social security direct deposit Banamex

Hello and thanks to everyone who responded to my other thread about the ATM fees etc. Now im asking if

anyone has experience with Banamex here, on having a social security check sent direct to Banamex? Someone

did mention Bancomer but i know that Banamex seems to have more branches thoughout Mexico. Thanks in

advance for any input!

Where is the Banamex branch Lakeside? I know it's not in Ajijic. Bancomer has two here.

David wrote:Where is the Banamex branch Lakeside? I know it's not in Ajijic. Bancomer has two here.

It's in Chapala, around the corner from the buildings on your left as you enter the main street in town. Be sure to park a long time before you get to that corner, since I've NEVER found parking in front of the bank. If all else fails, you park down by the Malecon and have a nice long walk. There is one window on the far right where the teller speaks excellent English, if that's needed. You take a ticket when you come in and you wait......and wait.
The good news is that there are several ATM machines in Ajijic; one in the Farmacia Guadalajara near ACTINVER and one in Walmart. Needless to say, they are not always working, so don't get too low on cash. Viva Mexico.

The ATMs at WalMart and Farmacia Guadalajara have both had a high rate of fraudulent transactions.

I usually keep going strait on Hidalgo through the light. and find a parking space a block or two down the street. Then I stop at the Chapala Indoor Market for some wonderful produce on my way back.

I am pretty sure you cannot have your social security check sent to a bank out of the country...could be wrong on this .

You are wrong. A SS check can be direct deposited in a Mexican bank.

I've never had a fraudulent transaction at those ATM's. Of course, we are careful.

[quote="schraderone"]Hello and thanks to everyone who responded to my other thread about the ATM fees etc. Now im asking if
anyone has experience with Banamex here, on having a social security check sent direct to Banamex? Someone
did mention Bancomer but i know that Banamex seems to have more branches thoughout Mexico. Thanks in
advance for any input![/quote]

Direct deposit of social security benefits can either be directed to Banamex or Bancomer and either bank has branches all over Mexico. We have our social security benefits directly deposited to our U.S. bank but bank at both Bancomer (Ajijic) and Banamex (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas) and find the service at either bank, including extensive branch banking facilities all over Mexico, to be very good with neither bank better than the other in that regard. Bancomer is better if one lives in or near Ajijic as Banamex has no branch in Ajijic but in Chapala, both Bancomer and Banamex have downtown branches close to each other so take your pick. We have found service at either bank in Chapala to be about the same so use the bank most convenient for you.

We have had no problems with fraudulent ATM transactions at any ATM at Lakeside anywhere or anywhere else in Mexico, Europe or the United States over the past 12 years we have resided in Mexico whether the ATM is owned by Bancomer, Banamex or any other banking institution at Lakeside. We try to utilize ATMs on bank premises but use standalone ATMs as well when convenient,

plumlake wrote:I am pretty sure you cannot have your social security check sent to a bank out of the country...could be wrong on this .

You are. Now when you fill out SS forms one of the questions is do you live
out of country. You can live anywhere they just want to know now so they
can make you fill out a form once a year proving you are still alive or something
like that. I put my money into BOA and withdraw it out Scocia Bank machine
near Walmart. Very low fees and good exchange rate. I also have a local bank
with money in it in case the networks go nuts or something. I use Bancomer.

Z

Plumlake writes:
" I am pretty sure you cannot have your social security check sent to a bank out of the country...could be wrong on this . "
To which Zed responds, in part:
" You are. Now when you fill out SS forms one of the questions is do you live
out of country. You can live anywhere...."

Actually, you cannot live anywhere and receive social security benefit payments no matter where those payments are deposited or mailed. Today, restricted countries include Cambodia, Cuba and North Korea and there are other restrictions applying to some other areas internationally. Fortunately, Mexico is not among the restricted countries and you can have your benefits deposited in any Mexican bank with the capacity to accept an electronically initiated credit to your account at that institution. However, that way you incur exchange, financial institution and sovereign risk which can, at times, be substantial.

The best way to access your social security benefits is to have them electronically deposited to a U.S. bank where you have an account that has a policy of reimbursing imposed ATM fees. That way, the only fee you incur when receiving Mexican Pesos from you U.S.Dollar account is the IVA fee you and everyone else pays the Mexican government for the privilege of receiving the service. After years of wiring funds to Mexico from my U.S. bank, I came to the conclusion that the best way to access pesos for everyday living expenses is to use ATMs for ease of transaction and the best exchange rate for the layperson generally speaking.

FWIW, Compass Bank in the U.S. is affilitated with BBVA (or maybe actually owned by them) and BBVA and their ATMS are widespread here in Jalisco. So you might be able to have a Compass account in the U.S. and use their ATM to draw out money here fee free.

