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Prepaid credit cards in Mexico?


tazman

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After years with no problems, like many people I have found that utility bills I used to be able to pay online with an American credit card now require payment at a utility company office or a Mexican store.  I've purchased an an Oxxo prepaid Visa card but unbelievably, that card doesn't work for paying utilities (or much of anything) either.

Has anyone on here found a way to get a useful prepaid Mexican credit card or other easy way to pay Mexican utilities that no longer accept American credit cards online?

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20 hours ago, tazman said:

After years with no problems, like many people I have found that utility bills I used to be able to pay online with an American credit card now require payment at a utility company office or a Mexican store.  I've purchased an an Oxxo prepaid Visa card but unbelievably, that card doesn't work for paying utilities (or much of anything) either.

Has anyone on here found a way to get a useful prepaid Mexican credit card or other easy way to pay Mexican utilities that no longer accept American credit cards online?

Open a small saving account and get a debit card. Easy to pay your bills online with that debit card. Just put some money in it to keep from paying a monthly fee. Been doing that for years, here and when we are NOB. EASY.

 

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Consider a Wise or even DolarApp account (por qué no los dos?), using only your Mexican address and denominated in pesos. Costs nothing. They'll send you a physical debit card that transacts like a Mexican debit card.

A couple years ago, Amazon MX wanted me to make my first purchase (only) with a Mexico-issued card, a fact that wasn't obvious at first. Or maybe it was for an Amazon Prime MX subscription. Anyhow, after multiple puzzling failures with my usual Capital One (USD) credit card, it sailed through on my Wise debit card. Amazon never asked for it again.

LQ

 

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On 1/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, Hud said:

Open a small saving account and get a debit card. Easy to pay your bills online with that debit card. Just put some money in it to keep from paying a monthly fee. Been doing that for years, here and when we are NOB. EASY.

 

A bit of a story... 

I lost online access to my no fee HSBC Mexico account at about the same time online payments with US credit cards stopped being generally accepted.  When my ATM card expired a short time later (during the COVID lockdown) I had no way of getting it replaced without waiting an hour+ standing in line outside of the bank at least twice.  And there was the risk of close contact with people inside. 

When I finally made it back into the bank (and with COVID it was months), I found out that HSBC had started charging fees and had essentially stolen all of my funds.  They wanted about 1,500 pesos to reactivate the account in addition to the thousands i had already lost to their fees.

Never again.

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21 hours ago, Lou Quillio said:

Consider a Wise or even DolarApp account (por qué no los dos?), using only your Mexican address and denominated in pesos. Costs nothing. They'll send you a physical debit card that transacts like a Mexican debit card.

A couple years ago, Amazon MX wanted me to make my first purchase (only) with a Mexico-issued card, a fact that wasn't obvious at first. Or maybe it was for an Amazon Prime MX subscription. Anyhow, after multiple puzzling failures with my usual Capital One (USD) credit card, it sailed through on my Wise debit card. Amazon never asked for it again.

LQ

 

They both look like they may work.  Have you been able to use either one of these for utility payments in Mexico? 

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3 minutes ago, tazman said:

Have you been able to use either one of these for utility payments in Mexico? 

I have not. Utilities are in my landlord's name and he doesn't want the hassle of changing. He knows we'll eventually trade-up.

LQ

 

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9 minutes ago, Lou Quillio said:

I have not. Utilities are in my landlord's name and he doesn't want the hassle of changing. He knows we'll eventually trade-up.

LQ

 

I'm guessing these may be blocked from online bill pay use just like my US credit cards.  After using those cards without a problem for years, attempted payments now always come back saying try a different card.  American Express still works online for CFE, but that's about it.

I definitely don't want to open another Mexican bank account, so this one has me stumped. 

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2 hours ago, tazman said:

A bit of a story... 

I lost online access to my no fee HSBC Mexico account at about the same time online payments with US credit cards stopped being generally accepted.  When my ATM card expired a short time later (during the COVID lockdown) I had no way of getting it replaced without waiting an hour+ standing in line outside of the bank at least twice.  And there was the risk of close contact with people inside. 

