Once Again BANCOMER Is Playing Games

[MEXICOWANDERER]

COSTCO Mexico uses Bancomer. Today I made a purchase using my VISA then after going home verified the purchase. The store had a large sign near the cash registers TIPO de CAMBIO 19.55

My purchase analysis revealed a Bancomer exchange rate of 17.45. And that excludes taxes the foreign exchange fee for my bank. The gross exchange rate is more than two pesos meaning ten percent stingy.

I stopped using Bancomer when the ATMs played games when the exchange rate changed rapidly and the machines claimed my balance in my USA account was $00.00 Bncomer's fee still remains at 81.90 pesos per transaction -- that I perused last week.

Well, that learned me. My VISA card stays in my wallet. Buy a thousand dollars worth of stuff and donate a hundred dollars to BLANK HOMER, I don't think so. They make Wells Fargo look like a Seminary.

[Almot]

Who said anything about paying dollars at CFE? As long as they take cash at Cajero o en Oficina, it's all good. Would've been nice if Cajeros accepted foreign CC as well, but cash pesos is fine, the amounts are small. Heck, you can spend more on transit buses in one day than on CFE bill, and those buses are CHEAP.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Same here. Only my Mexican HSBC card is accepted at CFE. They have never accepted dollars, anywhere in Mexico.

[mexicoruss]

In Penasco our CFE office is brand new and has about 6 ATM machines for payment and they all accept debit or credit, I don't know if they accept foreign cards as I only use my Mex cards. You need a clean bar code to access the system

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yep they used to cross reference name and address of the customer but no more. The local CFE office asked me for a "credecial" when I paid with a VISA card. They seemed happier with a Mexican driver license than with a USA driver license. A passport also works good but not an FMM tourist card.

[moisheh]

I often pay ours at the Cajero. But no CC's. cash only. You need an old bill with the bar code. Can be paid online if you have a Mexican CC. Even then I think it is only one bank! Telmex can be paid online but I am not up to date. At one time it had to be done with Telemx USA. Mexican companies and utilities trust no one. They are always worried that a foreign CC could be fraud. Amazon Mexico takes your CC. Same with Mercado Libre.

Moisheh

[Talleyho69]

At ours in Zihuatanejo, you have to have the bar code, which is on the bill from under the gate (it still comes) or printed on line, and they only take cash. If you want to talk to the person at the window, you can do it with a card, even a US card.

[Almot]

I wonder if anybody tried paying CFE at their 24 hr cajero automatico - does it take any cards, do you need the actual paper bill?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Live, learn and navigate around the shoals.

It wasn't THAT long ago that traveling in Mexico meant cash or traveler's checks and spending the day around visiting the bank during severely restricted morning hours to exchange dollars or checks for pesos.

Drive 30 miles, rush to a rural Bank of Mexico

"I am very sorry but we have run out of dollars"

Keep it in perspective

Share experiences with fellow travelers.

For my purposes, BanaMex plays fewer games than other banks. I checked the HSBC tipo de cambio last week and the exchange rate was one point two pesos lower than BanaMex. BUT BUT BUT! A full ten thousand pesos was the limit per single ATM cycle. Like Pemex gasolineras having the lowest price per liter but the highest dispenser "error" Love it wotta hoot.

[navegator]

LA VERDAD NO PECA,PERO INCOMODA.

The truth commits no sin, but it is uncomfortable.

Very old Spanish proverb.

At the beginning of the year I went to the Palacio Municipal de Naucalpan de Juarez, Estado de Mexico to pay the "predial" (property tax) I walked to the ventanilla de pago (payment window) and there is a printed sign that says "no se aceptan pagos con cheque" (payments with check are not accepted), I paid with my CitiBanamex debit card, some of what one finds in the internet is not what is always practiced or applied.

