OXXO has a new service called ‘SPIN by OXXO’. It’s a debit card that you can use to pay bills and make purchases with, and it accumulates points for things at OXXO.
For those of you who don’t have a bank account in México, either by choice or because you can’t find one that will open an account for you, this might be a good option.
I’m not sure of the types of identification they accept to open an account – but I do know they accepted my temporary residency card.
The first step is to go to their website, https://www.spinbyoxxo.com.mx, and download the app to your phone. Things are in Spanish so keep google translate handy if you need it. You will also need the identification you’re using. As I said, in my case I used my temporary residency card. I don’t know if a drivers license or passport would work – but it’s worth a shot.
Once you complete the registration process you’ll get a screen that has a bar code. At this point take a screenshot of the bar code. Then visit your local OXXO and tell them you need a tarjeta for your new cuenta de SPIN. The debit card costs $50 pesos, and you’ll get 50 points on your account for buying it. Once the clerk activates the card you can make deposits to it – either at an OXXO, by bank transfer, or by using another debit card. Note that the app doesn’t like US cards – it wouldn’t take my Charles Schwab debit card. And it wouldn’t scan my Intercam debit card – but it would let me hand enter the information.
The physical debit card is a Visa debit card, and one of the old style cards without the ‘tap and go’ feature. It does have the embedded chip so it should work almost everywhere.
If you make a deposit at OXXO there’s a small ‘convenience fee’. I put $500 pesos on the card and the fee was $5 pesos. Not sure if it’s a percentage or a flat fee – but either way I now have an alternate method of buying bus tickets in México online and recharging my telcel phone.
**Update: I thought the OXXO clerk told me that the $50 fee for the card would be returned as a deposit to the account, but the only thing I saw initially was a credit of 50 points on the reward balance. It took a couple of days, but the $50 has been deposited to the account and is available for me to use! Woo hoo!
**** QUICK UNRELATED NOTICE: There’s a red tide warning in effect in Mazatlán right now. Don’t eat any bivalve shellfish (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, etc.) Shrimp are fine, but don’t buy any of the aforementioned tasty tidbits until you confirm the red tide warning is over.
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