As most people are aware, transferring money into Mexico, cashing foreign checks at Mexican banks, and avoiding ATM fees has definitely become more difficult since the USA Government enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in 2010, which originally applied to U.S. residents and also to U.S. citizens and green card holders residing in other countries.

FATCA is a United States federal law requiring all non-U.S. foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to search their records for customers with indications of a connection to the U.S., including indications in records of birth or prior residency in the U.S., or the like, and to report the assets and identities of such persons to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

FATCA also requires such persons to report their non-U.S. financial assets annually to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on form 8938, which is in addition to the older and further redundant requirement to report them annually to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Unfortunately, the law resulted in the Mexican Government as well as many other countries to cease accepting foreign currency and checks into the monetary system of Mexico.

The U.S. has yet to comply with FATCA itself because as of 2017, it has not yet provided the promised reciprocity to its partner countries, and it has failed to sign up to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). FATCA has also been criticized for its impacts on Americans living overseas and implicated in record-breaking numbers of U.S. citizenship renunciations since 2010. Bills to repeal FATCA have been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Due to the banking restrictions, most Mexican banks do not exchange foreign currency due to concerns about its origin, or only provide the service to their customers, forcing many people to exchange foreign cash elsewhere. This forces many people, including Mexican Nationals to go to the street markets, or other informal dollar exchange options, where the dollars are purchased for between 33 to 50% of their value. This accumulation of foreign cash disrupts the foreign currency markets and spurs the black market trading that prevents migrant family members from receiving a fair exchange of dollars to pesos. Additionally, tourism workers in Mexico, who often receive tips in dollars, also suffer from the existing laws.

Still, there are ways to legally transfer USD to Mexico.

ATM Transfers

Most ATM machines in Mexico allow you to use a debit or credit card on a foreign bank to withdraw up to $8,000 pesos daily (approximately $400 USD). Some ex-pats and Mexican Nationals who do not have a foreign bank but want to receive regular payments from a family member in a foreign country will have the family member send them a duplicate credit or debit card that can be used to receive money. While ATMs are still a good option for getting cash from a foreign bank in Mexico, we should note that just like in the USA and elsewhere, there have been sporadic reports in which ATMs were modified by thieves installing skimmers that can read your card and record the PIN number.

Interbank Transfers

If you have a bank in the USA that is part of the same banking system as your Mexican Bank, you may be able to make bank wire transfers between the two banks without a processing charge. For instance, Bancomer is part of BBVA, which in the USA is USA Bancshares, Inc. is a Sunbelt-based bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, BBVA, operates 649 branches, including 336 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 37 in Colorado and 18 in New Mexico. Other banks that have branches in Mexico include Citibank (known as Banamex in Mexico), HSBC, Mizuho Americas, Santander Bank, and Bank of America (through partnerships with Santander Bank).

Remote Image Deposit

If you have a bank in the USA and a check or a copy of a check made on a USA bank, you can normally use Remote Image Deposit (RID) with a mobile app on your phone to take a photo of the check and deposit the amount into your USA bank. This has been handy for those ex-pats who receive their Covid checks in the mail from the USA, as a way of depositing the amount into their USA bank. The banks in Mexico will not allow foreign checks to be deposited directly into a Mexican bank. Once the Remote Image Deposit is made into the USA bank, the money can be transferred into a Mexican bank by wire transfer. Some ex-pats or Mexican Nationals will have the person in a foreign country send them a photo of a check made out to them, which they then print on a regular color copier and then photograph the copy to make the Remote Image Deposit.

Average Money Transfer Exchange Rate

The World Bank’s most recent data shows that for transfers of $200 USD from the US to Mexico, money transfer companies charged a fee averaging 2.68% and marked up their exchange rates 1.36% over spot rates, for a total cost of 4.04% or $8.08 for a $200 USD transfer. That said, some services charge much more than the average but are not used as much, which tilts the scale.

Here are 8 of the companies that do transfers to Mexican Banks. In alphabetical order:

Bridge21 (https://bridge21.com/)

Pros

• Send money to any bank in Mexico with a Clabe Number
• Get a quote on the transfer fee upfront
• Will waive its 1% fee for your first transfer of up to $3,000 USD!

Cons

• Can take up to 4 to 5 days to transfer funds

Moneygram (https://www.moneygram.com)

Pros

• Familiar Brand name

Cons

• Expensive compared to other services when using credit or debit card