South of the border and with rare exception cash is withdrawn by the ATM. Tellers accept deposits or payments for the most part. Some banks offer a choice of Pesos or Dollars from their machines. If you have an account in the bank the fee for using the ATM is zero.

Typically one draws out their cross border transfer in pesos (fees from 17.4 to 68.4 pesos starting in the banks - two that low - and ending with the local version of 7-11, hotels etc. then deposits in the local account. There is/are daily limits at both ends. Another way is a limited use of paper checks maximum ten per day at $10,000 per check US monday through Friday for the real ricos. (rich folks). i imagine the home accounts in the US are watched and checked for deposits or something provable in tax paid funds. For those of us who went from middle class to lower class upon retirement and then went south to regain middle class status it's an OK system. Other than Bank Americas sleezy approach to wiping out your balance one way or the other and lack of customer service. Best two are Wells Fargo and IF you are retired military or US Government Anderson Federal Credit Union or AFCUdotcommo I spelled some of it wrong some right which charges zero for funds sent to you in other countries. there may be others.the main thing is never use machines which swallow your card completely for the transaction. Takes four to six weeks to get a new one and in some countries even longer. See Eye Banco is my recommendation of choice.just south of the border. For the rest of the world due diligence is a mighty good idea. Take more than one card to be on the safe side and have a way to hook up and transfer funds if you lose one.

Now the last thing anyone presenting an electronic deduction to their accounts to Bank America will be honored and if you do'n't have sufficient funds they charge their account holder and then start adding huge weekly fees.

Completely untrustworthy.

So does the pea under the walnut shells. Each time it moves it's devalued by a series of embedded taxes or Value Subtracted Tax. The sick part is Pelosillyni wants to add another one called - don't start laughing she said it I didn't - a value added tax. Must be what she's growing o that grape farm in Napa County. however to leave tongue in cheek humor behind. Each step of the way not only adds but as Circuit Guy stated ''if there were no gov't or taxes.'' And only replacement of the very fascist income tax for a preferably end user consumption tax controlled by the spender will do that. Along with a thirty plus percent decrease in the size of government''

In that case my apologies and I''m on your side. But it's still of no value to me and anyone who wants to use my services can pay for it - in cash. Hard currencies preferred - Which doesn't necessarily exclude the US Dollar but I prefer hard currencies. however in re-reading the thread I can see why I was mistaken.

Then it's of no value to me at all. Coupled with the failure rate of ATM's and other similar devices and the various fees for using them. Other than Amazon to support your point I'm in a primary cash market area and have yet to lose a card to a machine for something as simple as power failure during as transaction. Back up point the banks don't run the machines it's another company more often than not. Rare you can go inside and say the machine ate my card. Instead it's a three week wait or more. My last card which is causing cancellation of the account is now six and one half months and waiting....Your cashless society is full of holes for any practical use and it breeds a lack of customer service. especially from the issuing banks.Apparently they are training people to work for the government or vice versa. It's not the people in the bank where you do business it's the nameless faceless unaccountable people in South Dakota or where ever. not that the idea doesn't have merit - and make it easier for the government to control you that's a real plus - it is not practical at the present state of technology. And it limits you in where you can go in the world. sort of an electronic iron curtain.

Value to whom? Certainly not to me.

I used mine to pay off a credit card. Step two involved scissors. Step three a trip to the bank to cancel the account. Woooooshhh big weight off my shoulders. then I moved where the loss of buying power was offset by a more user friendly price structure. What need of credit? comment. I hated getting that refund. It represents an overpayment at best with no interest and returned in devalued dollars. Lose Lose Lose. I love the idiots that say I didn't pay taxes I got a refund. Unless it was an Unearned Income Welfare Check in which case we are the idiots.