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John Shrall

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Everything posted by John Shrall

  1. In my opinion, Multiva works the best as an institution for investments. They have a simple checking account, however will only issue a single debit card with a $6,000 peso limit making it almost worthless. The fee for an inbound wire transfer is minimal making it a good choice for moving money from the US. Schwab does not charge an outbound wire fee. They have an investment account where funds can be liquidated and transferred daily. It has been growing at about 5% so a reasonable place to park money. Long term CEDEs and Pagares are paying over 11% at the moment. Something happened in the Ajijic office last year that caused a big turnover in staff. To me the new people are not as accommodating, perhaps because they don’t seem to want to return emails forcing a trip to the office. Their app and portal are better than 5 years ago but can be difficult to use and some functions not available after hours or during the weekend. After many years of experimenting I have found Multiva to be excellent as a place to move, park and invest money but would not recommend using them as a bank such as BBVA which does a much better job at providing checking, bill paying and credit card services.
  2. Still no water but if you call SIMAPA they insist it will come back on today. Today comes and goes and still no water. To make matters worse, this morning's storm knocked out an electrical phase somewhere again. Low voltage in areas and no power at all in others. This is a recurring problem that CFE just can't seem to stabilize. Today's hit dropped the house water pump so we won't be using any of the water that isn't being delivered by SIMAPA. We'll use that new inch of rainwater dumped in the pool overnight.
  3. If the cash was counted but not ejected there are 2 possibilities. Either the next person using that ATM got their money plus yours or the dude that opened the ATM to change cannisters found it and put it in his pocket. I suggest that USAA has to take the word of CI Banco over you in this sort of stalemate. If word got out that one could claim a mis-dispense and somehow force the bank owning the ATM to pay up, every deadbeat in town would be running the scam. Quite often people are not honest. I was working with ATMs in NYC in the 90's and at that time the system went into what was called standin overnight. That allowed operators to back up the database to tape before starting a new day. During that period we would look up the balance in the database being backed up and if enough was available, dispense the cash and make an entry with that amount in a temporary file. A balance inquiry would return the original amount less all activity waiting to be posted. One night that broke and the balance never changed. Hundreds of people stood ATMs throughout the city and kept making withdrawals from an account that really had no money. After all the transactions saved during the offline period were posted in the morning, the credit union had tens of thousands of dollars overdrawn in checking accounts. They had to go back and try to collect the money. Some people actually closed their account, took the money that wasn't theirs and opened an account elsewhere.
  4. Still no water. Maybe SIMAPA is taking a long holiday weekend. To make matters worse, CFE is installing a new power line on the carretera at Tempisque in front of Berel. I heard the CFE hard hat tell a shop owner they were going to shut the power off on Wednesday morning 9/20 in order to move the lines. This could affect parts or even all of Las Salvias depending on which transmission lines they're moving.
  5. Lexy, we're all sorry you had this bad ATM experience but unfortunately you may need to cut USAA some slack. This is an international dispute between 2 banks where CI Banco holds all the cards. Backing up a second; ATMs have hundreds of sensors that generate warnings and hard faults, assuming the ATM has been well maintained. All faults as well as dispenses are recorded in an audit file inside the ATM. ATMs these days are serviced by a third party, you know the guys with guns in the armored cars that take over the premises. Their job is to remove the canisters with whatever money is left inside, pull the audit, reload the machine with new canisters full of well worn, crumpled and often torn bills. Have you noticed that in the US most cash dispensed are new bills? Not so much here. If by chance when you heard the bills being counted but never saw them exit the dispenser it's possible they got jammed between the cannister and you. That's what happened to me at the Farmacia Guadalajara years ago for about the same amount. My experience trying to reclaim the funds was identical. No resolution. Money gone. The guy that opens the machine sees the cash and pockets it. As far as the ATM is concerned the money was dispensed. Your account was debited and everything balances, except someone else got the money. That's one possible scenario. When the armed guards return the cannisters and audit to a central location, the ATM is balanced. The audit shows the starting amount and the bills dispensed with the ending balance. If starting amount minus the amount dispensed matches the amount remaining in the cannister everything is in balance. If that information is presented to CI Banco who in turn tells USAA the ATM is in balance, what else can USAA do? As was mentioned earlier, if there is a fault on dispense you will see your account charged then immediately followed by a reversal for the money you did not receive. That's the way it is supposed to work, but if there is a discrepancy, there is an out of balance which just happens to match your claim. My guess is that you might have had a different outcome if your transaction was between 2 US banks or credit unions. USAA can only follow procedures and if CI Banco shuts them down that's the end of the story. USAA has no leverage in Mexico. This is one of the reasons I quit the ATM roulette game trying to move cash from the US to Mexico using a US debit card. Now I wire a large amount every so often and use the BBVA lobby ATMs to withdraw funds from my BBVA account at no charge. All ATM transaction is local to that bank and don't have to cross an international border and be handled by any number of intermediates.
  6. The last pipa driver I spoke to yesterday afternoon showed me a video of a working pump and said later in the day the water would begin flowing. Now it's Saturday afternoon and there's still no water in the middle of a holiday weekend. Fortunately, another truck was delivering water to a neighbor, so I walked over and asked if he'd bring one to me and another neighbor. An hour he says. Not holding out much hope the driver will come through, especially since he can't seem to get the truck pump running to unload his current load of water.
  7. Still no water so SIMAPA's promise of a fixed pump hasn't yet happened after one week. No one has been working around the big hole at Tempisque and Emiliano Zapata. There's a couple of stories floating around but the bottom line is there's no water but there is the sound of pipas wafting through the neighborhood.
