Opening a checking account in a Mexican bank? Leave yourself at least two hours and bring a friend, a good book or your iPod. Opening a checking account, like many other things in Mexican banking, takes time and patience. If you don’t speak Spanish, this is one event for which you should persuade a friend or colleague who does speak Spanish to accompany you. Unlike the USA, most banks do not have a lot of English-speaking employees, and there is too much at stake to let something go wrong. You should be prepared with your passport and probably a few good copies (just to save time). You should also have your FM3 or FM2 visa, especially if you plan to open a business account. Be prepared to sit while the bank clerk opening your account makes multiple phone calls, some of which are surely about what she is planning to wear tonight. Be prepared to sign your name multiple times exactly the same way… try not to be self-conscious or mess up your own signature. Make sure your signature matches the signature in your passport. You’re going to need that trusty signature to be true to form in the future.
Checkbooks are called chequeras. They are closely controlled here. You’ll get your first one when you open up the account, but it won’t have your name printed on it and not everyone will take those checks (similar to the situation in the States). But don’t expect the ones printed with your name to be sent to your home. Instead, they will be held at the bank for you to pick up. And unless you have signed a letter designating your friend to specifically pick up a checkbook already at the bank, you have to go to the bank yourself to get them. You have to show your ID (passport) and you have to sign for the chequera. If you pick up two or three chequeras at a time, be sure to use them in order. If you don’t you cannot go back and use a chequera with lower numbers on it. That chequera has to be voided, by writing Cancelado (canceled) on each and every check in the book.
Before you write a single check from a new chequera, there is an important step you have to take that we just don’t do in the States: you have to call the bank and activate the chequera.
Writing checks ...... make it a point of concentrating very carefully when we write checks. Why? Because the slightest error will cause that check to be unusable. You cannot cross out anything on a check, whether or not you put your initials next to your correction. If you write something on the back of the check (such as your account number to deposit it, for instance), and then cross something out, that voids that check. You must be careful to write the correct name of the person to whom the check is addressed. You must write everything in Spanish, of course. People have had checks rejected because the date was written in English (April instead of Abril, for example). The amount of the check must be written out correctly, and if you spell a number like dieciseis (16) wrong, the check will be returned. You must write "pesos" after the written-out number or the check will be returned. You must write the number of centavos (cents) and then follow that with M.N. (Moneda Nacional), even though every check I’ve seen had "Moneda Nacional" printed on it below that line. Then you must sign your name the same way every time. And that signature has to look the same as the one on your passport and registered with the bank. If you wrote out your middle name on your passport, then you have to do the same when you sign up for your checking account. And every time you write a check, you must sign your name exactly the same way.
In Summary – You might find these measures bothersome at times (heaven knows, I have!) So, I refuse to open a checking account! There, now think about that.
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