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Scotia ATM WARNING!


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Apparent rip off! So, the Scotia ATM has a new screen. After entering the desired withdrawal amount you are presented with a screen essentially showing how much the pesos will cost in your home currency and are given the choice of accepting the conversion rate or declining it. I had read about something like this in the past and seemed to remember that accepting the conversion rate was a very bad option. I tested it and guess what, exactly right! If I accepted the rate it would have cost me $110.75 for 1400 pesos! I declined, still got my 1400 pesos and when I checked my account on line the debit to my account was 100.65 an effective exchange rate of 13.93. 
So, be forewarned! Always decline the offered exchange rate! 

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The DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) rate has been around for many years worldwide but has just made its way Lakeside in the last year or so. Almost always, it is best to decline; to accept means you get a predetermined exchange rate plus up to a 10% charge for this privilege. In my experience, declining has every time been the more prudent option.

Some people report that their ATM does not give the option to decline; however, it likely is still there and not identified. Push the button on the left (perhaps unlabeled) directly across the screen of the "accept" button (usually the bottom or next-to-bottom button at left.)

 

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That started A few months ago with Santander. Always decline. 

And

Watch it because they caught me once because they changed the side where decline was.

You get use to clicking a certain place and they change it.

In my case of pulling several thousand pesos they got an extra $500 pesos. Imagine just that happening 20 times a day on that one ATM. 

I have heard people comparing the 25, 30, 40 or so pesos as a fee but forget that it's the conversion, that's where they get you. 

Even around town they all do different conversions.

Look to see if your bank has a deal with a Bank in Mexico. 

Capitalone360 has one. I can't remember the name of the Mexican bank but they are all over Guad and The nearest was in the casino across from walmart or the OXXO in membrillos.

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Quote

 

HSBC has been doing this for over a year. I got taken once but figured it out. To me is seems like a scam. If you accept the offered rate you can't dispute the terrible exchage rate proposed.  

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I had always used the Scotia bank ATM. And yes it was convenient. But I did not like the exchange rate. So I looked around and found that if I wired money to a Mexican bank checking account, (in my case, Actinver Bank) I would get a slightly better rate of exchange than I got at the local ATM which was usually the Scotia Bank ATM.

Soon thereafter, I moved some of my retirement account from Merrill Lynch to Actinver where I opened up a brokerage account. And soon thereafter I discovered that if I wired funds from up North to my Actinver Brokerage account,  I discovered that I got an even better rate of exchange, in fact it was very close to the spot rate. In fact the last time I bought pesos was maybe 6 or 8 months ago, and I remembered that I got 20.4 pesos per US dollar.

Right now the spot rate is 18.6535 and I would get a rate close to that.

So if you have a bank or brokerage account here in Mexico, do yourself a favor and do some checking about what your exchange rate would be, if you were to wire funds from up north to your bank and or brokerage account, you might be pleasantly surprised how much money you would save.

Good luck.

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I use World remit and Xoom to move money down here. Some times I deposit directly in my Bancomer account or pick up in Banco Azteca. World gives the best exchange rate, Xoom close to that. Xoom charges 4.99 dollars and World Remit charges 2.99 dollars. They both say they make money on exchange rates both are still much better than ATMs. 

You can go to their web pages to check rates. 

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