  8. The pump station at Angel Flores and Tempisque may be shut down while SIMAPA finishes the work on Tempisque and Emiliano Zapata. Just a guess. They appeared to make all the connections on Friday but there's still a big hole in the street with no one working today.
  9. I know for a fact that it's almost impossible to get parts for LG minisplits. The main board and fan were prone to failure. When a fan in one of my units failed again, the estimate was for a 6 week wait for parts coming from China. This was in the summer so the solution was to replace the LG units with Mirage.
  10. It appears that Sunday June 2, 2024 is the next presidential election date. I too thought the elections were in July but not in 2024.
  11. I agree. The Plaza Patria location for passports is organized chaos but getting a passport renewed in a couple of hours is worth it. If they would only install signs pointing to the office at the back of the building on the upper floor the process would have been a lot smoother. We kept asking vendors where it was but all that did was to narrow the search until we saw a line of waiting people which is a clue for any government facility.
  12. The deposit for a new garafon is more like 80 pesos, plus the cost of the water. Ciel is high here. Strangely enough Ciel is only 33 pesos in Guayabitos from the truck that passes by most days. As stated here Epura is 39 pesos.
  13. Login or create an account at https://clientes.iloxtelecom.com/IloxTelecom/Login.aspx You can make a payment there. You first need a statement in order to locate your account number.
  14. It appears that the tramites site is allowing online appointments at the Plaza Patria location. This is new since I renewed my passport in April when a telephone call was required. You do have to take the time to set up an online account before proceeding.
  15. It's also out above you on Lazaro Cardenas between Revolucion and J Encarnacion Rosas. Got the notification.
  16. Back in 2018 I used the services of Dr. Arturo Vega Ruiz out of Guadalajara for extensive blood testing due to a faulty report from a local lab. He arranged for tests in Puebla and Mexico City that disproved the report and diagnosis, thank goodness. At that time, he came to Ajijic at the request of Dr Leon who set up the appointments for me.
  17. Were you born in Mexico or naturalized in Mexico as a Canadian citizen? Big difference. My comment was about Mexican nationals (born in Mexico) not naturalized Mexicans. (born outside of Mexico).
  18. Apples and oranges. The discussion is about citizenship not what line you choose at the airport.
  19. Mexico does not allow dual citizenship, so a person born in Mexico who tries to attain US citizenship has problems. The US does not recognize dual citizenship meaning they don't care. Just don't try to enter the US using a Mexican passport. That's a no-no. Now a US citizen one can renounce their citizenship but that involves a long process and costs a lot of money that could involve a tax on worldwide assets.
  20. Predicting garbage pickup is like predicting the rain. Last week the truck was picking up at 9:30pm after skipping 3 consecutive days.
  21. Is there a Bienestar branch in Jocotopec or Chapala? Unrelated to the pension but if one wants to invest more than the minimum amount at CetesDirecto, you have to go to a local Bienestar branch with an application and documentation.
  22. Two or 3 advantages for me. They may not be applicable to others. We were able to purchase a house in Guayabitos outright with no need for a fideicomiso. Our SSN has been removed from our bank accounts so no financial transactions or balances are reported to the US. Many countries charge reciprocal visa fees to US passport holders like Chile, Agrentina and Brazil. No visa charge for Mexican passport holders. Perhaps not an advantage, but we are able to vote in Mexican elections. We know some about the politics, but the voting process is very interesting and different. Voting is on a Sunday. No early voting. No mail in ballots. No IFE/INE free photo ID card = no entry to the precinct. The main desk has a book of all voting cards for part of the alphabet. Once you take a ballot the card image is crossed out. Upon completion you get your finger dipped into ink which won't wash off for a couple of days. Paper ballots only however once you drop the paper ballots into the respective bins, they are carried to a central location for tabulation. That's probably the weakest part of the system as trucks can be hijacked or ballot boxes arrive a little different than when they left the precinct.
  23. Go to LCS and talk with Alvaro Becerra Thursdays 10:30-12:30. Even if you don't use him as an immigration attorney, he can probably answer your questions. He helped us 10 years ago, but the requirements were different then than they are now.
  24. Your bank is at the mercy of CI Banco's willingness to do research that could take a bit of time. Your bank has told CI Banco the ATM in question, the exact date, time, amount and what is called a trace number to track specific transactions. CI Banco must locate the log from the ATM on the day in question and look for the results of the transaction your bank identified as posted. The log should show no money was dispensed. That is assuming they can find the log and if they want to take the time to find and research the log. This scenario is rare based on the total number of ATM transactions that occur in a day worldwide, but it can happen and usually it can be resolved correctly. It may take time and prodding from your bank but if it goes against you and others report similar problems with that ATM then it only makes sense to find another location to get cash.
  25. Early in ATM processing there was post on completion. That meant the ATM received the OK that funds were available but the account wasn't debited until the machine responded that the funds were actually disbursed. That caused a lot of extra traffic on very slow (by today's standards) connections to be replaced by post on authorization. Once the authorizing bank receive the request and money was available the account was debited and a response sent to the ATM to disburse. As far as the authorizing bank was concerned the transaction was complete. It was then up to the ATM to say no, I couldn't disburse so refund the money. If the ATM never received the OK or the failure to dispense message wasn't received, the authorizing bank assumed all went well. As to #2, yes. This scenario can occur, and the ATM owner has the info needed to authorize the credit should they take the time to research the claim. The ATM was out of balance based on cash remaining in the cannisters versus the amount settled from the network. Unless the money was no longer in the cannister but stuck on the way out.
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