A Cheap Way To Send Money

[JJReyes]

The global inflow of more than $10 billion a year in remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) has resulted in inexpensive ways for OFWs to send money to families at home. Someone with the forum should study the "padala" system for the benefit of the membership. Commercial banks are charging astronomical fees to send money, and for using credit cards and ATMs in the Philippines. Maybe there is a cheaper and better way.For example, both the Canadian and American governments issue quasi-banking licenses limited to country-to-country transfer of money (foreign exchange). Nearly all freight forwarding agents for balikbayan boxes in Canada and the United States have a remittance license or sub-license. Their fees are reasonable at $5 to $10 per transaction. If the recipient has a bank account, the money is direct deposited. If the recipient does not have a bank account, they can apply for a free ATM like card. There are no additional charges in pesos that is paid by the recipient. Another system is the money is delivered "house-to-house" to the family. I don't know if they still practice this because there were two problems: First. Robbers realized that the couriers in motorcycles had large bundles of cash as they made the deliveries. They were easy to spot leaving a bank branch parking lot. The armed robbers giving chase also rode motorcycles. Second. The intended recipient was sometime not at home at the time of the delivery. By the time they got home, the spouse and children had already spent all the money. Or maybe the maid left after signing for a large bundle of cash. I know there is now a 3% "foreign transaction fee" for using a credit card overseas. My strategy is to pre-pay for the hotel or use a major credit card as a guarantee and then pay cash at check-out. I don't use ATMs to withdraw cash overseas. I have never tried cashing a check while overseas.Nearly all the OFW remittance advertising is in Pilipino. The "padala" system may not be familiar to the English-only community. Perhaps someone should research the system for the benefit of forum members.

[Bundy]

Second. The intended recipient was sometime not at home at the time of the delivery. By the time they got home, the spouse and children had already spent all the money. Or maybe the maid left after signing for a large bundle of cash.

Reminds me of what used to happen to us.We'd send money home to Talisay to be delivered to the house but sometimes Mama wasn't there when the courier arrived.By the time she got home Papa was already 3/4 tanked with half a dozen of his mates! At least he never tried to hide what he did...........unlike some of the others.There's always ways around bank and atm charges, in 26 years i have very rarely used a foreign atm or credit card in the Phils.If you don't like the fees they charge, then don't use them.Life's pretty simple for us now, we just use a third party to deposit into our Phil bank account all done online for a flat fee of around $10.00. We then just use the local atm card and no fees are charged. One thing i have found over the years though is that an Australian credit union card seems to attract a lot less fees than a bank one.