Opening a Mexican Bank Account

If you’re planning on calling Mexico home, you might want to think about opening a bank account here – just to make your life a little bit easier. Don’t close your account back home!

There are numerous benefits to having a Mexican bank account, here are a few:

1) No fees for ATM withdrawals

2) Easily transfer money from your bank account bank home

Anytime you need funds added to your Mexican account, you can accomplish this electronically without ever having to go to the bank. This is safer than wiring yourself a large amount of money and having to physically pick it up.

3) Pay for goods and services in Mexico with bank transfers

This is extremely common here in Mexico — especially with larger transactions. Many small businesses don’t take credit cards.

4) Easily obtain a replacement ATM card in case of fraud or loss

By keeping an account back home at the same time, a Mexican account will provide a buffer of protection between the bulk of your assets and fraud.

Requirements

The requirements to obtain a bank account in Mexico are pretty much the same no matter which bank you choose. They are also similar to the requirements to open an account in the United States, with one exception – the immigration status requirement.

1) Official identification (a valid passport works for this one)

2) Proof of address in Mexico (utility bill, property tax receipt). This one is a bit tricky. If you are renting, your utilities may be included with your rent and hence, not in your name. So here is the really crazy thing, you can bring in a utility bill with your address on it even if it is not in your name.

3) Minimum deposit (this varies but it’s usually around $1,500 pesos or about $75 USD)

Immigration Status

Before we had our temporary resident cards, we tried – and failed – to open a bank account at several different locations. Every bank employee that we spoke to was very adamant that we have at least a temporary or permanent resident visa (formally FM2 and FM3) in order to open an account.

Since a lot of the expats that we know only have tourist visas, I wanted to see if this was still the case, I contacted five of the major banks in Mexico to ask if they would allow me to open an account with just a tourist visa (FMM).

A simple yes or no answer to this question was difficult to get, so you really need to go into a branch.

Here are the results:

Banorte

Tourist visa (no)

Bancomer

Tourist visa (no)

Santander México

Tourist visa (no)

HSBC México

Tourist visa (maybe)

Scotiabank México

Tourist visa (maybe)

CiBanco

Tourist visa (yes)

Intercam (yes)

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Ever wish your vacation lasted a few more weeks? What about years? We left the daily grind in California to live and work in Mexico and now help others do the same! From assistance with residency visas to property rentals and purchases to digital nomad networking, we are here to help people take that leap towards living in paradise. DM us your questions! Or follow us on Instagram for a peek at what it’s like to live the #mexicolife