send" information booklet. I'll have to dig it up. Thanks for the enlightenment! I'll be back in the US for business in May and I will be sure to revisit the case.


If for some reason you do choose to use Wells Fargo Express Send you need to go to the bank in person to set up the program (for obvious reasons). I just returned to the US last week for business myself. As well, the first transaction needs to be done at the bank with a customer service rep. Once you are established all further transactions can be done online if you wish.


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## joaquinx

itnavell said:


> If for some reason you do choose to use Wells Fargo Express Send you need to go to the bank in person to set up the program (for obvious reasons). I just returned to the US last week for business myself. As well, the first transaction needs to be done at the bank with a customer service rep. Once you are established all further transactions can be done online if you wish.


This is also *true *for the BofA SafeSend program. From the people who have tried to set up this program in the US, most of the BofA bankers know nothing of this service. I once tried to call the SafeSend toll-free number and never got an answer. I then called the lost card number (the only way to talk to a real person at BofA) and asked about SafeSend. They transferred me to their extension and it never answered.


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> If for some reason you do choose to use Wells Fargo Express Send you need to go to the bank in person to set up the program (for obvious reasons). I just returned to the US last week for business myself. As well, the first transaction needs to be done at the bank with a customer service rep. Once you are established all further transactions can be done online if you wish.


done and done. I already called my Wells Fargo banker and set up an appointment for the day that I will be in town. I will go next Monday to Bancomer and Santander here to discuss with them as well before I make any fast moves.

Thanks for the conversation. I feel that have have learned allot in the last few hours. Its Funny that when I spoke to an agent (my regular agent was in Costa Rica on vacation) on the phone from WF a few months ago before my move they did not offer me such an option. Maybe back then I was more interested in No ATM fees and thats what they focused on.


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## La Osita

If you work with a Wells Fargo bank in Texas (or in a location where it is commonplace for money to be sent to Mexico) they are generally well versed in the program. I spoke with a rep at WF bank in Florida and they looked at me blankly when I mentioned Express Send. For that reason I opened my WF checking account in Beaumont TX. Twas easy.


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## conorkilleen

itnavell said:


> If you work with a Wells Fargo bank in Texas (or in a location where it is commonplace for money to be sent to Mexico) they are generally well versed in the program. I spoke with a rep at WF bank in Florida and they looked at me blankly when I mentioned Express Send. For that reason I opened my WF checking account in Beaumont TX. Twas easy.


In Winston Salem it is common as well. The hispanic population is rather large in that area. I just think I have a habit of finding uninformed people at the times when I myself am not well informed either.


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## La Osita

hahaha... Gee and I thought I was the only one who does that! 

I just got off the phone with my fiance. He picked up the money, no problems and they gave him 1,745 pesos!!! NO fees! Whoopee. This is exciting. I'm shocked, to be truthful but very happy.


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