When I finally made it back into the bank (and with COVID it was months), I found out that HSBC had started charging fees and had essentially stolen all of my funds.  They wanted about 1,500 pesos to reactivate the account in addition to the thousands i had already lost to their fees.

Never again.

We have used Citibanamex for over 15 years without one drop of problems. We receive a new card in the mail a month before the old ones expire. Never a problem. You do what you think is best for you. This is what works best for us and I don't believe you will find another way that is "easier".  Been here at Lakeside since 1997. Good luck.

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10 minutes ago, Hud said:

We have used Citibanamex for over 15 years without one drop of problems. We receive a new card in the mail a month before the old ones expire. Never a problem. You do what you think is best for you. This is what works best for us and I don't believe you will find another way that is "easier".  Been here at Lakeside since 1997. Good luck.

You receive a new card in the mail in Mexico?  I've never received anything in the mail, only flyers and bills stuck into our gate or mailbox.  HSBC never mailed anything, I had to go to the branch any time I needed something. 

Admittedly this was a confluence of issues that had a lot to do with COVID, but IMO HSBC deliberately took advantage of the situation when the changed their fee policy when they knew access was a problem.

A couple of questions:  Does Citibanamex charge fees every month?  Can you access your account with a laptop, or do they require a cell phone app?

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8 hours ago, tazman said:

You receive a new card in the mail in Mexico?  I've never received anything in the mail, only flyers and bills stuck into our gate or mailbox.  HSBC never mailed anything, I had to go to the branch any time I needed something. 

Admittedly this was a confluence of issues that had a lot to do with COVID, but IMO HSBC deliberately took advantage of the situation when the changed their fee policy when they knew access was a problem.

We have had an HSBC account for many years before Covid.  They have never sent emails or delivered anything to our home. Messages do appear on the website when signed in.   We have never been charged any fees with HSBC.

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11 hours ago, tazman said:

You receive a new card in the mail in Mexico?  I've never received anything in the mail, only flyers and bills stuck into our gate or mailbox.  HSBC never mailed anything, I had to go to the branch any time I needed something. 

Admittedly this was a confluence of issues that had a lot to do with COVID, but IMO HSBC deliberately took advantage of the situation when the changed their fee policy when they knew access was a problem.

A couple of questions:  Does Citibanamex charge fees every month?  Can you access your account with a laptop, or do they require a cell phone app?

We pay no fees, but we keep a balance so we always have money to pay the bills. You would need to ask them. I always do everything on my computer (chromebook). I don't use a smart phone. We pay water,electric, telmex internet. I'm sure you could pay more, but that is all we use. 

 

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On 1/28/2023 at 9:49 PM, Lou Quillio said:

Consider a Wise or even DolarApp account (por qué no los dos?), using only your Mexican address and denominated in pesos. Costs nothing...

 

I already have a Wise account and its a USD denominated account (I opened it before I move here) and unfortunately Wise does charge a fee to use their USD denominated debit card outside the U.S. Fee is approx. $3.15 USD for a 500 USD transaction and $6.30 for $1000. See https://wise.com/us/blog/4x-cheaper-than-bank-cards. I'll need to investigate if I can convert my account to a peso denominated account. Has anyone done that?

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18 minutes ago, Hud said:

We pay no fees, but we keep a balance so we always have money to pay the bills. You would need to ask them. I always do everything on my computer (chromebook). I don't use a smart phone. We pay water,electric, telmex internet. I'm sure you could pay more, but that is all we use. 

 

When we opened the HSBC account PC web access was not a problem and then the phone app became a requirement.  The app was needed even to log on use the HSBC web portal.  Upgrading one's phone meant a trip into the bank and at least an hour long wait, plus a great deal of time to get the app activated on the new phone, not something we wanted to do during the lockdown. 

We were told the "security features" we were facing were mandated by the Mexican government and all banks followed them.  It sounds like that wasn't the truth.  Paying bills was also extraordinarily convoluted and difficult to set up. 

If Citibanamex allows web access through a browser and easy payment of bills, an account with them is worth considering.

Thanks for the replys.

