Plain-English explainers on remittances, Mexican payment rails, and digital dollars
Tarjeta Finabien is a debit card from Mexico's government financial institution that lets migrants in the US, including undocumented ones, send remittances to Mexico for a flat fee.
Receiving a remittance on a card or into an account means the money lands electronically, with no payout counter involved — you just need to share the right account, card, or wallet details before the sender pays.
Dominican banks offer USD savings accounts, and free currency convertibility makes holding dollars legal, but minimums, fees, and near-zero interest make a USD wallet a lighter option.
A remittance corridor is the sending-country-to-receiving-country pathway a transfer travels through, and its cost, speed, and options vary corridor by corridor.
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) lets a foreign merchant or ATM bill your card in your home currency instead of the local one, usually at a worse exchange rate than your card's own conversion.
CEP is the electronic receipt Banco de México issues to confirm a completed SPEI transfer between Mexican banks. Anyone can look one up on Banxico's own portal, without logging into a bank.
KYC (Know Your Customer) is the identity check financial apps must complete before you can send or receive money, required by US law to prevent fraud and money laundering.
Moni is self-custodial, so nobody, including Moni, can move your balance just because your phone is lost. The real risk is a phone that stays unlocked and signed in, which is why securing it immediately still matters.
Remittance costs have two parts: a stated fee and an exchange-rate margin built into the conversion rate. The margin is often larger, and it never appears as a line-item fee.
CLABE is the 18-digit standardized number every Mexican bank account carries. It identifies the bank, branch, and account so SPEI transfers, direct debit, and payroll land in the right place.
SPEI is Banco de México's real-time interbank transfer system. It moves pesos between Mexican bank accounts in seconds, 24/7, and underpins most domestic payments in Mexico.
