Pesos or $$$

[Nancyquilts]

We've been down to Mexico on several cruise lines, and none have ever had money exchanges on board. Nancy

[pulledporky]

One other tip I read and will pass on, if you use an ATM in Mexico you want to request (like) 490 pesos. If you ask for 500 pesos you will get 1ea 500 pesos bill. And they won't have change so you'll need to spend the whole thing. If you ask for 490 pesos, you will get a mixture of bills. I have no experience in this but it certainly seems plausible.

[househunter]

One other tip I read and will pass on, if you use an ATM in Mexico you want to request (like) 490 pesos. If you ask for 500 pesos you will get 1ea 500 pesos bill. And they won't have change so you'll need to spend the whole thing. If you ask for 490 pesos, you will get a mixture of bills. I have no experience in this but it certainly seems plausible.

 

Why wouldn't any merchant have change? I use large bills both pesos and dollars all over Cabo and can always get change anywhere I go. That doesn't make sense?:confused:

[32highboy]

When I travel Mexico I use the ATM,s and carry Pesos all the time. The exchange rate is ok and Atm,s are on every corner or gas station.

[afcj1]

Why wouldn't any merchant have change? I use large bills both pesos and dollars all over Cabo and can always get change anywhere I go. That doesn't make sense?:confused:

 

I was just in Cabo and was given pesos for my change - used USD's. The major establishments can make change, it's just the vendors that have more of a difficult time.

[cctn]

Don't be shocked when you get home to find extra little charges on your ATM card. I have been to Mexico many times and am taking my first excursion.

 

The ATM machines have often charged a local fee of 7 pesos and then $5 on top of that in dollars. I have also been to major stores like wally mart and they have added another small fee that appears on your card. I travel with dollars and exchange at cambios becasue it seems to be the better deal. Right now every penny counts. My business has been feeling the squeeze for months.

 

 

Yes, thank you, I know what you mean- we have used our ATM in foreign countries and have also paid extra charges - we will just exchg our $$ and deal with pesos. Corkey

[MSN-Travelers]

Don't be shocked when you get home to find extra little charges on your ATM card. I have been to Mexico many times and am taking my first excursion.

 

The ATM machines have often charged a local fee of 7 pesos and then $5 on top of that in dollars. I have also been to major stores like wally mart and they have added another small fee that appears on your card. I travel with dollars and exchange at cambios becasue it seems to be the better deal. Right now every penny counts. My business has been feeling the squeeze for months.

 

We use ATMs for all of our cash needs in Mexico and we have never been assessed any additional fees beyond the disclosed terminal fee. I am allowed to make three ATM withdrawals from non-bank ATMs before I am assessed a fee. If you were assessed an additional fee, it came from your bank.

 

My credit card, on the other hand, does charge a foreign currency exchange fee. The fee is a percentage of the total transaction and it is listed deep in the card disclosure document.

 

Every bank is different and you have to look to them first if there are unexpected fees assessed.

[Sexxxy Beast]

I use US dollars for small things but you will always get 10 to one exchange. For more expensive items, use your credit card and you will get a much better rate, at the present time. We just used ours during a train trip through Copper Canyon when we paid for our side trip (Hummer tour of some overlooks). When we got the credit card bill we got the official exchange rate of over 12 to one. Yes, the few bucks given to a small vendor is a bad exchange for you but the items are still cheap. Using pesos is better since it respects their currency but it can be tough to get the pesos in port and it is much better not to have to hassle with exchanging unused pesos back to dollars at the end of the trip. We always end up with some but just save them for the next trip.

 

When i was in Brazil they're were banks that accepted VISA at the atm, so we just went to their atm, put in our check card, put in our password, and got "reals" (brazilian currency). This all depends on the bank, (though they have visa logos on their credit cards) didnt accept visa cards at any of their atms. The banks in brazil that accepted VISA were "Bradesco" and "Citi" does anyone know what banks they have in Mexico? Maybe (with some research) i can find out which ones accept visa cards.

[CowPrincess]

We saw lots of HSBC banks.