It won’t be all that unusual for you to want to transfer from US or Canadian dollars to Mexican pesos, perhaps to pay someone more money in Mexico than you have in cash.  Also, if you decide to get a Mexican bank account, you’ll also have to fund it.  If you do this through a bank-to-bank transfer, you can do it through your bank, or alternatively, you can try the service I use, along with lots of other expats: Transferwise.

I like Transferwise for several reasons, including that you can make transfers to pretty much any currency in the world, the exchange rate is very close to what you see on the Internet, and their fees are very low, compared to typical banks.  Their customer service has been good, and once you get the hang of it, it is extremely easy to use.  Setting up an account, even for future use, is free.  If you set up a Transferwise account now and link to one or more accounts where your money is kept NOB (“North of the Border”; the US and Canada), you won’t have to do it later.

• Find out your bank’s policies and how much they charge to do a transfer from dollars to pesos.

• If you don’t like your bank’s policies or fees or if you would just like an alternative (always recommended), set up a free account at transferwise.com or some similar company.