Exchange rate?

[gopbroek]

BBVA is even higher - $80 pesos, IIRC. The $68 pesos includes some tax, so the actual fee works out to about $3.00 USD. By taking out the maximum allowed withdrawl ($7,000 pesos at HBSC) it's a small percentage.

Do you know of someplace with a lower fee?

Santander and Banmex charge about 30 & 1/2. The remodeled Santander bank, on calle 3 and 10th Ave, ATM's actually give a decent amount of smaller bills (200, 100& 50's) when I pull out my normal $6000 MXN withdraw as opposed to a hand full of 500's.

 

[WetInPortland]

Santander and Banmex charge about 30 & 1/2. The remodeled Santander bank, on calle 3 and 10th Ave, ATM's actually give a decent amount of smaller bills (200, 100& 50's) when I pull out my normal $6000 MXN withdraw as opposed to a hand full of 500's.

Thanks, Gary! The tip about small bills is more important to me than the lower fee.

FYI, I made a withdrawal today at HBSC. The fee was $55 pesos + $8.80 pesos in tax, so $64 total.

 

[CajunDiva]

The remodeled Santander bank, on calle 3 and 10th Ave, ATM's actually give a decent amount of smaller bills (200, 100& 50's) when I pull out my normal $6000 MXN withdraw as opposed to a hand full of 500's.

Show me!

 

[ccannon707]

Loyal Schwab checking account holder here. In the past I had a BofA account to pull pesos out of the Santander Bank free of fees until that was discontinued. Went on 1 trip to Coz after that, and though it's not a huge amount I really disliked incurring fees. I researched & found the chatter about Schwab and engaged a rep for an online chat. I was ready for the "catch" but he answered all my questions and there was no catch. I believe what they want is your brokerage business and this is a good way to get you acquainted with them.

As I was soon to embark on a trip to UK & Denmark to visit relatives + catch up with a Coz friend in Spain I signed up. You do it all online. There is a Schwab brokerage near my town... I went there and funded my account. I also took with me a credit card and another ATM as insurance on the EU trip. Never used them. Schwab was stellar. Used all kinds of bank ATMs in 4 countries and all fees refunded. My Schwab account is my #1 travel account, here in the US too. And yes, they deliver interest, minimal as it is these days.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Anyone know who's ATM has the highest cash withdraw limit and lowest fee? I use a pre-loaded Visa on a forex free card. Not many of those in Canada.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Anyone know who's ATM has the highest cash withdraw limit and lowest fee? I use a pre-loaded Visa on a forex free card. Not many of those in Canada.

The lowest ATM Fee I've found is with the Banamex machines (MEGA, Chedraui, etc). I'm not sure which has the highest withdraw limit, but I think Banamex is either 5000 or 7000 pesos. I just got a new account that does not charge any fees but apparently I can't get around the on-site machine's fee of something like 25-30 pesos. Because of that fee I'll start making larger withdrawals because the fee is per use, and not based upon a percentage. With my new card I figure I'll save around $15-$ 20 US on each typical dive trip.

 

[ReefHound]

Hard to compare fees because it may be affected by relationships with your home bank. But I used ScotiaBank in Mega and hit by $100 peso fee while my friend used Banamex nect to me and fee was $31 pesos. Same withdrawal amount.

 

[DandyDon]

I used a HSBC bank machine as it was close to my hotel, and I didn't need to withdraw much - not enough to care about variables, or so I thought. Funny thing was the machine gave me a choice of 2,000 pesos, 3,000, or 7,000. I couldn't select my preferred amount, and 5,000 was not a choice.

I knew that my bank had a daily limit of just over $300 USD, and I hadn't cared enough to ask for them to change that. So, to get 5,000 pesos, I had to withdraw 3,000, then 2,000 more. I got 8,000 over two days, paid the balance on my hotel, and was fine for the week.

I'm always nervous about those, even tho they are one of the few places with English translations. I was sure that I'd told my bank that I was traveling and using in Mexico this time, but still worried I'd screw up somehow.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I was sure that I'd told my bank that I was traveling and using in Mexico this time, but still worried I'd screw up somehow.

About a year ago I went to do the travel notification thing on my credit card and it said I no longer need to do that. It is, after all, supposed to be a travel card (CapitalOne Venture One) I just opened a checking account with them too and don't need to notify them for that either.

 

[flyboy08]

Schwab! I never have to tell them I’m leaving home and they reimburse all and any amount incurred by fees....Schwaby....I have pretty much everything with them. No need to tell Chase Sapphire I’m out of the country either!