Thanks for the extra information.
Once I can get it started, the week wait is acceptable. What I really dislike is Banco Popular holding my money for 30 days when I deposit a check. I can see it clear my USA bank within one day! So BP just holds onto it for no reason other than to have an interest free loan!! The 7 days will be a huge improvement; I just need to get it started and remember to do in advance.
I just set up my account. Now waiting for the deposits to confirm. Do you recall how long that took?
It appears that I am limited to transferring US$2999 at a time, right?
I think I will set up my debit card too, but that's lots more expensive if you do a larger dollar amount. Will only use that if I end up in a hurry.
Using a debit card, for small amounts, their fee is similar to an ATM fee. Looks like for larger $$ amounts, the ATM limits (and therefore require multiple transactions) could even make the fees fairly equal. Depending on the ATM, time of day and phase of the moon.
To Weather is here- Figure Xoom at 3% net. $2000 per month is about a $60 cost. With Ria it is $2.00. Six or seven day wait means nothing to me. I don't see much change over a six month period in the Peso/Dollar ratio. Just a few dollars really on rental contracts. 'CHIC' says you are getting screwed-I pay about the same as you and over six months it is no big deal. (extra note-RIA is not faster after the account is set up. It still takes 6 or 7 days. For 2 bucks they can take two weeks as far as I am concerned)