Trip report: 1/2-1/9 2021

[cozcharlie]

HSBC is the far right one, I think, and both that one and the Santander had the same "decline this transaction" button, but both transactions when through!


Next time, we will. I didn't call in advance, so they didn't have many pesos in time for our trip.

Just curious , did you select Plus or the other one when HSBC machine asked for your ATM network ? Also you mention 15 dollar fee, did you switch over to English at some point or was there a ~300 peso fee quoted? Can't even remember if that ATM has an english option.

I don’t even bank at HSBC but have used that machine (the one on the right) a lot so you have me curious. At this point the various menus are just muscle memory for me. Just wondering if they are charging some people more than others based on what options they select when using the machine (other than the dynamic conversion scam). Would be good for everyone on the board to know.

I got money the same week as you tried (maybe even same day ). and pretty sure I didn’t pay that type of fee. I have seen the fee screen so many times I don’t take a hard look at it, but would probably have noticed if the charge had quadrupled. I was withdrawing a larger sum than you so it wasn't like you were charged more because you were withdrawing more.

I know you weren't the one that mentioned it, but I really wouldn't recommend anyone bringing in more than $10k in dollar equivalent through an airport. You may spend a lot of time proving yourself innocent of some nefarious purpose. You may also pay a heck of an exit fee to get out the airport They can look pretty hard for dollars if they are in the mood (I had to turn my pockets inside out a couple of months ago because they were specifically looking for currency) They were also asking about currency a few weeks ago but didn't give me as much grief beyond a couple of questions.

 

[gotdogs?]

I can't stand having to use the ATM's in Cozumel. Too many problems including getting your card gobbled up, and never seeing it again. I bring both pesos and American $$. $ for tipping DM's and maids. Pesos for cab rides. When dining out, I have pesos charged to credit card(much better exchange rate). I think many of the dive shops do not want a money trail i.e Paypal, Venmo or credit card. Cold cash is less likely to be declared and taxed. Annoying, since it easier to pay for at least some of the dives ahead of time to reduce amount of money you have to bring to the island.

 

[ggunn]

I can't stand having to use the ATM's in Cozumel. Too many problems including getting your card gobbled up, and never seeing it again. I bring both pesos and American $$. $ for tipping DM's and maids. Pesos for cab rides. When dining out, I have pesos charged to credit card(much better exchange rate). I think many of the dive shops do not want a money trail i.e Paypal, Venmo or credit card. Cold cash is less likely to be declared and taxed. Annoying, since it easier to pay for at least some of the dives ahead of time to reduce amount of money you have to bring to the island.

Suit yourself, but I have been using ATMs (mostly the same one) on Cozumel for the last eight or ten years or so (ever since travelers' cheques became no longer viable), and the only problem I ever had I brought on myself when I absentmindedly walked away from the machine without retrieving my card. After about ten seconds (I found out later) it sucked my card back in and shredded it. I am not at all comfortable carrying in all the funds in cash I will need for a two week or longer stay on the island, and I don't want to use credit cards for everything for a variety of reasons.

As always, YMMV and DSFDF.

 

[mikeycanuk]

While on the subject of eaten cards I did attempt to use the HSBC (pretty sure) just by Dick's Dive/Coz Coffee and there was a poor girl with a tourist cop and just had her card eaten. And nicely told us to avoid that machine!

 

[ggunn]

While on the subject of eaten cards I did attempt to use the HSBC (pretty sure) just by Dick's Dive/Coz Coffee and there was a poor girl with a tourist cop and just had her card eaten. And nicely told us to avoid that machine!

Most (all?) of the ATMs I have seen on Cozumel are the type that pulls your card in and does not release it until the transaction is complete, and it takes 5-10 seconds to spit it out after you are done. That's plenty of time to put the cash in your wallet, put your wallet in your pocket, and walk away, which is what I did that time. If you don't retrieve your card in 10 seconds or so when the ATM tries to return it to you, the machine inhales your card and shreds it. Maybe that's what happened to her. Dandy Don has said that an ATM once ate his card when his bank didn't know he was traveling but I don't have experience with that, although there were times my bank didn't know I was out of the country and I had no ATM probs.

 

[H2ODoc]

For those of you that enjoy numbers, I just checked my HSBC receipt:

For a $2,000MXN withdrawl, they charged $60MXN surcharge fee and $9.60MXN tax fee. Those fees add up to 3.5% of the total.

