Question was originally posted in the forums by jimmyinch.
Responses so far:
Robi: you need a paypal atm/debit card. international withdrawal rates are high with paypal. more then the normal bank would charge. but it is still a way to get money in the philippines. ive used it several times. just make sure you have money in the actual paypal account and not a backup source to fund your paypal acount. they will most likely freeze your account if you do it that way. i had a friend that did that it and everything got frozen.
Dubleoohseven: Maybe this is a day late and a dollar short, but I usually use xoom.com to wire myself some extra cash ahead of time, or you can do it from your hotel room, whatever. I always get freaky about loosing my cash and the idea of drawing it out a few thousand at a time from the ATM is lame. Xoom is pretty cheap, albeit a pain in the arse to go to the bank to get it. But it will get you back in the game quickly if you have a cash shortage.
Dru: I don’t know about Paypal-ing money to yourself. You would need two accounts, and they are pretty strict about IP‘s logging into separate accounts, so I just don’t know how it would work. You might get your accounts locked. For me, I use Xoom to transfer my money from my American bank into a Filipino bank account and I use a local Filipino ATM card.
I ran out of money on my last trip…twice..yes I did have a great time!!! I had used Moneygram to send money to the PI before and tried to use it while I was there but I hadn’t used my account for almost a year so it was frozen. They wanted me to call during office hours to reopen it. So 13 hour time diference and a international call…not an easy way to do it. But you can send your self money with Moneygram just make sure your account is current before you leave. You can send some money ahead of time if you want and pick up at any Moneygram outlet in the PI.
What I did was emailed my partner at work…we work midnights so he is at work when its daytime in PI. Told him how to open a Moneygram account and he sent me money. I just paid him back when he got the bill. Then I showed him pictures of what the money went for…lol
Philippine National Bank have a rapid remit service.Its easy cheap and reliable.Use your debit card [credit card too expensive] to send yourself cash through their internet site..There are several branches in U.S.
Cash $100 bills still get a better rate in Manila moneychanger.
If bringing cash make sure the bills are whole and clean.Moneychangers and banks will reject worn thorn and dirty bills.Travellers cheques only American express and mostly only in Manila.Paypal never works for me although strangely their customer services are located just outside Manila
Interesting info, lolo corjo. I’m curious now.. I just found out I’ve got an actual PNB branch 5 miles from me here in California. Could one just set up a savings or checking acct with them in person and have a PNB debit card in hand to draw from once in PI? Thanks in advance.
last time I use America Express travlers checks,, what a big pain in the butt,,Hotel didnt want to take them went to sevral banks no one would cash them for me,, final banco de oro did, with a fee this was at MOA in Manila.
how much was the fee for that, do u remember
How easy/hard is to get a Filipino ATM card? what do i need to open local bank account?
I think you need an address in Phil. Robi did it, not sure what’s required.
Its been months since I opened one up. I think they require 2 forms of ID, and a ACR1 card. ACR1 card has to be purchased once you apply for a second visa extension on a continuous stay in the Philippines. I don’t know about providing a residential address. I forgot about that part. I’m going to say that it’s not required because the did say that I can pick up my new ATM card in person, assuming if I was staying at a hotel.
It takes a time to get a local atm card, mine [p.n.b.] was 3 weeks and they asked me to apply. Even though I had had an account for 15 years I still had to produce proof of address mine was an electricity bill.I just do not think its worth while for a casual visitor.
If you really want an A.T.M. card then buy a GLOBAL FILIPINO MONEY CARD from the PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK.You can use it to withdraw cash from all P.N.B. atm machines as well as metro bank and a few others. Pre charge it before you go and top it up through the P.N.B. rapid remit service.
P.N.B. also do travellers cheques but i do not know anything about them.
Its best to have a mix of options,buy the moneycard have cash and bring your credit card you may be able to get it to work.
There are several branches of Philippine National Bank in U.S. and also in Europe remeber its how most Pinoys get their cash home
Hey, I think you just answered all my questions in that follow up. Thanks a lot for that useful info sir.
I will be moving to the Philippines in Oct need to open a Philippine bank account can u suggest a bank that will be user friendly to me as I am from USA, I need to get a ATM debit as well. Need a bank that can work is all. Do you know what forms I need and what id forms last time I tried did not have photo picture of electric bill to prove my address,
what bank in the USA works well with the PHILIPPINE bank?? mine already said they will charge be flat rate to send money to another !! expensive $35 to send $2500USD Wow there must be a better solution.
Why all the hassle with a Philippine account, pay pal, cash exchanges, travelers checks etc. Just set up a debit card or checking account in the U.S. such as Capital One. There are no international transacion fees, they reimburse you for up to $25 in ATM fees per statement (month), you get a superior exchange rate (inbetween the bid and ask I found). You don’t have to worry about moving around with alot of cash. Also I set up the checking account online for easy electronic transfer from my existing bank checking account. It doesn’t get any better for International travelers than with a Capital One debit card.
