Hey guys what is your experience with Mexican banks as a foreigner? Both for personal and business accounts. I just got turned down by Inbursa for not having permanent residency, but Santander was friendly. Thank you in advance
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Banks in Mexico
- Thread starter Calyx
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Mexican banks, oh man . Yes you need your residency for personal accounts. Go for bancomer, works pretty wel. It is hit and miss though so if turned down go to the next branch. Banorte is also ok. Even with temp residency they used to open personal accounts. Dont do banamex.
Opening an account depends on the experience and mood of the employee helping you. So if you dont have succces at one branch of a bank, go to the next. Although employees of all mx banks sell your data, bankfraude is far more common at banamex. A friend of mine in the US who works for citibank who owns banamex told me never to open an account at banamex.
I went around to various banks in Mexico City, prior to getting my temp res card, to see if I could open an acct as a tourist but to no avail.
Once I got the card, I was easily able to just drop in and open 2 personal accts - at Scotia and Santander. Santander was rated the safest bank in Mexico in 2022 acc to Global Finance Magazine FWIW. It took about an hour to open each. Everything was conducted in spanish. They did not or would not speak english. They gave a debit card and said it would take 6-12 months to be able to apply for a credit card. I was given a real RFC (tax ID) upon opening one of the accts.
Yes 1 told me I needed perm res - Ci bank I believe.
Once I got the card, I was easily able to just drop in and open 2 personal accts - at Scotia and Santander. Santander was rated the safest bank in Mexico in 2022 acc to Global Finance Magazine FWIW. It took about an hour to open each. Everything was conducted in spanish. They did not or would not speak english. They gave a debit card and said it would take 6-12 months to be able to apply for a credit card. I was given a real RFC (tax ID) upon opening one of the accts.
Yes 1 told me I needed perm res - Ci bank I believe.
Ive got good experiences with both BBVA and Hey Banco. You can open both acc through their app.
BBVA will even open you a USD acc but you have to go to a branch.
You do need a temp/perm residency permit, not difficult to get if you have money or are willing to move to a place where immigration is running a 'regularizacion' program. Currently Queretaro and PV have no requisites besides an expired FMM.
Theres no way you open an acc without residency. I tried everywhere, tried bribing, tried being nice, not happening.
Overall its great, I have runt over $100k per tx through BBVA and it all went smooth.
Strange logic.
You don't have any friends who work at BVVA or Santander. Does this mean that these banks better than Banamex? Or does this mean that you simply can't know whether or not, because you haven't happen to have any friends who work in them? Maybe they are even worse?
Or may be that the US banks are worse still than these mexican ones? Who can you know?
Then how I managed to open an account then in 2019? In one bank, in one branch with one particular employee, without any bribe. It was a luck, but this disproves your claim
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good luck with your bank accounts in MX. Remember to hold only petty cash in them, for the rest they are pretty useless. Employees will sell you out in the blink of an eye if you move / hold large amounts. Banamex is the worst here where it comes to credit card fraude. In general MX banks can almost only receive (and convert to MXN in your account for) USD, EUR, GBP and a few other currencies.
Then how I managed to open an account then in 2019? In one bank, in one branch with one particular employee, without any bribe. It was a luck, but this disproves your claim
We both know what you did with that employee to get that acc opened
idk G every situation has its outliers. Good for you if you got one? lol
What??? I remember that I ensured that you really left to buy tacos. And I then even locked the door!We both know what you did with that employee to get that acc opened
Sell to whom? And for what reason?
Do you have experience youself?
I got it opened in Playa del Carmen.
If they are only opening them if you are close to gringoland then it makes sense that I got it with no hustle
Thanks everyone for the replies. Another question is about their tax authority - the SAT. I am thinking about starting a small business here which would mean I have to get registered. I understand that usually they are pretty chill with foreigners and don't ask many questions, but I wonder once someone registeres to the SAT, do things get very complicated? I'm obviously planning to pay tax on my Mex biz, but will they get nosey with foreign accounts or income received in other countries? According to my searches, they should not. But I've also heard people mentioning that one would have to report more.
I have a question about cash (USD) and banks in Mexico. Is it better to go through banks that are directly related to Mexico or try to find a more "foreign" friendly bank for large deposits of cash on a weekly/monthly basis? I've heard that Mexican banks, they are pretty strict on cash being deposited into their banking. Any advice would be appreciated. FYI, I'm in the US.
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