Many places including some government offices do not accept checks or credit cards, only cash or debit cards and some only accept "cash only" and there is a reason for that, that is called fraud and denying it will not help anyone, much less the turistas.

navegator

[moisheh]

Russ: Of course you have Mexican accounts and CC's. We tried going that route but unless you are here for most of the year it can be difficult. Most of the banks are getting better. Do you remember when you had to be at the bank before noon to exchange money?? Scotiabank seems better than some. Citibanamex is also good. Bancomer is horrible We closed an account there and they gave me check in US funds. But when I went to deposit it to a Canadian bank they would not accept the check as it had no coding!! PP is used to foreign tourists and they try to service the clients. I had some work done on my truck at a large Chev dealership in HMO. They would not take my Canadian or American CC Go figure.

Moisheh

[mexicoruss]

Don't feel alone. I do live here permanently, I do have Mexican accounts and cards. I had to pay a CFE new hookup bill for one of my project houses. My bank is Bancomer and I had to pay the bill at CFE's bank Santander. It was sort of a direct deposit into the CFE account. The Bank does accept credit and debit cards but when I presented my Bancomer card they informed me they only accept Santander issued cards....So I had to go to my bank, withdraw the cash and go back to Santander to pay the bill. A pain but not everything is perfect. I just kinda go with the flow.

[moisheh]

Most readers in this forum are not permanent residents of Mexico. They are unlikely to have a Mexican bank account or CC. Using your foreign credit card will result in high fees. There are exceptions: Certain US and Canadian banks have agreements with a Mexican bank and sometimes they are the same bank Talleyho: We underwent some expensive medical procedures. The hospital would not accept a foreign debit card. No checks and a huge fee from the Hospital for using a foreign CC. I used a bank wire. Worked great.

Moisheh

[Talleyho69]

The screens on ATM's that state how much may be withdrawn are correct and incorrect.

Our ATM's of choice are Santander, with Bancomer as our second. The screen states a limit of (I think) 4,000p WITH THEIR CARD.

Our US card has a daily limit of 1,000 dollars, or the equivalent in pesos. So, we do multiple transactions, in a row, with the 34p fee for each one, until we are up to what we want.

For the first time ever, since ATM's arrived in Mexico, we had an issue in January. One of our multiple withdrawals didn't spit out the cash. The first two did. The young man who is always in the room to teach ATM use tried to explain to us that we were over our limit. We went home, went on line, and our bank took care of us. The next day when we needed even more money (we're remodeling our home) we had the young man watch us do three transactions. THEN he understood that bank policies vary from bank to bank.

Moral of the story: At least with Bancomer and Santander, the daily limit for withdrawals is what your US or Canadian bank has set with you.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Used prudently there is nothing wrong with a debit card. When CFE closed their office in a small Baja California town bills could be paid at the oficina de telegrafos for a ten peso (now 20) service charge.

When Celso went to a bigger town 75 miles distant there were 50 people in the lobby waiting in line.

He decided to go to the CFE office at the generating plant

Big sign at the counter

No aceptan cheques de ninguna forma para pagos.

So the cheque thing might be regional. For visitors the only issue about cheques is traveler's cheques are almost impossible to cash. Maybe not the case in Guadalajara, DF, or Monterrey.

I feel more comfortable using a cajero automatico attached to a real bank.

I saw a cellphone image of a HSBC ATM screen that said in Spanish that the maximum amount extractable was $4,000 pesos. This was in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.

With all these variables it's best to keep a comfortable reserve of pesos.

And P freak'n S about bank charges I was forced to buy a pair of truck tires for $3,000 pesos which would be $6,000 pesos today. I used their Point of Sale terminal. They hooked me for a thirty four dollars bank fee then I got to pay Wells Fargo their 3% fee. Hello? That's a TEN PERCENT MEXICAN BANK FEE. Place: Siglo XXI LLANTAS. LA MIRA MICHOACAN.

Wells told me the bank fee was outside of their jurisdiction.

Sooooooo, my personal bottom line is to use cash. It avoids unpleasant surprises when checking balances online.

No biggee