We're going to be checking this out on our next trip NOB as Compass has branches in Arlington, TX, where my wife's sister lives and where we go when we go to TX.

MC:

Kathy has a Compass account and they used to credit back fees but quit doing so maybe a year or so back. There may have been another change in policy that I am not aware of.

USAA Bank still credits back the bank fees, but you do need some sort of military connection.

Our U.S. account is with PNC Bank in Pennsylvania through Charles Schwab. Schwab credits back all ATM fees no matter which ATM we utilize anywhere in the world and no matter how many ATM transactions we initiate. For readers still in the U.S. or still maintaining a U.S. address, I´d advise checking into this service with your financial institution before deciding as to where to bank after you retire to Mexico. We have accumulated savings of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars in ATM fee rebates over the past decade plus here in Mexico, in the U.S. and in France so this is not chump change.

As I understand it, you can't open a new U.S. account unless you do so in the U.S.
Is that incorrect?

gringal wrote:As I understand it, you can't open a new U.S. account unless you do so in the U.S.
Is that incorrect?

Since the patriot act it is very difficult to do anything unless
you are there. You can't even pick up your drivers license in
Oregon anymore. They mail it to you a week or so later to
verify that you live at that address. Even when I had multiple
accounts at various banks if I wanted to open a different type
at the same bank I had to start over like I don't have a relationship
with the bank. This was true with BOA and FTFCU. I have no idea
if stocks accounts are under the thumb of the Patriot act. Does
anybody know for sure?

Z

Is there no longer e-banking/on-line banking? I originally opened my BofA account online. But that was 3 years ago.

At first glance, the following link seems to indicate that opening a bank account online is fairly simple and many banks are soliciting such business:
https://www.google.com/webhp#hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=opening+a+bank+account+online&oq=opening+a+bank+&gs_l=hp.1.1.0l4.4156.10004.0.13058.15.11.0.2.2.0.338.1867.0j8j2j1.11.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.QRLPAHvOhLk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=19740cd656985a10&biw=1280&bih=604

Disclaimer: without checking into the actual process with each bank - it is impossible to determine if there is something in the process that would eliminate someone from doing so from outside of the US.

gringal wrote:As I understand it, you can't open a new U.S. account unless you do so in the U.S.
Is that incorrect?

I believe you needn´t necessarily be in the U.S. to open a U.S. bank account but you must have a permanent residence in the U.S. and be able to demonstrate that you are a U.S. resident - and Dawg ain´t talking about no P.O. box.

Despite what Neil says above, you cannot open a U.S. bank account on line if you are not demonstrably a U.S. resident. If, however, you already have a U.S. bank account at the time you move to Mexico and no longer maintain a U.S. residence (or are able to make them believe your sister´s or uncle´s or buddy´s home in the U.S. is yours), you can retain an active U.S. bank account after moving here but I wouldn´t brag about it to the bank unless you are friends with the branch manager who can be trusted.

I have had a Schwab One checking account with Charles Schwab since about 1998 which is domiciled at PNC Bank in Pennsylvania upon which certain funds are deposited and some checks drawn. No problem when we moved to Mexico and no longer maintained a U.S. residency - even one of those phony MBE addresses in Laredo. When several on-line banks started offering high interest rate swap checking accounts accounts a few years ago, I tried to open one but not even one on-line bank would allow me to open an account. Period. So, when Schwab opened its own new U.S. chartered bank a couple of years ago, I thought of opening an account and approached Schwab to propose opening a Schwab Bank checking account. They refused. I responded that I already had a Schwab One checking account and some IRA accounts with them all with excellent track records over years and they explained something to me that had never crossed my mind. As it turned out, the Schwab One checking account at PNC was not our account at all even though all checks and deposit slips were in our name. The PNC account is, in reality, Schwab´s account with PNC and PNC wouldn´t know us from Adam´s housecat. We simply had a sub-account providing us access to Schwab´s account at PNC. Therefore, Schwab could and would keep our Schwab One account open even though we lived full time in Mexico but could not, due to statutory limitations imposed by the Patriot (or some such) Act, open a new account for us at the new U.S. chartered Schwab Bank no matter how good a customer we had been for years.

Makes sense, no?

For some reason, that Patriot Act succeeded in one respect: making life difficult for expats.

If you were fortunate enough to have your U.S. bank account active when you left the U.S., then your new residence in those little Texas P.O. Boxes will work for you in getting statements and so on. It will even get you solicitations from Texas charities. Both MBE and Handymail will fix you up with one of them for an exhorbitant fee. Just gulp and figure it's the cost of doing business here.

If you didn't......t.s. and you might as well find a bank in Mexico to work with.
In that case, you'll be reporting in to SS once a year to reassure them you're still alive.