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19 minutes ago, InChapala1 said:

I already have a Wise account and its a USD denominated account (I opened it before I move here) and unfortunately Wise does charge a fee to use their USD denominated debit card outside the U.S. Fee is approx. $3.15 USD for a 500 USD transaction and $6.30 for $1000. See https://wise.com/us/blog/4x-cheaper-than-bank-cards. I'll need to investigate if I can convert my account to a peso denominated account. Has anyone done that?

Wise's "cheaper than banks" marketing is nonsense and only true for the companies they cherry picked for their marketing blurb.  I pay no fees withdrawing Pesos in Mexico from my U.S. account and get the interbank rate for the conversion.  Even the Mexican Bank's ATM use fee is refunded. 

CFE's website doesn't show the Wise card as an option for payment, so perhaps the card is convenient for retail purchases, but it doesn't solve the online payment problem. 

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7 minutes ago, tazman said:

When we opened the HSBC account PC web access was not a problem and then the phone app became a requirement.  The app was needed even to log on use the HSBC web portal.  Upgrading one's phone meant a trip into the bank and at least an hour long wait, plus a great deal of time to get the app activated on the new phone, not something we wanted to do during the lockdown. 

We were told the "security features" we were facing were mandated by the Mexican government and all banks followed them.  It sounds like that wasn't the truth.  Paying bills was also extraordinarily convoluted and difficult to set up. 

If Citibanamex allows web access through a browser and easy payment of bills, an account with them is worth considering.

Thanks for the replys.

Just a FYI, we don't put our payments on "automatic", but I go in on the chromebook and pay them each month( or 2). Just feel better about doing it like that, but maybe we could do "auto" but don't want to.  I do get notified by Telmex and CFE when their bills are available to pay. Not water, but I know the date to check for the bill.

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3 hours ago, ibarra said:

We have had an HSBC account for many years before Covid.  They have never sent emails or delivered anything to our home. Messages do appear on the website when signed in.   We have never been charged any fees with HSBC.

IDK what happened with my account beyond what I've posted.  Maybe my branch does things differently.  Glad they've treated you better. 

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17 minutes ago, Hud said:

Just a FYI, we don't put our payments on "automatic", but I go in on the chromebook and pay them each month( or 2). Just feel better about doing it like that, but maybe we could do "auto" but don't want to.  I do get notified by Telmex and CFE when their bills are available to pay. Not water, but I know the date to check for the bill.

Great info, muchas gracias.  My decision to not open another Mexican bank account was based on what I had been told by HSBC reps, but apparently that was all misinformation. 

I'm going to check out Citibanamex today.

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2 hours ago, InChapala1 said:

I'll need to investigate if I can convert my account to a peso denominated account.

Ours contain both USD and MXN balances. A purchase denominated in MXN will draw-down the peso balance, and USD the dollar balance. The difference-maker seems to be the account address. When the account address is Mexican and the funds requested are in MXN, who's to say it's not a Mexican debit card?

If instead the payee stipulates a list of issuing banks it accepts, Wise won't be on that list and the payment will fail. Maybe CFE is strict this way. Being an OXXO guy, I wouldn't know.

So if a vendor only cares about getting my pesos, perhaps with the stipulation that the account address be in Mexico, Wise can meet that.

But if the debit card must be issued by particular institutions, that's a different rule (and pretty strict), and cannot be spoofed.

LQ

 

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46 minutes ago, Lou Quillio said:

...

If instead the payee stipulates a list of issuing banks it accepts, Wise won't be on that list and the payment will fail. Maybe CFE is strict this way. Being an OXXO guy, I wouldn't know.

...

 

CFE in particular doesn't allow entering a generic Mastercard Debit card, it only allows selecting an issuing bank for everything with the exception of American Express.  At least at this point I don't see any way of using a Wise card.  I believe our other local utilities are the same.

Hopefully Citibanamex will be an option for a local account. 

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On 1/27/2023 at 6:58 PM, tazman said:

After years with no problems, like many people I have found that utility bills I used to be able to pay online with an American credit card now require payment at a utility company office or a Mexican store.  I've purchased an an Oxxo prepaid Visa card but unbelievably, that card doesn't work for paying utilities (or much of anything) either.

Has anyone on here found a way to get a useful prepaid Mexican credit card or other easy way to pay Mexican utilities that no longer accept American credit cards online?

https://undostres.com.mx/

 

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