The Church Book - Camping Mexico's Baja
The Mike and Terri Church Book. First let me say it must be a tedious and thankless job to slog through all the details that putting together this book takes. Much of it is very good. But because it i...
Forum Discussion
I certainly do not want to beat this to death but I do think people who are not very familiar with travel in Mexico should be aware of a few things which is what I tried to post about. To try to clarify....
We travel extensively all over Mexico every year - 28 of 31 states - and have been to many Pemex stations where credit cards are still not accepted.
We never ever carry large amounts of cash anywhere and strongly advise against it - anywhere on the planet. We go to an ATM machine at a bank location to get cash as we need it using our no fee debit card.
The fee I mentioned above was a fee charged by Visa - not a bank - not a merchant - Visa - which I stated. The only time we use a credit card in Mexico is to pay the vehicle deposit which I believe we paid around $300 and were charged about $10 - because they require that we use a credit card for the deposit. Both the deposit and the fee are refunded when we leave the country. If you use a card that charges a fee for using it in a foreign country it will be clearly stated on your bank statement. It is not a fee that is rolled into the exchange rate.
We monitor all our accounts online every time we do any kind of transaction. It is next to impossible to know the exchange rate in Mexico as it seems to change almost hourly. We can go to one machine and get one rate and another machine gives another rate. We can go into the bank to see the rate but they will tell us that the rate in their machine is better (and different). Go to several online sites that show exchange rates for Mexico and see different rates. The only way we know exactly what rate we got is by knowing how many pesos we bought and then doing the math from how many dollars came out of our account. It changes all the time.
We belong to a credit union that does not charge ATM fees and is in the co-op system where there are over 20,000 no fee machines in the US. If a Mexican bank says we will be charged a fee in Mexico our statement says "Fee Waived Due To RBP" which is some deal I once asked about but forget what they told me. We do not pay fees. Which is one of the reasons we do not use credit cards in Mexico - Visa charges fees on their credit cards internationally.
My one and only intention is to let people know that they should check with their financial institution to try to find out what kind of fees you might expect to pay if you travel in Mexico and use any of various cards. Lots of people may tell you all kinds of different things but none of these things may apply to your account. Know before you go.
We have substantial accounts with two credit unions - all savings and checking - no loans ever - we do not borrow and we do not pay interest - no loans - no interest - just do not believe in paying interest. Interest is a fee and we do not pay fees. I think we are all aware that when our money is on deposit at a bank or credit union they can do things with it - loan it - invest it - so they make money on our money while it is in their care. That should be enough. My father taught me if you can't afford to buy it outright you don't need it. I never even had a mortgage - built my own house from the ground up out of pocket - paycheck to paycheck. We don't have to go to money managers - they come to us wanting to get a piece of managing our money.
cards are accepted at most places now
We travel extensively all over Mexico every year - 28 of 31 states - and have been to many Pemex stations where credit cards are still not accepted.
carrying large amounts of cash
We never ever carry large amounts of cash anywhere and strongly advise against it - anywhere on the planet. We go to an ATM machine at a bank location to get cash as we need it using our no fee debit card.
charged extra fees for foreign transactions
The fee I mentioned above was a fee charged by Visa - not a bank - not a merchant - Visa - which I stated. The only time we use a credit card in Mexico is to pay the vehicle deposit which I believe we paid around $300 and were charged about $10 - because they require that we use a credit card for the deposit. Both the deposit and the fee are refunded when we leave the country. If you use a card that charges a fee for using it in a foreign country it will be clearly stated on your bank statement. It is not a fee that is rolled into the exchange rate.
monitor your account ans see what processed and compare the exchange rates
We monitor all our accounts online every time we do any kind of transaction. It is next to impossible to know the exchange rate in Mexico as it seems to change almost hourly. We can go to one machine and get one rate and another machine gives another rate. We can go into the bank to see the rate but they will tell us that the rate in their machine is better (and different). Go to several online sites that show exchange rates for Mexico and see different rates. The only way we know exactly what rate we got is by knowing how many pesos we bought and then doing the math from how many dollars came out of our account. It changes all the time.
take all of my accounts to another bank who will not charge me ATM fees
We belong to a credit union that does not charge ATM fees and is in the co-op system where there are over 20,000 no fee machines in the US. If a Mexican bank says we will be charged a fee in Mexico our statement says "Fee Waived Due To RBP" which is some deal I once asked about but forget what they told me. We do not pay fees. Which is one of the reasons we do not use credit cards in Mexico - Visa charges fees on their credit cards internationally.
My one and only intention is to let people know that they should check with their financial institution to try to find out what kind of fees you might expect to pay if you travel in Mexico and use any of various cards. Lots of people may tell you all kinds of different things but none of these things may apply to your account. Know before you go.
We have substantial accounts with two credit unions - all savings and checking - no loans ever - we do not borrow and we do not pay interest - no loans - no interest - just do not believe in paying interest. Interest is a fee and we do not pay fees. I think we are all aware that when our money is on deposit at a bank or credit union they can do things with it - loan it - invest it - so they make money on our money while it is in their care. That should be enough. My father taught me if you can't afford to buy it outright you don't need it. I never even had a mortgage - built my own house from the ground up out of pocket - paycheck to paycheck. We don't have to go to money managers - they come to us wanting to get a piece of managing our money.
