For many snowbirds and expats, moving money cross-border used to be a complicated process with few options, many of which included costly surcharges and waiting in banks to accomplish. But with the internet and new banking technology, managing your finances while in Puerto Vallarta is easy and literally at your fingertips from your smartphone, tablet or computer.
One service we recently used was Xoom, a new way of sending and receiving money via the PayPal.com platform. Xoom allows for two ways of sending money: by bank deposit or a “fast transfer” option.
The account deposit option allows you to transfer money from your PayPal balance (which may be uploaded from your home bank account, free of charge) to any major bank in Mexico. Transfers take less than 48 hours and you can transfer $999 USD per day for a maximum of $2997 per month using the service, for a flat rate of $4.99 per transaction.
The Fast Transfer option can take as little as 15 minutes to be received in numerous locations including Elecktra and Soriana, and also starts with a transaction rate as low as $4.99. The daily limits for cash pickup depend on the institution to which you transfer.
This is a fast, easy and inexpensive way to move money cross-border and worth researching, as we found the exchange rates to be the best out of the options. You can learn more at xoom.com.