Oh yeah, I should also add they give a fantastic interest rate offer better than any savings account rates for the first year.
For even more savings, get the Capital One Credit Card. 12 months no interest, no international transaction fees, new cash bonus, great cash back programs. With both accounts I’m covered on all bases around the world.
P.S. No I’m not a Capital One rep, lol, there are other sweet cc offers out there with no International transaction fees, play em all for the bonus sign up when traveling to Philly.
I have a Wells Fargo acct in the States (attached to my PayPal acct). And then I have a BDO (Banco de Oro) in Cebu, which Wells Fargo will transfer money to via my online account. I also have shown US family how to wire money to BDO.. just in case, from the local Sigue/MoneyGram offices.
The key is having more than one way to access your money. I will use my BDO atm card locally and everything else done with online transfers. From PayPal to Wells Fargo and then to BDO. I might look into hooking up my PayPal to BDO, but am also worried about them freezing up my account due to the overseas IP.
So say you’re in Cebu. Can you log on to your Wells Fargo account, and send money online to your BDO account in Phils? And what’s the cost per transaction? I was in Wells Fargo the other week and mentioned that I will be in the Philippines, but they said I needed to be physically in the Wells Fargo branch to do the international transfer.
Even though I have my BDO account, I’m waiting on approval for online banking. That’s when I can start xfering money (as I plan to anyway) from WF to BDO.
On the WF ‘Transfer Money’ tabs.. it says the include BDO as one of their supported, online options. It could be you spoke with someone who didn’t know and just ‘winged-it’ to give you an answer.. I’ve had that happen. Like when I wanted a WF business account I was told I MUST HAVE my business permit for the same city as that branch. Nope.. spoke with the Manager of the bank and never had to even submit my license or dba. Been banking as a business for over 4 years now.. no problems.
But I’ll post here once I do a test-transfer and let you know how it goes.
I’d really appreciate it. Right now I’m using Xoom which is fine at $6 per transfer I think. But if WF is free, why not :)
guys be smart,
WHY PAY MORE is my moto
would u like to be able to transfer money from usa to ph for free
just do what i been doing, its really the best free way
1. if u need money now, get account at MECHANIC BANK in CA USA u can do it online
https://www.mechanicsbank.com/mechbank/MBwebsite.nsf/personal/checking
they have ATM Fee Refunds so they will give u everything back if u have like 2k in the bank with them
2. u can use ur checks from any usa bank at BDO in ph, it does take 21 days to clear but its totaly free, u just need to do it ahead so u wont run out of money i guess, but if ur on soyummykaya ur already on top of things.
stop using these online services and atms where they always rip u off and get rich off of u, its ur money, u should be able to get it anywhere u r in the world, for free!!!
hope u enjoyed. Homer
UPDATE: Well.. after digging through the fine-print at WF, it turns out Xoom is the better way to go. WF charges only $5.. but, only if you sign up for an enhanced checking account. Those fees, for stuff I don’t need, would offset the simpler method of using Xoom.
I just used Xoom for the first time to send money to my acct at BDO and, even at $7.99 for a direct-deposit it’s still cheaper and less hassle than driving into town and standing in line at the Sigue teller window.
Xoom only took an hour, 45 minutes as well. PayPal takes 3-5 days to move money into my account.
Yea I’ve had no problems with Xoom at all. With Xoom, I dont transfer into an account with my name though. Do you do that? I’m wondering if Xoom would have a problem transferring from USA bank with name “Ryan Smith” into the same name of a Phil bank.
Funny.. I.. I mean, a friend.. does the same thing so as to stay somewhat off the grid. One of the perks to having a Filipina you can actually trust!
I’m guessing Xoom doesn’t care if you move money around from one acct to another, even though you own both. They just want their cut for the task. They either make a little extra either from the direct-deposit ($2 extra) or they make some off the exchange when moving dollars to pesos.
If the exchange is say, 43:1 for the day.. they transfer at 41:1 and keep the difference. Philippine banks do the same thing. I have a Dollar account, but some people have Peso accounts. So.. if for some reason the Peso go “up” from 43 to say 46.. that’s a good time to convert Dollars into Pesos and get more buying power. But, if the Peso drops to say 41.. it might be worth the hassle to convert it back to dollars over a large sum.
My g/f says it’s better to exchange Dollars to Pesos in the Exchange markets located in the malls rather than at the Banks, because the banks take a bigger cut. She also said to NEVER make the exchanges at small shops along the street.. too much chance of robbery when you leave or getting boned on the exchange rate by greedier Mom’n'Pop operations.