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Finances: how to in Chapala


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1 hour ago, daisy2013 said:

Bank of America no foreign transaction fees.  I use it all of the time 

I use Bank of America also. I used to hate them years ago when I lived in California. All my income originates in the United States. I have found them to be very simple to use and I receive everything by direct deposit into that account. If I have to do any wire transfers or direct deposits or any other US payments I  need to make. It is  seamless on their banking app. There is great customer service right on the app also. I do believe their app is the best one I have ever used. I am NOT tech savvy at all. We also have an account with C I Banco. Every month or as needed I just drop off a B of A check at C I Banco for our monthly needs. Within about 2 hours the money is in our C I Banco account. It is really easy.

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 Having a multiva bank is  best, best of all banks, when we had the american check cashing crisis a few years ago, where banks would not take US checks,  multiva bank took them, they are big and dave a good finical presence in the worldwide.

I have referred many persons  to multiva, they have lower fees, and give a better return  currency exchange then other bans when you wire transfer

Afew months ago i did a wire transfer from chase bank, when pesos was weak gave chase gave me  exchange rate, i emailed the mulivia investments to expect the transfer next day. i received email the next day, multiva gave a better exchange rate than i agreed with chase on.  WOW really surprised,about 22000 pesos difference in final deposit.

 

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44 minutes ago, traderspoc said:

 Having a multiva bank is  best, best of all banks, when we had the american check cashing crisis a few years ago, where banks would not take US checks,  multiva bank took them, they are big and dave a good finical presence in the worldwide.

I have referred many persons  to multiva, they have lower fees, and give a better return  currency exchange then other bans when you wire transfer

Afew months ago i did a wire transfer from chase bank, when pesos was weak gave chase gave me  exchange rate, i emailed the mulivia investments to expect the transfer next day. i received email the next day, multiva gave a better exchange rate than i agreed with chase on.  WOW really surprised,about 22000 pesos difference in final deposit.

 

Will check them out thanks for the advice.

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One of the reasons we moved to Mexico was to find a slower paced/easier lifestyle.  The truth is that culturally, Mexico loves bureaucracy but they are not really very good at it.  For that reason, I try to keep my dealings with the government, police, and banks to the very minimum required.  We just use a US bank and ATM's to get pesos.  We only use a card that accesses our checking account where we keep a small balance with the rest in savings where it can be transferred to checking when needed.  Alan

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On 8/22/2020 at 8:40 AM, traderspoc said:

Afew months ago i did a wire transfer from chase bank, when pesos was weak gave chase gave me  exchange rate, i emailed the mulivia investments to expect the transfer next day. i received email the next day, multiva gave a better exchange rate than i agreed with chase on.  WOW really surprised,about 22000 pesos difference in final deposit.

 

Multiva, the casa de bolsa unit? Not the banking arm?

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Multiva does give better exchange rates than BBVA and the incoming wire fee is the peso equivalent of US$10. Wires are sent to Banco Multiva S.A. in Mexico City. The proceeds are deposited in a Multiva checking account. From there it can be moved to investment accounts if desired.

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If a person had arranged a one year investment exactly one year ago at a 7% annual rate of return, that person would actually have lost money since the peso has declined against the dollar from 19.23 to 22.17 today.  That is a decline of about 13% so one would lose about 6% after cashing out.  Peso market is just too unstable.  Better to invest in a rental here if you feel the need to invest locally or better yet, just leave money in US dollars or dollar investments.  Avoiding the bank and legal hassles here in the process.  Alan

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49 minutes ago, barrbower said:

If a person had arranged a one year investment exactly one year ago at a 7% annual rate of return, that person would actually have lost money since the peso has declined against the dollar from 19.23 to 22.17 today.  That is a decline of about 13% so one would lose about 6% after cashing out.  Peso market is just too unstable.  Better to invest in a rental here if you feel the need to invest locally or better yet, just leave money in US dollars or dollar investments.  Avoiding the bank and legal hassles here in the process.  Alan

That is true if you factor in the exchange rate with the US dollar, but for people who live here full time and not involved the with the US dollar, then the only thing you are concerned with is the local inflation rate, which hovers around 3% and makes investing at 7% profitable.

Same could be said comparing the US dollar to the Swiss franc.

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My point is even if you live here full time you can have options other than the peso accounts in Mexican banks.  Most folks I know who are here full time permanent residents do not feel the need to invest or even bank with Mexican banks.  They handle things via the internet and ATM transactions and have the bulk or all of their money in Europe, Canada, USA, or even Panama.  We had to open an account at Bancomer years ago in order to buy a car with a check.  PITA for a variety of reasons.  We still have that little account but never use it.  We actually had debit cards attached and when they were set to expire we went in to get new ones.  Two hours later I finally got mine with so much paperwork and signing I couldn't believe it.  My wife never did get hers and since we never really use them for anything we just skipped it.  I'm sure we will one day just close the account but expect that will take many hours as well. 

