You would effectively be letting the ATM make up an exchange rate for you. It’s a perfectly legal scam that goes by the name of Dynamic Currency Conversion, or DCC. Even though that may seem like a small difference, it would have cost me an additional $45 USD if I had clicked ‘ACCEPT’! I later checked my bank statement to see the exchange rate my bank had given me, and it ended up being $21.09 MXN = 1 USD. The bank wanted to give me an ATM exchange rate of 18.83 MXN = 1 USD, but I hit ‘DECLINE’ and the machine proceeded to give me my $8000 MXN in cash without a problem. Here is the perfect example: last time I used an ATM to get cash, I wanted to pull out $8000 pesos. After you press DECLINE, it will complete the transaction at the current market rate plus a small ATM fee. The bank is trying to get you to accept their ATM exchange rate, which is much worse than the rate your actual bank will give you. You should always decline their conversion offer and process the transaction normally, but many people don’t know that and just hit accept (see image below). When the ATM asks you if you would like to accept their exchange rate, click DECLINE!!!!!!!!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. HSBC provided money-laundering services of more than $881 million to various drug cartels including Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Colombia’s Norte del Valle cartel, which resulted in the heaviest fines ever imposed on a financial institution: $1.9 billion USD. Some banks have been reported to have corrupt business histories in Mexico, such as HSBC or Citi Banamex (owned by US Citigroup): Scotiabank (partnered with Bank of America).The best & lowest fee ATMs to withdraw pesos in Mexico are from well-known national banks such as: I do not suggest using any random ATM you find on the street, as you’ll probably end up paying high service fees to pull out cash. Just remember to tell your bank back home that you’ll be traveling to Mexico so that they don’t try to block your card when you try to pull out pesos. The prompts are in English and Spanish so they are easy to follow. There are usually a TON of different ATMs right as you exit customs at international airports, which is why it really isn’t necessary to exchange money before you travel to Mexico. Afterward, simply get cash from a local ATM to get the best exchange rate possible. We recommend exchanging enough pesos from your home country before your trip to make it through your first day. The best way to get pesos in Mexico for your trip is to use your debit card at an ATM.
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