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How to exchange Pesos to Canadian dollars in Chapala


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An easy question ... usually.

Can I go to any bank here in Chapala town and get Canadian dollars for Pesos?

I'm going back to Canada in a few days, and scrambling to get ready.

I took out too many pesos last month from the Scotiabank ATM by Walmart.

I don't think I can deposit pesos back into ATM per previous research on the topic. Or can I?

I don't have time to do hours of research on the topic, so any help appreciated. I still have to pack, clean, find a good COVID testing site I can just walk in on Tuesday. Then there's ArrivCan to fill out? Soriana in Chapala might be closest for COVID test as I live close to Christiania Park. No car.  Is travel back and forth between countries really stressful, or is it just me and/or my old 'anxiety' friend flaring up. (Dammit, why did this text turn red when I did a spelling correction!) Lol

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Thanks Geeser. I hope they have some English speakers answering the phone. I took a couple of basic Spanish lessons, but ran out of time, so I can't converse in Spanish.

I was hoping to find something in Chapala to save on travel time. It's bigger than Ajijic, so it would make sense.

Ill have to check Intercams hours.

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2 hours ago, CADmn said:

Thanks Geeser. I hope they have some English speakers answering the phone. I took a couple of basic Spanish lessons, but ran out of time, so I can't converse in Spanish.

I was hoping to find something in Chapala to save on travel time. It's bigger than Ajijic, so it would make sense.

Ill have to check Intercams hours.

You will be most successful if you tell them face to face, they have 3 or 4 parking places.

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Good to know. Thanks Geeser.

Another easy question ... I hope:

How/where do I get some pesos put back into my Scotiabank Canadian account so I can access online?  I don't want, or need,  to do a bank transfer.  Do I need $cad paper to get it into my account? Or can I just put in Peso paper and let the bank/Intercam/ATM do the conversion to $CAD?

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32 minutes ago, happyjillin said:

If you phone Intercam you will get spoken to in English and you can get your Canbucks from the teller. When you're ready to do it take  cab. That's what my wife does when I can't drive her there. The SAT hospital can do your test so do both at the same time.

Again with the flag ??--Please-- We are Mexicans--!!--Listen to your Presidente--Mexico is nuetral--This is the best President for Mexico in years--even if he is a socialist--!!

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35 minutes ago, happyjillin said:

If you phone Intercam you will get spoken to in English and you can get your Canbucks from the teller. When you're ready to do it take  cab. That's what my wife does when I can't drive her there. The SAT hospital can do your test so do both at the same time.

Please leave your dirty laundry at home--where ever that is-?---HA

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4 hours ago, CADmn said:

How/where do I get some pesos put back into my Scotiabank Canadian account so I can access online? 

??? You can't deposit pesos into a Canadian dollar account, and have them remain as pesos, and then withdraw them as pesos, if that's what you mean. You can only deposit Canadian dollars into a Canadian dollar account. The pesos will be converted to Canadian dollars when you deposit the money.   

You do realize that you lose money every time you convert it, right? You paid a currency conversion charge when you withdrew the pesos at an ATM from your Canadian Scotia account and now you're going to lose money again converting it back to Canadian $. If you are planning to come back to Mexico, you should just hang onto the pesos for the next time, otherwise you will end up paying yet another conversion fee to get pesos again.

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This is what I wasn't sure about. Thanks Mudgirl.

I thought I read somewhere that I couldn't deposit at all, anything, into the Scotiabank ATM close to Walmart. If I can deposit Pesos into that particular ATM, then my problem is solved. Sure, there is an fx spread charge for Buy and Sell, which is universal, so if you take out Pesos and immediately put them back you'll lose on the buy/sell spread. It's not a conversion charge per se, but a Spread charge -- like on any stock market.  That ATM only charges me about a 27 Peso Transaction fee: very small, especially if the transaction is large.

Here's the good part:

Since I took out a large withdrawal in mid March, and now, the CAD dollar has fallen against it's rising MX currency counterpart pair to such an extent that I doubt I'll lose much on that buy/sell Spread.

Have you used that Scotiabank ATM I'm referring to and put Pesos into it? If not, are you certain that I can deposit Pesos into it? Thanks

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17 hours ago, CADmn said:

Have you used that Scotiabank ATM I'm referring to and put Pesos into it? If not, are you certain that I can deposit Pesos into it? Thanks

I don't live Lakeside, so wouldn't know. But you can only deposit into certain ATMs. Many of the ATMs in Mexico only have withdrawals function. 

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