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John Shrall

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Posts posted by John Shrall

  1. 16 hours ago, Jim Bowie said:

     So, John, do you use the CEDE or the CETE mostly?

    Mostly CEDE but I've been making monthly CETE deposits and staggering terms.

    Cetes Directo does withhold ISR at maturity so that part is the same as Multiva CEDES. For the past couple of months, 12 month CETES were paying less than 6 or 3 months.  I'm not sure what that means. CETE rates have been dropping slowly since last October even though the Mexican policy rate has been steady for many months at 11.25%.

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  2. You can invest in CETES directly through https://www.cetesdirecto.com/SSOSVD_wls/  The CETE is more like a US Treasury T-Bill with terms of 28, 90, 180 and 365 days. There's lots of rules and requirements in order to open an online account and once open you are limited deposits of up to to 3,000 UDIs per month. https://coinmill.com/MXV_calculator.html#MXV=3000 

    Right now, that is about 21,400 pesos. There is a way to make larger deposits, but you have to go to a Bienestar branch in Tlaquepaque with a lot more paperwork and an e.firma from SAT. A CEDE is more akin to a certificate of deposit and will pay different rates for based on the amount. At Multiva you need over $1 million pesos to get the highest rate.

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  3. Six month CEDE pays 11.55% at Multiva. Interest paid monthly. It's been the same for one year and with the national rate still hanging at 11.25% it will probably continue for a while. 

    The replacement staff has not been great but my last visit to renew a CEDE was with a new guy that seemed to be a lot more competent than those who have recently left.

    You can only compare Schwab fixed interest investments to Multiva. Their daily account MULTISIBF-T has been paying about 10% for over a year. Wire money down, put it in the daily account and/or invest in CEDEs. 

    The election in Mexico is in 4 months. Hopefully nothing bad will happen between now and then. 

     

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  4. Hwy 54 from Zacatecas to Saltillo was a disaster a few weeks ago. The road was full of potholes and cracks. The road from AGS to Zacatecas was also in a state of disrepair so my guess would be the road heading to Torreon would be similar.

    The cuotas on the AGS route to Laredo look like they haven’t had any maintenance for a while. After 10 years or more it’s time to return to the SLP route. I wonder who is responsible for cuota maintenance, state or federal? It seems like money has been diverted from road maintenance to some other cause.

  5. If you use the tollways at all, the PASE card is a time saver as well as a way to minimize the amount of cash you need to carry for tolls. Many toll booths have toll tag only lanes which are generally either empty or move faster than the cash lanes. Figuring out which one is tolltag only is often a last-minute move left or right. No consistency.

    It does take a little time to figure out how to roll through the lane permitting the sensor to read and authorize the tag. Mexico doesn't use RFID technology prevalent in the US so it reads the tag slower.

    Cards were available at one point at Farmacia Guadalajara locations. The portable one is better. You can activate the card as prepay or postpay on their website https://www.pase.com.mx/ Prepay is as MC describes. You load the card with cash and use until empty. With a Mexican credit card you can pay per transaction at the tollbooth. No need to monitor the balance.

    Like many other things in Mexico the card generally works but often the tollbooth doesn't have a connection to authorize transactions, all of a sudden quits working (Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo was out last month), or if there is so much traffic, they start running cars through the booth designated for other direction. Sometimes the tollbooth attendant just shrugs and says it's broken. 

    PASE also has a phone app used to track your activity and possibly if you are a prepay, make a deposit. I use my BBVA credit card so don't know much about prepay.

    It still amazes me the lack of cars that carry the tag. All trucks seem to have one but most cars I see sit in line and pull out cash to make the payment. Maybe it's just poor marketing or too difficult to add funds to the card balance.

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  6. Just before 9am there were motorcycle and truck police on the Colon/carretera intersection. Approaching from the west heading east I saw a lot of motion followed by 2 or 3 gunshots. There was lots of movement at the intersection with more trucks appearing. I turned around and went through town since it appears the carretera was shut down. 

    Heading up the libramiento at 9am there were 2 flatbed tow trucks full of motorcycles. Not sure what that was about. When passing the casino about 10 or 15 police motorcycles came blasting down lights and sirens blaring. Really fast. State and local police trucks were at the Walmart intersection.

    Why and who were the police shooting at would be speculation at this time.

  7. I've been watching photos and wait times for Laredo Bridge II for the last couple of weeks. Other than early morning or late night the bridge has been full of cars waiting to enter the US with wait times well above average. Traffic back into Nuevo Laredo is non-existent until 5 or 6pm every day. 

    I'm wondering where all these cars are going, lining up every day for the long wait at customs. Sure, there are those going to Laredo for the day and then returning but that would only constitute an hour or 2 per morning hour consistent with the line of cars returning to Mexico in the evening. 

    When spending the night in Laredo, a detour to Columbia and then a loop back to Laredo takes 75-90 minutes so that really isn't a viable option. 

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  8. Christmastime has always been difficult for land entries. Daylight hours are minimal and it seems that everyone from Mexico is going to the US with similar numbers heading south.

    You can get better informed by looking at the bridge cameras at the time of day you think you'll cross and then the border crossing wait times. CBP also has a phone app showing the current wait time.

    Assuming you are crossing in the vicinity of Laredo, below are some useful links.

    https://www.cityoflaredo.com/departments/bridge-system/bridge-cameras

    https://bwt.cbp.gov/

     

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