Like I said...just not very good at these kinds of things that in many countries (but not all) are just simple transactions.  It can be charming sometimes but can also be a headache.  Still love it here but I've learned to avoid complications whenever possible.  Alan

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On 8/27/2020 at 12:10 PM, barrbower said:

My point is even if you live here full time you can have options other than the peso accounts in Mexican banks.  Most folks I know who are here full time permanent residents do not feel the need to invest or even bank with Mexican banks.  They handle things via the internet and ATM transactions and have the bulk or all of their money in Europe, Canada, USA, or even Panama.  We had to open an account at Bancomer years ago in order to buy a car with a check.  PITA for a variety of reasons.  We still have that little account but never use it.  We actually had debit cards attached and when they were set to expire we went in to get new ones.  Two hours later I finally got mine with so much paperwork and signing I couldn't believe it.  My wife never did get hers and since we never really use them for anything we just skipped it.  I'm sure we will one day just close the account but expect that will take many hours as well. 

Like I said...just not very good at these kinds of things that in many countries (but not all) are just simple transactions.  It can be charming sometimes but can also be a headache.  Still love it here but I've learned to avoid complications whenever possible.  Alan

So if you have an account at Bancomer and never use it is it easy to just close the account or would you just abandon the account if there was little money in it? If you have a bank account here the bank seems to be very bureaucratic-taking forever to do simple things

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I'm not really sure what is involved to close the account.  There is only the minimum balance in it now to keep from having to pay monthly fees.  But based on past experience, it will not be as easy as it could be.  It is based on a cultural feature generally present in all of Latin America.   Alan

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9 minutes ago, barrbower said:

I'm not really sure what is involved to close the account.  There is only the minimum balance in it now to keep from having to pay monthly fees.  But based on past experience, it will not be as easy as it could be.  It is based on a cultural feature generally present in all of Latin America.   Alan

I closed my account 2 years ago. I simply saw the manager and she closed the account within 5 minutes and gave me the outstanding balance in cash.

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1 hour ago, canmex87 said:

I closed my account 2 years ago. I simply saw the manager and she closed the account within 5 minutes and gave me the outstanding balance in cash.

That would be nice if it was that easy.

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On 8/22/2020 at 8:26 AM, daisy2013 said:

Bank of America no foreign transaction fees.  I use it all of the time 

Bank of America DEBIT cards do have a foreign transaction fee: 3% of the amount you withdraw from an ATM.  In addition, if you withdraw from any bank in Mexico other than Scotiabank, you will also incur an ATM charge of $5.00USD.  Scotia has a global alliance with BofA that means one doesn't pay the ATM fee.  I can withdraw up to 8,000 pesos from a Scotiabank ATM, and follow that up with immediate withdrawals up to my daily BofA dollar withdrawal limit.  Each of those $8,000 peso withdrawals will incur the 3% foreign transaction fee.  

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But isn't it true the Bank of America will pick up all fees if you have at least $250,000 US invested in their bank?  Oh, and  no, I do not have anything close to that in their bank. However, I believe it was in the 1990s when B. of A. purchased the Merrill Lynch Brokerage house where many of us have our retirement accounts. And, today, many of us have at least $250,000 in our combined B of A and Merrill Lynch retirement accounts and are no longer charged a fee.

I know it is that way when wiring money from either my B of A or ML account to my Mexican bank. And I do get a preferred rate of exchange when I use an ATM machine which I try never to do. Because when I use an ATM, I get way too many 500 peso bills and not enough small change, which I would prefer to have and shop with.

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2 hours ago, johanson said:

But isn't it true the Bank of America will pick up all fees if you have at least $250,000 US invested in their bank?  Oh, and  no, I do not have anything close to that in their bank. However, I believe it was in the 1990s when B. of A. purchased the Merrill Lynch Brokerage house where many of us have our retirement accounts. And, today, many of us have at least $250,000 in our combined B of A and Merrill Lynch retirement accounts and are no longer charged a fee.

I know it is that way when wiring money from either my B of A or ML account to my Mexican bank. And I do get a preferred rate of exchange when I use an ATM machine which I try never to do. Because when I use an ATM, I get way too many 500 peso bills and not enough small change, which I would prefer to have and shop with.

I think you are correct and surely there isn´t one person living here as a permanente that doesn´t have at least, $250,000 USD, in a Merrill Lynch account.

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Many of us have retirement accounts held by the company we retired from. And a total value is placed on these plans by the local  Mexicanbanks, based upon the amount of the monthly checks they receive in their bank (my account).. So darn it, I do not have access to it other than the monthly check I get. You know, of course that I am a millionaire I bet you are too.. But darn it, I have that much money in pesos ( at 22 to 1) and that means I have  at least $45,454.54 US and most of it is up here in Seattle with me

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