Job Discussion Forums

[jfurgers]

April 30 is the day my wife and I are heading to DF! The house sold on April 4 and we're going through all of our stuff. Things really do own us and not the other way around. Anyway, my question is does anyone in Mexico have an account in the States with Wells Fargo?

We're opening an account with them and we're hoping we'll be able to use the debit card from them in DF. Are there any banks in DF linked with Wells Fargo? I know some are linked with Bank of America so I'm hoping we'll be able to use some that's connected with Wells Fargo also.

Muchas Gracis!!

[thelmadatter]

I still have my Wells Fargo account from my days living in Arizona. My debit card works fine here. Getting money INTO that account is a pain, usually I mail them money when I or someone else goes to the States. One nice thing is that I can buy travelers checks here in Mexico, make them out to myself and sign them and they deposit them, no problem. Not all institutions do that.

[GueroPaz]

Thanks for that info, since I have a debit card on the WF account I have had since about 1991. I have all 3 of my pensions directly deposited into there, and would hate to change it. I just withdraw a sum equal to about 8000 pesos here in Thailand every time I need cash, which only costs US$5, at a good exchange rate.

I guess if I started working independiente, I would keep the cash I receive, and spend it as pesos. But could I expect to be paid by check in Mexico sometimes, and need a local account for that? Or, could I cash those checks in a bank of the same name the check is written on?

[MO39]

[notamiss]

A little bit peripheral to the original question, but it may be worth noting that paying into the seller's bank account is a very, very common way of doing business here. In my experience, it's much more common than paying by cheque. Here's a partial list�off the top of my head�of things we've paid for in this way: school tuition, orthodontist services, paving stones for the patio, certified copies from the Notario, a printer driver from a computer store, and conference registration

[MO39]

[Gab]

M039, would you know if it's easy for foreigners to open a Mexican bank account?
Or better yet, does anyone know if Mexican banks charge a fee to transfer funds into another (let's say Canadian) bank account?

[dixie]

[Samantha]

If I recall correctly, I paid around $200 pesos to transfer money to a Canadian account a few months ago. The Canadian bank then charges to receive wire transfers (around $10.00), so that makes the whole thing a little expensive.

[jfurgers]

[hlamb]

I could never quite figure out how to send money, so I just took a pile of $500 peso bills home and had them deposited in my account there. first, I lost on the exchange rate, then I hate to pay about $40 to the bank for the service. Not a good way to go.

Last time I had visitors, I gave them all my spare cash and they spent that here instead of using their debit cards. Then, they wrote me a cheque in Canadian dollars and put that into my account at home. If you trust the person, this is a good solution, since both sides save on the exchange rate.

[GueroPaz]

So, once I get an FM-3 (or FM-2; I can never recall which it will be), my customers can deposit directly into my numbered Mexican bank account. Cool. Is this easy for them to do? Here in Thailand you can do it at almost any ATM now, I guess. I take it that such deposits create more of a paper trail for the tax authorities.

[MO39]