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American retirees in Mexico say their life savings vanished from a Mexican bank


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2019 Sep 28, 3:26pm   2,642 views  13 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/american-retirees-mexico-say-their-life-savings-vanished-mexican-bank-n1059666

The Machirs sold their house in the U.S. and used the proceeds to begin building a new house in San Miguel de Allende.

But their retirement dream turned into a nightmare in December 2018 when they suddenly found themselves unable to pay their contractors.

Their story may send a chill down the spines of the more than 1 million other U.S. citizens, many of them retirees, who live in Mexico. The life savings they had entrusted to their local banker of more than six years had all but disappeared.

"I was speechless," said Kathy Machir, 67, recalling the moment she found out she had roughly 40 cents left in her account. "It just gives you a sense of ultimate betrayal, loss, horror…"

But the Machirs weren't the only ones.

Comments 1 - 13 of 13        Search these comments

1   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Sep 28, 3:30pm  

Very... International.

S-So, Chic and Inter-nat-ion-alllllll

So Worldy, So Welcome

www.youtube.com/embed/FnNq-UGhVrc
2   Patrick   2019 Sep 28, 4:00pm  

Oy, so 70's.
3   clambo   2019 Sep 28, 4:06pm  

That is a sad story.

I have had fun in Mexico and still visit but I would trust them as far as I can throw them where my money is concerned.

Pay as you go is the rule for me.

addendum: Americans are often naive about how other people perceive us. The people we meet may not like us when we travel, this is almost universal.

In Mexico, this is pretty common.

If you are an American living in Mexico, you can simply withdraw cash from the ATM at a bank branch; your actual money is safely stored in the USA bank.

You can probably also electronically transfer funds from time to time, although I haven't done this and don't know for sure. Banamex is associated or owned by Citibank so maybe this is easy if you have a Citibank account in the USA.
4   Ceffer   2019 Sep 28, 4:43pm  

Trust your money to an institution in a country where everything is a conveyer belt to theft and corruption. What could possibly go wrong?

Guess in a decade or two this will be California, too.
5   komputodo   2019 Sep 28, 8:07pm  

Patrick says
American retirees in Mexico say their life savings vanished from a Mexican bank

Grupo MONEX.....lolol.....what fools...probably because they were offering 6% instead of 3%...BANAMEX, HSBC, BANCO SANTANDER, I'd trust a little, maybe with $10k dollars...GRUPO MONEX.....with 0$...I'd keep my money in the USA at 0.05%...even at 0 interest, or even negative, you will earn more pesos with the exchange rate than with 6% interest. And at least FDIC insured for whatever that's worth.
6   RWSGFY   2019 Sep 28, 9:17pm  

Why the fuck would anyone keep their money in a 3rd World shithole bank?
7   rocketjoe79   2019 Sep 28, 9:42pm  

A fool and his money are soon parted.
8   Ceffer   2019 Sep 29, 10:48am  

Banco de Reparaciónes de GringoFucks
9   zzyzzx   2019 Sep 29, 12:12pm  

Iranian_Oil_Burse says
Why the fuck would anyone keep their money in a 3rd World shithole bank?


Because they are morons.
10   Patrick   2019 Sep 29, 12:19pm  

I travelled in Turkey for a bit during college. I could not believe the interest rates being offered, like 60% if I recall correctly.

It was tempting until I realized that inflation in Turkey was over 100% per year.

I hadn't even considered that even getting the nominal amount of my deposit back could be difficult.
11   HeadSet   2019 Sep 29, 8:53pm  

I travelled in Turkey for a bit during college

What parts? I was in Anatolia during the early 90s, and the inflation was 100% then also. The locals did not mind taking US dollars for that reason.
12   Patrick   2019 Sep 29, 9:15pm  

I was studying in Munich that year. I flew to Ankara, met up with two other classmates there, and we went south to Cappadocia (the really weird sandstone formations with caves), then Antalya, Kas, Bodrum, and up to Istanbul.

It was a good trip overall, in spite of some petty scamming by the locals. Like they sell you a bus "ticket" that is not valid, or perhaps the guy taking it just wants more money and says it isn't valid. Or you make the mistake of ordering some drink without asking the price and it's 10x higher for you because you're foreign and too trusting. Things like that.

I got really tired of the scams, so at one point we three were buying food at some market stalls, and when we sat at a bench and started to eat, I found that my gyros or whatever it was had no meat in it. I was so pissed I marched back to the stall and demanded that the guy put meat it in or I'd call the police. So the guy, who couldn't understand English but got the idea and was looking really worried, put meat in it. I went back to my friends who were laughing their asses off -- because I had gone back to the wrong stall and accosted some poor random gyros guy. Very embarrassing.
13   NuttBoxer   2019 Sep 30, 8:16am  

Banks are useless and full of crooks, everywhere.

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