Americans’ Life Savings Disappear
From Mexican Bank Accounts
Bloomberg Businessweek,
by
David Welch
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
5/25/2019 9:29:17 AM
In late December, Kathy Machir called Marcela Zavala Taylor, her banker of nine years at Mexico’s Monex Casa de Bolsa, to get cash for contractors building her retirement home in San Miguel de Allende. Typically, Zavala would wire money or dispatch her assistant, Juan, on his motorcycle with an envelope full of pesos. Monex, with $5.2 billion in assets and operations in the U.S., was woven into the lives of Machir and the 10,000 other Americans who’ve moved to San Miguel de Allende. The transfer didn’t happen. Juan didn’t show, Zavala didn’t return calls, and Kathy and Jim Machir discovered
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Dukester 5/25/2019 9:35:04 AM (No. 83966)
Why would you ever entrust your money to a third world bank?????
36 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 5/25/2019 9:36:18 AM (No. 83967)
The problem with Mexico is the MEXICANS. It's a beautiful country but it's ruined by the people who live there. The few willing to stand up to corruption get beaten down like a protruding nail with a hammer.
31 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
VietVet68 5/25/2019 9:38:24 AM (No. 83968)
This is one of the problems we have dealing with a third world country on our southern border and why Trump needs all the help he can get building the wall.
What possessed these people to retire to Mexico anyway?
30 people like this.
If we don't hold on tight to "law and order" this could be our future in this country too.
21 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
bpl40 5/25/2019 10:06:49 AM (No. 83988)
These people deserve the Darwin Award. How stupid can you get? On a recent visit to India, a local bank manager tried to persuade me to move my 401lk to their NY branch! They don't stop trying.
12 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
panther361 5/25/2019 10:15:56 AM (No. 83993)
I have wondered for a long time about one's country. The US took the time and effort to build a nation of which to be proud. What's the reason the rest of this hemisphere aren't able to have done the same? It's as if they don't have the tools to get it done. Or don't want to. I can't come up with another country that is besieged with others citizens wanting to take advantage of what America has built. The answer is obvious, but still.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Namma 5/25/2019 10:16:45 AM (No. 83994)
Why would anyone put their money in Mexico. Or for that matter retire there considering all the problems that country has caused Americans. I won’t wven buy onions raised in that hole. Why trust them with your hard earned money!
16 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 5/25/2019 10:23:20 AM (No. 84000)
I asked my former boss back in the late 80's why Mexicans seem to carry so much cash around with them. He said that they learn fast in Mexico to not put any of their funds into the banks. They can lose money overnight with devaluation, or even outright theft like this. Theft from the accounts of Americans needs to be reimbursed and punished with the harshest possible penalties. Perhaps directing some of the money from the foreign aid to Americans in Mexico who have been ripped off would be a start.
5 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 5/25/2019 10:33:43 AM (No. 84014)
#6, I have wondered the same thing and pondered it many times. I think if Donald Trump can work with countries to stand on their own feet, he could make a difference. Also, we here in the United States have to take care of our own first. I read an article involving Ben Carson and HUD with that line of thinking. It can apply to countries but it resonates in our own families. Take care of our own and then. . .
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
coldoc 5/25/2019 10:38:57 AM (No. 84019)
While residing there for almost ten years (before the cartels took over), we never entrusted any mexican financial institutions. Our Fidelity accounts served us well allowing ding free withdrawals in cash at almost any atm. I think someone got greedy. 14% is a lot, implying risk.
6 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
HPmatt 5/25/2019 11:13:41 AM (No. 84032)
San Miguel is a beautiful town. Love our visits there, but stopped going due to having to drive from Airport - unless you have armed security really didn't want to drive Mad Max highways to get there...
