You definitely need to visit, for a whole host of reasons. That should be one of your priorities, visiting places you are interested in.
Money exchange, in its simplest form, happens when you stick your ATM card into a machine in Mexico, enter your pin, and get pesos. You will probably be charged a foreign transaction fee by the bank, plus a local ATM fee.
If you plan to transfer a large chunk of money to Mexico, for instance to pay for a house, you should talk to your bank about how to arrange that. There are no limits to how much you can take out of the US, but the bank will have to notify the government and you may have to fill out a form or two. What will probably happen is a wire transfer.
The rate you get for the exchange is a function of the current rate, modified by the means of exchange (cash, credit card, etc.) and the size of the transaction. Most ATM transactions are charged at the rate the bank gets, supposedly, which is the one for millions of dollars and should therefore be a bit lower. However, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are settling a lawsuit that alleges undisclosed charges and other irregularities. It should be done properly now, since they got caught.
Oh, dear, way more information than you needed.
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