What bank to have

[stevewool]

6 minutes ago, scott h said:

Here is a thought Steve, and not discussed much. Once you move here, check your local Barangay Credit Union. Ours offers double the interest rate that BPI does for savings accounts, and has a timed deposit of 5.5 % for 1 or 2 years I think. Down side is I do not think they are insured AND in the case of our credit union you must be a Philippine citizen to open an account. But in your case, long married etc. that shouldn't be a factor.

Just gist for thought

Cheers Scott, it all helps in making that little extra

[mogo51]

On 3/27/2016 at 5:10 PM, stevewool said:

Having no experience of banking in the Phils but knowing there are banks here in England like BPI,

Would it be best to try to open a account here in England with that bank and just make transfers to the bank over in the Phils,

For the time being all our cash will be in banks in England and having just a little with us ,

Are there any banks that give you intrest too over in the Philippines too,

I asked the same question to my SO a few days ago, she suggested Bank of Philippine Islands >BPI

[robert k]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

Here is a thought Steve, and not discussed much. Once you move here, check your local Barangay Credit Union. Ours offers double the interest rate that BPI does for savings accounts, and has a timed deposit of 5.5 % for 1 or 2 years I think. Down side is I do not think they are insured AND in the case of our credit union you must be a Philippine citizen to open an account. But in your case, long married etc. that shouldn't be a factor.

Just gist for thought

5.5% sounds like a genuine interest rate.

There was a problem years ago with rural banks offering unrealistic interest rates like double your money in 5 years and it turned out to be something of a Ponzi scheme. The banks were insured and I believe the Philippine government paid out / made good for MOST of the deposits WITHOUT the interest after a few YEARS but some people played hell getting their money back. One of whom being the David Whittall that Dave Houndriver mentioned in a previous post. Witthall had to come out of retirement and go to work teaching ESL in China because his money was gone and it took a long time to get it back. I believe that things like this is the reason many expats leave there money in their home country.

5.5% sounds reasonable enough that it probably isn't a scam but I wouldn't put any more money in a Philippine bank than I could afford to walk away from. Am I overcautious? Maybe. But I am not going to re-enter the workforce either.

 

 

[stevewool]

53 minutes ago, robert k said:

5.5% sounds like a genuine interest rate.

There was a problem years ago with rural banks offering unrealistic interest rates like double your money in 5 years and it turned out to be something of a Ponzi scheme. The banks were insured and I believe the Philippine government paid out / made good for MOST of the deposits WITHOUT the interest after a few YEARS but some people played hell getting their money back. One of whom being the David Whittall that Dave Houndriver mentioned in a previous post. Witthall had to come out of retirement and go to work teaching ESL in China because his money was gone and it took a long time to get it back. I believe that things like this is the reason many expats leave there money in their home country.

5.5% sounds reasonable enough that it probably isn't a scam but I wouldn't put any more money in a Philippine bank than I could afford to walk away from. Am I overcautious? Maybe. But I am not going to re-enter the workforce either.

 

 

I am happy so far where my savings are,some are in shares making around the 5% mark, but that could go up or down, the rest is in cash and that's making very little but it's all secured.

And like you I am not going back into the workforce once I leave

Edited March 28, 2016 by stevewool
Added more

[scott h]

8 hours ago, robert k said:

Am I overcautious?

Robert, I WOULD never say that a guy is being over cautious when dealing with ANYTHING here lolol. I would never put any money anywhere with out doing as much research as possible. In our case my wife and her family has been a member of this credit union since she was a young lady. So in this particular case, I am "relatively" confident we will be ok.

[i am bob]

seeing as i can't see paying bank fees here and in canada...  and it's going to cost me to send the money anyway...  i just leave most of it in canada, send enough for what i figure i'll need for the month and then top it up if i need more...

it may be my imagination but didn't we have a post on here a couple years ago about bpi having branches in england...?  i'll let my fellow englishmen worry about that one...  

[scott h]

2 minutes ago, i am bob said:

bpi having branches in England

Bob, I have found BPI, PNP and even some MetroBanks, lots of places that OFW's or Filipino Expats are found. San Diego, Los Angles, San Francisco, Guam. When I was doing my early research for our move, I inquired of the San Diego branch about opening an account and was told I would have to go to the main branch in Los Angeles. The San Diego branch was only for remittances.

[sonjack2847]

On 3/27/2016 at 7:15 PM, Jack Peterson said:

 Steve, there have been many Topics on this and the one thing that comes from all of them is That the PI banks in any other Country are NOT Linked. For me, Leave until you are here and then Open an Account. use you ATM from your own Bank until you have the lay of the LAND. To me this is far safer.

 I use a PNB savings account with a local ATM & credit Card and has quite a good Interest rate and will accept all payments from Abroad. + it has Online banking but so have others and no doubt others will chip in.

What are the requirements to open a PNB savings account.We tried at Metrobank but they wanted proof of address which we don`t have yet.Does PNB require proof of address.

[Jack Peterson]

42 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

What are the requirements to open a PNB savings account.We tried at Metrobank but they wanted proof of address which we don`t have yet.Does PNB require proof of address.

 I believe so, you may even need your ACR card. That has an Address on it. Kev for me, Open it on your old Address and tell them you are Moving to Dumaguete (Or Moved) and see what they Say. You can get a Cert from your B/C to prove Residence, I am sure your New Landlord can help here. + Lease if you have one yet.

[sonjack2847]

On 3/27/2016 at 7:15 PM, Jack Peterson said:

 Steve, there have been many Topics on this and the one thing that comes from all of them is That the PI banks in any other Country are NOT Linked. For me, Leave until you are here and then Open an Account. use you ATM from your own Bank until you have the lay of the LAND. To me this is far safer.

 I use a PNB savings account with a local ATM & credit Card and has quite a good Interest rate and will accept all payments from Abroad. + it has Online banking but so have others and no doubt others will chip in.

What are the requirements to open a PNB savings account.We tried at Metrobank but they wanted proof of address which we don`t have yet.Does PNB require proof of address.

 

I found this online.

Requirements for Applying PNB Bank Account

• At least two valid id's (photo-bearing). We can use voters id and philhealth
• Two 1x1 or 2x2 ID pictures
• Initial deposit. 3000p for an atm account

So we will give it a try later