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
StormCnter 5/25/2019 11:14:39 AM (No. 84033)
Years ago, Mexican banks were offering 18-25 percent interest on American dollars in their bank. My dad and youngest brother put 500 in a Guadalajara bank, just for a lark. Within only a year or so, due to the collapsing peso, my dad was laughing that he was a "Mexican millionaire". That was in pesos, of course. The catch was that the money couldn't be taken out of the country, but had to be spent in Mexico. They just left it there and the value of the 500 grew and fell over the years. When both my brother and our father died, it was a nightmare to get that money out. Finally, we got it, about eighteen hundred dollars wired to the estate account in Texas. It was an adventure.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Fat Elvis 5/25/2019 11:16:39 AM (No. 84036)
Americans have to realize,despite the lower cost of living and cheaper real estate, you own NOTHING in Mexico. The state can take everything you have built there at the drop of a hat. And you will have no appeal.
Visit. Buy some souveniers. Get some authentic food.
And leave it in the rear view mirror.
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
GO3 5/25/2019 11:20:12 AM (No. 84037)
Americans settle there despite the risk due to naïveté and slick marketing campaigns. A few decades ago my parents received brochures before retiring about getting a house there for a great price at a great location. Fortunately, they didn’t bite. The property rights laws are flaky as heck in addition to crooked banks. In the 90s a retired schoolteacher from California saw his dream home overlooking the beach bulldozed over the cliff because he refused to vacate. He simply misunderstood that his “ownership”.was an illusion as far as the Mexican government was concerned.
10 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
curious1 5/25/2019 11:27:11 AM (No. 84042)
#13, that sounds like America today. Cops can steal your money without a charge if they want to. So can the irs. Or try not paying your 'property taxes' (tribute) and see how long it takes before your land you thought was yours all of a sudden isn't.
9 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 5/25/2019 12:32:52 PM (No. 84089)
Life is all about choices. Choosing to bank in Mexico is a really obviously stupid choice. But then
choosing to retire in Mexico is an even bigger stupid choice.
Sounds like they really aren't Americans in any legitimate sense, have no love for America,
looking to bail out to their REAL home. Not American at heart but Mexicans who somehow managed
to sneak in and get citizenship, but never really wanted to be Americans. Hope they stay in Mexico.
6 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 5/25/2019 12:37:07 PM (No. 84096)
Life Savings Disappear From Mexican Bank Accounts!!! The devil, you say.
9 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
red1066 5/25/2019 12:40:54 PM (No. 84100)
Were trying to stop the Mexicans from coming into this country. Why in God's name would anyone want to move to Mexico. Some would probably respond, "because it's cheaper to live there." Well, it's not if all your money isn't even safe in the bank.
6 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Smart11344 5/25/2019 2:07:29 PM (No. 84149)
A fool and his/her money are soon parted. Corruption in Mexico is everywhere.
4 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Peaches 5/25/2019 2:25:20 PM (No. 84152)
On my bucket list is never going to Mexico.
8 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Omen55 5/25/2019 3:05:25 PM (No. 84168)
Well I'm just shocked!
If only they had kept the $$$ in one of those island banks.
0 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/25/2019 4:21:05 PM (No. 84195)
Just another one of those "surprising" and "unexpected" occurences. I'm surprised that the Mexican government and economy is as stable as it is. The cartels must keep everything calm so it doesn't upset their business.
1 person likes this.
Never put all your pesos in one Mexican basket. Isn't it about greed over common sense ?
0 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/26/2019 12:49:21 PM (No. 84606)
Mexico’s money has always been problematic. I recall being in Mexico just after the peso was devalued in the mid-70s. The president froze prices; one could buy amazing values in all sorts of items. Living in San Miguel de Allende has been a thing for retired Americans for as long as the 70s and earlier. A lovely colonial city with many English-speaking expats. Many fairly classy people. Sounds as though this “banker” took them for a ride and Monex is refusing to back her up. Very sad. I would not invest a penny in Mexico. Nor would I dream of visiting now. An entirely different place then even the place I recall.
1 person likes this.
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Their account was left with 32 ¢. Has happened to numerous others - mostly Americans.