Bringing Cash or ?

This is a great forum and we have received a lot of information reading the various posts.  We will be spending December in Ajijic and have a question.   I am having major dental work done and am bringing some pesos with us, but do not want to bring too much cash.  Could I bring travellers cheques and get them cashed at the banco in Ajijic, or just use a ATM (with limited cash withdrawls per day) I do not know what the cost will be for the dentist, until the appointment.  Would like to bring travellers cheques if it is easy to convert to pesos, and the travelers cheques could be brought back to Canada with us if we do not use them. (In Canadian dollars, not US)
Thanks

Traveler's checks are pretty much dead. Don't bring them. Call your bank in Canada before you leave and find out what your daily cash withdrawl limit is. They'll raise the limit if you want. If it's "major dental work" someone here might be able to give you an idea of the costs if you explain what it is. Plus, it sounds like it might be more than one trip to the dentist so you can pay it in chunks. ATM access should be enough unless your withdrawl limit is super low.

Travelers Checks are a dinosaur and not worth the PITA to get them cashed. While Mexico is known as a cash society, some dentists will accept credit cards but you may get a discount in you pay in cash. ATM's are easy to find but you need to notify your bank that you will be using your debit card in Mexico. You might also check with your Canadian bank which branded ATM's are the best to use for the lowest fees.

Many dentists accept Checks written on US or Canadian bank accounts. I've been writing checks to Dr. Haro since my 1st visit in 2003.

Dr Haro, the dentist to the "rich and famous Gringos" from the north shore of Lake Chapala can certainly afford to wait for a NOB check to clear a NOB bank! HA! HA!

Intercam clears a US check in 48 hours and sometimes even the night its been presented. The long ago days of waiting days and in the case of Lloyd even weeks for your check to clear are over.

Saw a Canadian couple using travellers checks just last week at Intercam. There is a limit per month of $1500 which is the same limit for exchanging US or Canadian dollars for pesos. They $50 denomination checks and each cashed 6. They had to have their passport, immigration paper and drivers license with them. Took forever. Their signature on the passport did not match the signature on the checks and its was problematic. So get your checks the same way you sign your passport.

Skip the travelers checks they are not much useful anymore. We do have Scocia Bank ATM machine if you are with that Canadian Bank.  Most of us use Debit cards to bring money down
here.

Agreed. The easiest way to get money here is via the ATM machines. If you get a Scotia account there are no fees if you use a Scotia ATM here. The important thing, as mentioned above, is to advise your bank you will be travelling in Mexico. Failure to do so could result in your bank card being shut down.

I have two Bank of A. accounts and have a debit card from each that I use to take out funds from the local Scotia Bank ATM. Said ATM says that there is a limit of $3,000 pesos per withdrawal. Not true I have friends who always take as much as $6,000 pesos per time and never have a  problem. I often enter $4,000 pesos per time from my B of A accounts and as of yet have not had to pay a fee.

As long as you warn your bank that you will be withdrawing funds from Mexico via Scotia Bank, no problem. But, if normally you make withdrawals from say GTA or say the greater Seattle area and all of a sudden you start trying to make withdrawals from say central Mexico, your withdrawals will probably be turned down.

I always let the credit/debit card folks know when and where I will be using my card when I'm not at home.

Pete, WELCOME BACK. The owner of the ATM sets the limit for amount of withdrawal. In my other life, I set the max @ $200.00, per swipe, however the bank would let the cardholder to draw up to their daily limit! Since I owned the ATM, it was my inventory, and made $2.00 per swipe. LOL

You may be limited to maximum withdrawals, but you can stick your card in and do another right away. I never had trouble getting $10,000 pesos at, say, rent time. The max amount really depends on your bank's own restrictions on your account.

HG isn't that what I just stated?

actually yer bank does the restrictions YOU set. i generally do 5000pesosx2 at that machine-no problema,even though it says 3000 per swipe.

Pedro wrote:actually yer bank does the restrictions YOU set. i generally do 5000pesosx2 at that machine-no problema,even though it says 3000 per swipe.

WTF Pedro? I just posted, THE ATM OWNER, sets the limits per transaction, however you can do multiple transactions to reach your limit, paying multiple atm trans fees! So now you ran 2 transactions, and paid the owner of the ATM, thru lower conversion rates, if the charge for transaction was not listed on receipt! 

i was talking about the bank and it's customer for the max daily limit not the atm. 2 seperate issues. in any event, that machine says the limit is 3000/swipe and a lot of us do more. can't be much of a transaction fee because it's barely above the xe rate and better than intercam or any other bank. so what?

Pedro wrote:i was talking about the bank and it's customer for the max daily limit not the atm. 2 seperate issues. in any event, that machine says the limit is 3000/swipe and a lot of us do more. can't be much of a transaction fee because it's barely above the xe rate and better than intercam or any other bank. so what?

Barely above rate equates to huge profits....my ATM in my bar, generated approx., $1200.00 per month profit!  600 transactions @ $2.00 per.   5 centavos per $ is huge daily!

Actually, the restriction is based on what you set and what the bank sets.

FYI it looks like BOA is charging 3% foreign Transaction fee now. It started on the ninth and it doesn't matter what kind of account.  Scocia Bank is off the list for Mexico however Santander is still on the list. This is a recent change and should be noted. You do not want to pay 3% if you are here for any length of time.  See other strings on this info for more details.

Z

Below is new BOA policy not that BOA in USA ever recognized Scocia Bank but it worked anyhoo for us.


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Thanks for all the replies. Another thought is to use my bank ATM client card at, for example, Wal Mart, buy a small item, and take out the maximum allowed to avoid the bank service charge. We used to do this years ago, and assume we can do it now.

You can do that but you will still pay the 3%. that amount will hit your account a couple days after the purchase.

the best thing a canadian can do is open a scotia account and the op is a canuck,right? so bofa and merkin banking don't enter inta it in any way shape or form. there are scotia atm's all over mexico.
i researched the hell outta this BEFORE we moved here and we closed cibc,atb and td accounts. after moving we had hsbc briefly but they lied to me about the accessability[sic] on our investment account plus they charge that 3 buck outta country atm fee even in there branches here if yer account is in a branch in canada.
our atm fees from scotia are zero[no 3 bucks] in their machines and the exchange rate is better than intercam but we use them fer big stough like medical bills. nov. 12 i got 5000pesos for 408.28 at the atm.

"...nov. 12 i got 5000pesos for 408.28 at the atm."

That shakes out to 12.2 exchange rate. Isn't that low?

Not really. Today the MXN to CDN is 12.38 to 1.

Exchange rates vary a little bit. I check five places and average to exchange dollars to
pesos for guests.

Z

Infidel wrote:"...nov. 12 i got 5000pesos for 408.28 at the atm."

That shakes out to 12.2 exchange rate.  Isn't that low?

It would be if Pedro was changing US dollars,but it's obvious from his post that he wasn't.