(Post 148 of 263)

Last October, I opened a bank account with BBVA after losing all faith in ever having reliable service from HSBC. I was told that in about six months, I could apply for a credit card to finally start building a credit history here and that in a further six months, with some credit history behind me, we could look into getting the house mortgage refinanced in my name. So I made a reminder to check back in in April.

Last week, my account manager called to say that he’d had a look at my file and I was locally preapproved for a credit card! If I wanted to come into the office before March 1st, we could do all the paperwork to get the application sent off for head office approval because for a foreigner/resident, local approval wasn’t enough. I told him I’d be in this week.

Yesterday, he called again to check in! I knew that I’d be able to go this afternoon, so we made an appointment.

What felt like a couple dozen signatures and two hours later, I had my card!

I’ve had some technological hiccups and issues with BBVA, but knowing that there are actual humans who keep their promises working there is making me feel more secure than I did at HSBC.

My initial credit limit was surprisingly high, a full quarter of my average monthly income and about a third of the income BBVA sees.

Some of the benefits I now have with a credit card:

• I’m building a credit history to eventually get other loan products
• I can earn points on all my purchases to be spent on future purchases
• I can take advantage of “months without interest” promotions

The big caveat with Mexican credit cards is that, well, they’re not credit cards, at least not in the way Canadians and Americans (and possibly Europeans) think of them. They have insanely high interest rates. Mine is over 90% (!). Mexican credit cards are meant to be used like a charge card, think Amex, where you have to pay off your balance in full every month. They also work a bit like a line of credit in that you can finance purchases using the aforementioned “months without interest” promotions. Once the purchase is paid off, you still have access to that original credit amount, unlike if you’d had a personal loan. They can be a very powerful tool if used properly and I get frustrated when expats just scream about what a “rip-off” Mexican cards are without taking the time to educate themselves.

I’m very happy with this new development and hope that the mortgage plans will happen because that could decrease my current monthly payments while speeding up the timeline to the house being transferred in my name. And, who knows, maybe a car loan is in my future?