Best place for swapping?

[Lorenzoid]

Are you planning to pay for your lodging and diving in cash? Dive shops tend to set their prices in dollars, so there's no advantage to paying in equivalent pesos, and if you put your hotel on a credit card, that's a done deal, so that leaves you with exchanging dollars to pesos just for "spending cash" for meals, taxis, and miscellaneous stuff. My point is that, to put things in perspective, unless you're a big spender, you probably won't be exchanging enough cash for differences in the exchange rate to make a huge difference. A few dollars more or a few dollars less will be a tiny fraction of the total cost of your trip.

As others have said, the most convenient way to get spending cash is using an ATM. Your card from home is probably going to be fine. Adding an extra layer of protection against fraud and ATM fees by using a card such as Schwab's is icing on the cake.

 

[nwflyboy]

I was hit for over $1000 at the ATMs at Mega...

Could you elaborate a bit on this statement? You mean, you used your ATM/debit card from a US-based bank at the ATM machines in Mega (and didn't use it elsewhere) and boom - over $1K disappeared from your account, fraudulently withdrawn at the same Mega ATM?

 

[gopbroek]

Could you elaborate a bit on this statement? You mean, you used your ATM/debit card from a US-based bank at the ATM machines in Mega (and didn't use it elsewhere) and boom - over $1K disappeared from your account, fraudulently withdrawn at the same Mega ATM?

It happens, several years back, a couple days before heading down to the island I used my card in the West end of Dallas and they skimmed the strip. I was down in Cozumel when my wife tracked me down and told me to call Visa. They had suspended it @5.6 K in fraud. I was not held accountable since it was US issued. My wife got her debit card skimmed early last month and her checking account was hit for 1.2K, the funds were replaced but it intrupted and put a damper on her XMas shopping. These were US issued cards with protection but it we still felt violated. We become caviler about fraud with our protections but there is real damage done over time to the entire population. My island Checking account, via Schwab, with ATM / Debit is only funded as required by transfers from my primary bank to act as a firewall against fraud. This is not so much to protect me as the issuing bank in return for treating me as a human being.

A friend from Brazil got hit for 15K on a Brazilian bank Visa, he was screwed, the bank did not care... real Mafia style crap, 'F#$k you, pay me'.

 

[mediumone]

It happens, several years back, a couple days before heading down to the island I used my card in the West end of Dallas and they skimmed the strip. I was down in Cozumel when my wife tracked me down and told me to call Visa. They had suspended it @5.6 K in fraud. I was not held accountable since it was US issued. My wife got her debit card skimmed early last month and her checking account was hit for 1.2K, the funds were replaced but it intrupted and put a damper on her XMas shopping. These were US issued cards with protection but it we still felt violated. We become caviler about fraud with our protections but there is real damage done over time to the entire population. My island Checking account, via Schwab, with ATM / Debit is only funded as required by transfers from my primary bank to act as a firewall against fraud. This is not so much to protect me as the issuing bank in return for treating me as a human being.

A friend from Brazil got hit for 15K on a Brazilian bank Visa, he was screwed, the bank did not care... real Mafia style crap, 'F#$k you, pay me'.

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea where you and your wife got hit?

Edit to add: Last time it happened to me, my credit union tried to blame it on Mexico. It was a slow time for me, and I spent a stupid amount of time researching the transaction. I'm as certain as I can be that it was from an Amazon purchase.

 

[gopbroek]

Either Wendy's or Taco Bell with the grandkids, I checked the account and the recent activity was fast food. For myself I am pretty sure it was a restaurant I bought drinks in with friends from out of town.

 

[guruboy]

Always wiggle the cover where you slide the card. Make sure someone didn't slip a card reader in front.

 

[ggunn]

Always wiggle the cover where you slide the card. Make sure someone didn't slip a card reader in front.

Also place both hands over the keypad with your fingers on several buttons when you key in your PIN.

 

[mmmbelows]

Are you planning to pay for your lodging and diving in cash? Dive shops tend to set their prices in dollars, so there's no advantage to paying in equivalent pesos, and if you put your hotel on a credit card, that's a done deal, so that leaves you with exchanging dollars to pesos just for "spending cash" for meals, taxis, and miscellaneous stuff. My point is that, to put things in perspective, unless you're a big spender, you probably won't be exchanging enough cash for differences in the exchange rate to make a huge difference. A few dollars more or a few dollars less will be a tiny fraction of the total cost of your trip..

I guess I'm a cheap bastard, we spent about $600.00 between lunches, dinners, drinks, cabs, DM tips, stuff from Cedruai and Mega, etc... exchanging USD for pesos was at least a minimum of a 30% savings straight across the board or about $200 bucks, in reality it was probably closer to 40%. Definitely depends like you said on how much 'cash' you are going to be spending, but with restaurants alone wacking us for 30-75% if you use US dollars it can certainly add up.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I guess I'm a cheap bastard, we spent about $600.00 between lunches, dinners, drinks, cabs, DM tips, stuff from Cedruai and Mega, etc... exchanging USD for pesos was at least a minimum of a 30% savings straight across the board or about $200 bucks, in reality it was probably closer to 40%. Definitely depends like you said on how much 'cash' you are going to be spending, but with restaurants alone wacking us for 30-75% if you use US dollars it can certainly add up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating paying for meals, taxi, drinks, supermarket, and miscellaneous stuff with USD--I just meant that whether one exchanges dollars for pesos by means of this ATM or that ATM or this casa de cambio or that casa de cambio doesn't make THAT much difference when we're talking a maximum of, say, $600 for such things over the course of a week vacation. I do tip DMs in USD, though. Hotel and dive shop go on the credit card unless they offer a cash discount. Everything else in cash pesos.

It does feel kinda good when I can say "HA, I saved five dollars by exchanging/ATMing at this place rather than the airport (or wherever)," but in the grand scheme of my 1-week vacation budget, 5 or 10 dollars is more than I already "lost" by taking that darned extortionate shuttle from the airport rather than walking half a mile with my bag and hailing a taxi. I take a sort of fatalistic view that we're hapless tourists, and we ARE going to get stuck for all kinds of small charges for the sake of convenience. It's built in to my vacation budget, as I see it. Sure, in the rare case where the place across the street is a better deal than the place on this side of the street, I would walk across the street, but the choice isn't usually that easy. To exchange/ATM my spending money for a week's vacation, I wouldn't walk or taxi 10 blocks to get a better rate, for example. If I were staying for a month, I might behave differently.

 

[mmmbelows]

I see what you are saying, I think I confused the original intent as to using US dollars versus exchanging for pesos.