that's great, can you provide a source for that statement? I believe just need to make sure.

i got a checking account at bancomer without an fm3 on monday. wasn't charged anything either.

I don't have one but am looking into it. According to my brother who lives in Mex City, Telcel is the best company to use.

edit: http://www.bat.telcel.com/planes_tel....html?mid=8100

10gb for 600 pesos seems pretty good to me. i think i was paying 50 bucks for 5gb a month w verizon in US

Cool, thx.

cozulmel eh?

think i'm moving to playa in a month..
how's the weather?
are you up and running again?

yea i may end up in playa eventually. weather is perfect. little warm, but there seems to be a consistent breeze. i've had everything switched on ftp and ap (lol) and got a call from pokerstars security earlier so i think i will be good to go on there in a couple days. waiting on neteller to review my documents etc but everything is going fine so far. my internet is pretty good. i'm not sure what speed it is but more than adequate.

Banking Challenge: Get a USD Banamex account


I went into Banamex yesterday and opened a peso account [without FM3], but apparently with a USD account I would be able to transfer for FREE to Citibank / Banamex USA accounts! However, this requires I pester my landlord for one of the hard-to-get utilities. I don't know why, but the USD version of their account requires a utility such as electricity/gas/landline phone in your name. So that's my new objective right now.

cool

i was gonna ask ya how you planned on getting money on and off stars..
idk how sht works yet.. deposit onto Neteller>stars and then stars>bank(?)
or stars>neteller>bank(?)

that's reassuring IRT the interwebs.

you were pretty explicit but just to double check, a utility with your landlord's name will not suffice even if it matches that of the lease?

that is great news though and if i end up doing this for a while being able to xfer seamlessly between banamex and a citi account would be fantastic.

assuming my neteller gets approved, ya i plan on just doing stars-->NT-->bancomer

I'm not going to say 100% because this came from the bank employees, who didn't always know everything (for example the woman opening my account thought I needed an FM3, then double-checked and found I didn't), so it's not out of the question. I think the ideal situation would be to have a peso Banamex in Mexico and a Citibank/Banamex USA account in the US, and then to contact Banamex and see if they can't do something for you.

And yes, transferring free from a foreign to US bank would be great for a lot of people. Which ID are you sending to Neteller? A US drivers license? Will they accept a US identification?

This is excerpted from the e-mail Neteller sent me:
I sent my passport. Will update when I am accepted/rejected.

Does anyone know anything about depositing USD into Mexican banks. I heard something about some kind of tax on amounts greater than 2k USD? But the person who told me didn't really know either and had just heard something.

if you are an American and have 10K or more in foreign bank account you have to report it to the IRS. that might be what they were talking about.

No, this is not it. In 2009 Mexico passed some kind of law where it becomes very difficult to convert more than $1000 USD into pesos. It was passed in order to slow down money laundering. I don't know exact details, but it affected me. I remember I couldn't go straight to the bank and convert $2000USD into pesos anymore. However, pesos into dollars seemed fine. I guess I could look it up, but am too lazy.

http://www.desdelared.com.mx/2010/no...5-dolares.html


Okay here it is. Basically, if you have an account with them, maximum dollars they will convert to pesos is $4000 per month (but many places are lower). If you don't have an account, maximum is like $300. I remember being at a money currency exchange line and Americans cursing over being limited to a couple hundred USD.

Anyways, this should not affect us at all. We will be withdrawing, not depositing. You should start thinking ahead. If you are HSNL you should probably have 2 to 3 Mexican accounts. Get neteller hooked up to one, entropay to another, and moneybookers into another. This will help with all the "shady" transactions you will be making. Remember winning at online poker is considered shady in Mexico. Mexicans are poker donks, nobody wins.

Thanks loco. One caveat to the rule that this same person told me was that she thought bank wires were not subject to this limit only cash-in-hand deposits. But yes, I agree it would probably behoove one (me) to setup more bank accounts and ewallets. I think maybe next month I will try and setup the citibank/Banamex pair of accounts.

Have you had trouble w/ banks questioning what is going on with your account? I surely don't want to be drawing the ire of anyone down in this country.

edit: still waiting to hear back from neteller. i created a moneybookers but it isnt currently an option to withdraw from on ftp so haven't done much in the way of attempting to verify it. requested address verification which should be here next week and would increase my limit by 7500.

No, I have never had problems from Bancomer. And debit card is handy because it works anywhere in the world like a regular visa and the exchange rate is pretty good.

You should complete all the verification requirements for moneybookers (be ready when FTP pumps up their moneybookers account).
They will start e-mailing you with the most ridiculous verification requirements when the account is brand new. Open an account at another pokersite and fund it with moneybookers to get the ball rolling. Also, look at all the options to pump up the limits and follow them. When I first started with moneybookers, the first 3 months were a complete and utter nightmare. But once I was up and running and sent in document 48 times, it has been all smooth sailing from there. I started with like 10K limits on moneybookers (per 90 days) and now I am on like 70K per 90 days or something I never reach.


p.s. Bank wires 100% not subject to that law. It was for cash only to prevent money laundering.

found confirmation of the law on bancomer's website

http://www.bancomer.com/pcu/pdf/aviso_dolares.pdf

4k usd. but ya, seems to be pretty much a non issue. i am trying to poke around and see if there is any thing like the citi/banamex deal since bbva is associated w bancomer. haven't found anything online but i will call bbva in the US tomorrow and see if they know anything.

edit: this must be like the gringo section of bancomer's website but i found this in their faq

from their preferred customers section on peso accounts... http://www.bancomer.com/pcu/pcu.asp?...eai_descr.html

i am pretty sure i just have a standard peso checking account. need to inquire about this though. being able to xfer seamlessly to my bofa online would be ****ing fantastic.

Speaking of having a Bank of America account in the States - for anyone in Mexico you can take pesos out of Banco Santander ATMs for no fees and something like a ~1% currency exchange fee. Pretty good deal. Been doing the same thing up here in Canada with Scotiabank.

https://www5.bankofamerica.com/searc...w&locale=en_US

I guess Santander isn't a full part of the Global ATM Alliance, but they have some separate arrangement with BofA that's of the same effect.

bump

how's it goin' down there jsnipes?
any unforeseen problems.. internet still kickin'?
what's the dilly

going well so far (besides losing 10 bi to some donkey last night grrrrr). internet is fine, Pokerstars verified my account finally last night so that is open as well. Still waiting on Neteller. Leaving for some more kiteboarding lessons in 30 minutes

awesome.. good to hear..
(aside from the downswing obv)
kiteboarding sounds fun.. i was thinking of getting licensed for scuba diving

...i always think i have more questions before i start typing :/

I can use moneybookers or netteller as an american if i move to mexico ??

Yea diving is superb down here. I am certified and did 4 dives last week. Really beautiful. Would def recommend getting certified if you come down here.