Banking tips for Mexico
We have an account with Banamex in Calexico, CA. Our social security checks are deposited there.
We can do an online transaction from Banamex CA to our Banamex account in Mexico, and get super rates, with no activity fee. The transfer is nearly instantaneous.
The only problem we found with Banamex USA is that our debit card has no logo (Visa or Mastercard). There is an easy solution for that.
Set up a Paypal account, get a Paypal MasterCard debit, and link it to your Banamex USA account. Then the Paypal debit functions just like a Banamex debit card. If you “overdraw” your Paypal account, it simply draws automatically on your Banamex USA account.
Banamex in Mexico does supply a visa debit card with the MasterCard logo.
Simple!
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I am a 60 year old retired woman who is interested in moving down to Mexico. I live on my husband’s pension and Social Security Widows Benefits, under $3,000 a month. What price range are the rentals and would it be in a “safe” part of town? My adult children think I am crazy to do this, but I go tent camping by myself all the time, and love to go exploring. What an exploring trip this would be!!! What I would like to do is keep my living expenses at or below $2000 a month, including everything. Do you think that would be reasonable?
Thank you!
Sue
Susan: Thank you for your comment. We pay 5,500 pesos for a nice 4 bedroom, single-story house. We have a two car garage in front, which is extremely convenient. There are two completely tiled bathrooms. There are two of us, three cats and a dog. Originally 5,500 pesos came to about $550, but with the new exchange rate it is around $423. We own our truck, and have no payments other than our rent, utilities, food, medical, and some entertainment. We are making it on about $1,500 a month. If we were on the Pacific Coast of Baja California, we would save a bit on summer air conditioning bills, as it gets pretty hot in Mexicali.