On my bank side:
Withdrawal shows $104.41 plus $3.13 ATM fee so the total is $107.54 USD

On that day, the exchange rate was 19.85 pesos/dollar, so my net is:
- Total money received: $2000MXN
- Total money paid: $107.54USD
- At official exchange rate, $107.54USD was worth $2,143.67MXN
- So, I paid $143.67MXN to get that cash
- That's $143.67/$2000=7.2% total fees.

The Scotiabank ATM calculation ends up being 8.3%.

Note that about $3.15USD of those fees above were on my bank's side, not HSBC or Scotiabank. In short, it looks like about 3.5% is charged on BOTH sides of the transaction for a total around 7%. Not great, not horrible, but there are certainly better ways to exchange to pesos.

 

[cozcharlie]

For those of you that enjoy numbers, I just checked my HSBC receipt:

For a $2,000MXN withdrawl, they charged $60MXN surcharge fee and $9.60MXN tax fee. Those fees add up to 3.5% of the total.

On my bank side:
Withdrawal shows $104.41 plus $3.13 ATM fee so the total is $107.54 USD

On that day, the exchange rate was 19.85 pesos/dollar, so my net is:
- Total money received: $2000MXN
- Total money paid: $107.54USD
- At official exchange rate, $107.54USD was worth $2,143.67MXN
- So, I paid $143.67MXN to get that cash
- That's $143.67/$2000=7.2% total fees.

The Scotiabank ATM calculation ends up being 8.3%.

Note that about $3.15USD of those fees above were on my bank's side, not HSBC or Scotiabank. In short, it looks like about 3.5% is charged on BOTH sides of the transaction for a total around 7%. Not great, not horrible, but there are certainly better ways to exchange to pesos.

Thank you for the follow-up @H2ODoc . Sounds like you paid about $7.50 in combined transaction fees from both HSBC and your bank. Part of the issue you mention in terms of percentages is that you got a small amount of pesos. Many of the fees you mention are per transaction. I pay a similar HSBC fee but on 4X the peso amount, so the HSBC fee winds up being less than 1% of the transaction. HSBC transaction max is around 8500-9000 pesos on weekdays (sometimes rationed on weekends down to 6000). My bank does not charge a fee from their side due to my account type.

If people are going to be here a week or so, I recommend just getting one larger withdrawal to cover multiple expenses. Probably cheaper than getting pesos from home. I know this was true for my bank at one point. I was doing some renovations here so I had the numbers worked out pretty closely.

Thanks again for the follow up. I just wanted to note for newer visitors that it is extremely common for people here to get pesos from the ATMs from their bank accounts at home (as @ggunn noted) . It is fine if you want to bring pesos down from your local bank, but many, many people just get their pesos here. Obviously just get them either from an ATM directly in a bank or at the grocery store. Keep you receipt and even take a picture of the screen with your phone if there is some sort of an error.

 

[mikeycanuk]

I worked out my cash advance credit card fee was $5.00 CDN + $3.75 (58 pesos) dividend by $464 total withdrawal = 1.9%

I remembered (on island of course) that I had a $500 limit, I forgot to up it.

last year I had all kinds of issues. Mainly due to the fact I had not set the pin # at home as I only used it for online US$ shopping. And then forgetting the $500 max withdrawal. Well actually I was told Before I left it was $1000 but whatever. Somehow my MX cell SIM card had enough for the hour or more in calls to the credit card company back home.

Yet this time I could not call home no matter what combo of 1’s and 0’s I tried?? Christmas wishes via email.

 

[flyboy08]

My Schwab card refunds me all ATM fees, so I really don’t give this too much thought.

 

[ccannon707]

I have to mention Schwab as well. After BofA ended their relationship with Santander, I looked for a better card and decided on Schwab after reading alot online, especially from ex-pats. I had an online chat with a Schwab rep, ready with my questions and finding "the catch". There is none. You open an account with them and get your ATM card, totally fee free. You WILL be charged fees, but as flyboy08 said, they refund them all. The "catch" is they are hoping you'll become a customer in their brokerage section - stocks, bonds etc... , but it is not required. I've since used my Schwab card in other parts of the US, Mexico, UK, Denmark, Portugal and Spain - ahhh the days of travel. NO NET FEES EVER. Check it out.