Transferring money into Mexico

[michmex]

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account. In over ten years, living in Mexico, we have not found a reason to justify the hassle of having an account in Mexico, beyond a small investment account just big enough to keep check cashing privileges, or to provide a place to wire money for an unexpected or unusually large purchase.

Mexico DOES have an agency, IPAB, Instituto para la Protección al Ahorro Bancario , that is the equivalent of the FDIC in the USA. It is not as widely advertised as is the FDIC in the USA. The IFAB coverage includes the most common accounts an expat would use such as savings, checking and debit. Since not all accounts are covered it is wise to ask the bank if the account you want is indeed covered by the IFAB. All major banks such as Bancomer, Banamex, Banorte, HSBC and Santander are covered. Coverage is up to maximum of 400,000 IDU's . The peso equivalent of 400,000 IDU's on July 15, 2012 is $1,901,074.40 Mexican Pesos or about $146,236 at an exchange rate of 1 US Dollar equals 13 Mexican Pesos.

The IFAB was created in 1998 by the Mexican Congress. Prior to the IFAB was the Bank Fund for Savings Protection (Fobaproa). It was created in 1995 to deal with the economic crisis of 1994-1995 also known as the "Tequila Crisis" or the " el error de diciembre — The December Mistake" Fobapro assisted in the stabilization of the economy and recapitalization of the banking system. During this period some banks were merged while others were taken over by others such as Citibank-Banamex, Confia-HSBC.

For more information regarding IFAB and the protection of your accounts Google "IPAB Mexico"Or go to ipab.org.mx You can click on the English icon to read the site in English!

[TundraGreen]

Originally Posted by La Paz

If it's a major amount, like for land or casa purchase, if you plan ahead, I believe most Mexican banks will accept a US check....the down side is that it usually takes 10-14 days for the funds to clear! I know Bancomer will accept checks written on my non-affiliated US bank account. If you don't have a USD Mexican account, the amount will be converted to the current exchange rate & deposited in pesos. Even in this era of electronic transfer, Mexican banks don't treat it like an instant electronic transfer, I believe they make use of your money for the 10-14 day period of time. Cashier's checks are basically meaningless in the eyes of Mexican banks; they treat them just like a personal check & won't release the funds immediately.

This is the cheapest method to get $$ down here. Fees are involved if you wire transfer & some banks actually charge a % of the amount received rather than a fixed fee regardless of the amount transferred. So you should do some local research to determine the best way for your particular locale, bank & personal circumstances.

Keep in mind that there's a penalty tax imposed on all CASH deposits of USD over....if memory serves me correctly, $1,500 or $2,000 USD....I believe it's 3% tax, but can't swear to the %. Writing a personal check on your US account avoids that penalty tax for CASH deposits.

I have done this with as well. I was charged a 1% fee to deposit a personal check in dollars drawn on a US bank to my peso account with a Mexican bank.

[pappabee]

Originally Posted by TundraGreen

I have done this with as well. I was charged a 1% fee to deposit a personal check in dollars drawn on a US bank to my peso account with a Mexican bank.

I use BBVA and have had no problem at all. I do have a savings account with them so all I have to do is to give them a check drawn on any US bank (not just one of mine) and they will deposit the amount in my account. Now there are a few rules. The deposit must be made prior to 3PM weekdays (the exchange closes at 3 and the bank must know what the exchange rate is for that day). The bank will hold your check for 8 working days (to give the check enough time to clear the issuing bank and your bank). There are no extra charges and the exchange rate is the lowest one published on that day.

I've done this with checks from my own US account and checks from other peoples accounts. No problem with either.

[joaquinx]

The one thing you should verify when transferring funds, no matter the bank or method, is the exchange rate. Check their rates with XE or Oanda. Perhaps, some more costly methods will give you a better exchange rate and thus be cheaper.

[joaquinx]

Originally Posted by circle110

Of course, you must have an investment account through Schwab in order to have a checking account so if you don't, this information isn't much use.

When I went to the Schwab site, there is no mention of having an investment account before opening a checking account. Could this have been a very early restriction?

I seriously have to get out of BofA and am looking for a better bank.

[DNP]

Originally Posted by joaquinx

When I went to the Schwab site, there is no mention of having an investment account before opening a checking account. Could this have been a very early restriction?

I seriously have to get out of BofA and am looking for a better bank.

I've been thinking of opening a BofA account. Why are you dissatisfied, if you don't mind my asking.

[Tucson]

Last year, we opened a "savings" account with BBVA Bancomer. It is free and BBVA Bancomer has staff dedicated to foreign banking transactions. We live in the state of Q. Roo but do not think that should make any difference where you live. Our agent is such a help, going out of her way to help us set up all the auto bill pay mechanisms and, in fact, our banker even walks over to the government office and pays our property tax personally for us (our government office is not too advanced technologically). We just transfer whatever we need into our BBVA Bancomer office account and get the receipt for property tax payments from our agent, when we come to town.

Any questions about anything and we are on the phone to our representative who gives us all the help we need. It's a free service they offer so might as well utilize it.

Opening this account allows us to do our secure banking on-line meaning we can sit home in the states and transfer money from our Wells Fargo bank into that account. We can also pay our regular MX bills remotely (like TelMex or CFE), as well as transferring pesos into our condo complex HOA account.

Before we opened this account with BBVA Bancomer, we used to go to our US bank and get wire transfers to send to Mexico to pay whatever we needed to pay; we paid about $35 each time we did this. No more transfer fees now (absolutely none!), and, of course, it is way more convenient to do this from our home computer.

The MX account has to be a "savings" account to accomplish this. I hope this has been helpful information to the original poster. We've owned in MX for upwards of 12 years now and life just got so much easier after we opened the account. You can always go into your Bancomer office, ask for a foreign business specialist, and talk it over. They are all bi-lingual so some of us foreign language challenged folks aren't at a disadvantage.

[joaquinx]

Originally Posted by DNP

I've been thinking of opening a BofA account. Why are you dissatisfied, if you don't mind my asking.

I've had a BofA account since 1996.

1. I tried to buy furniture and at another time a refrigerator and both time BofA froze my account. I had to call them and unfreeze it. I had been living here for 8 years and they still think that I live in the US. Yet I can withdraw funds at an ATM without problem.

2. I had to have my account address in the US in order to wire money to my Mexican bank. If the address was in Mexico, the wire request would error out with an "Invalid Address".

3. Two years ago, when my debit card was nearing its expiration date, BofA sent me a card by post rather than as before DHL. I called them up asking where it was and then they froze the account and issued a new card. This also invalidate my current card, so I had not way to get funds. The next two cards were also sent by post rather than my requested DHL. The fourth was sent to my address in the US (a friend's). The fifth attempt arrived 1 month after the expiration date along with two others. The third was never found.

4. Now I need around 3,000 usd and needed to wire it to my Mexican bank. Now you can only wire 1,000 at a time (35 or 45 usd each wire) unless you are registered with their SafePass program. There you need to have an US cell phone number or pay 19.95 for a SafePass card.

5. Getting to talk to a "real" person at BofA is a chore.

There has to be a bank that services US expats better than this.

[norocysuerte]

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

Remember also; there is no FDIC, or other protection for a Mexican bank account.

I just opened a bank account at HSBC Mexico and before doing so had the same FDIC concern. I found that they do have an FDIC equivalent called IPAB.

IPAB

[sparks]

Intercam charges $8us to cash a check. Largest I've done is 4k for house construction. $100 or 4k is $8. Don't know if they can handle big bucks like to buy a house.

Small amounts they can do cash but larger will give you a bank draft