Walking Around Money?

[AlwaysRt]

With ATM withdrawals coming with fees, how many times a month do you make how big a withdrawal so you have cash to live on?

 

Or, I will be arriving in Duma in less than a week now, what would you recommend for a first withdrawal of walking around/transportation/eating cash? I already paid for a place for a week to give me time to look around for a monthly rental.  

[Kuya John]

Jack or Dave are your men to put you right.

However it goes without saying really

1, Don't walk round with large sums of cash,don't flash the cash.

2, Most hotel's accept credit cards as do resturants

3, Always use inside banks ATM,s were possible.

Good luck for the future.....JB

[Mike J]

Buy yourself a cheap wallet.  Put a relatively small amount of cash in it, then carry in your rear pocket.  Keep the majority of your cash and any credit cards in a front pocket.  You can feed the cash into the back wallet as required in private.  This way you are not showing much cash and any pickpocket will hopefully go for the back wallet.

[chris49]

If making an ATM withdrawl in lower amounts and weighing up the cost (from $4-11) per transaction, it really doesn't make sense to withdraw a small amount. I go with 10, 000 pesos. I know that seems a lot to have in your pocket, but as a visitor you will spend that over a week or sooner.

 

When I first came, i had some dollars in hand for emergency. I used to withdraw 10k/week and was changing a few dollars ($100 notes) as needed at the money changer.

 

Coming from where? Hong Kong? Bring some currency eg US Dollars and change some at the airport for the initial expenses.

 

So about 10 k in hand and use the credit card as much as possible.

[Jack Peterson]

 For me Open a PNB Peso savings account that will give you a local bancnet ATM card you can Transfer in. That way you don't get charges on withdrawls They are easy to open but if you have a problem Shout and lets see what we can do for you.

There are now 3 PNB's in Dumaguete and the One near the Big Robinsons is a very convenient one although you can withdraw from any bank at 15 peso per Draw. of Course from a PNB Machine free.

To me, this is best. Although we Consider Dumaguete pretty safe I would never want to be carrying large amounts on my person, nor my wife for that matter.

 

BTW the Bancnet Card can be used at many Places as a Debit card.

As I say need help when you are here just Shout.

 

Jack :thumbsup:

 

Morning All :morning1:  

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I use USAA credit union they refund ATM fees (up to $15 a month per account). I use BPI ATM's because they allow p20,000 per transaction (also happens to be USAA's limit per day). Around the first of the month I pull p20,000 one day, and p10,000 the next. That is all for the month.  We have labels and paperclips to sort the money (electric bill, Globe, 3 grocery trips etc).  The p30k gives us p7k pocket money.

 

Today is the 19th, I just checked... all bills are paid for the month, there is one bundle of grocery money left (p2,500 a week), and p4,000 pocket money left.  I am trying trying to teach my wife how to budget... much harder than I thought ha ha...

[Huggybearman]

Before I opened a local bank account here in Phils I used to withdraw money from ATM's. Citi Bank used to be the best as they didn't charge the 200 php fee, but I see now they do. Most of the banks limit each withdrawal to 10,000php, some, like BDO have a 5000 limit. The two banks that still allow 20,000 php withdrawals I have found are UCB Bank and RCBC Bank. Even BPI have reduced withdrawals in CDO to 10,000 starting last November so I assume that is a new nationwide policy. I now transfer my funds directly from the UK to my BPI account. I find the break even point is about 7 ATM withdrawals per month. My UK bank does not charge for overseas withdrawals but I pay a £20 SWIFT transfer fee. The money is invariably in my account within 48 hours, excluding weekends.

So, personally, if I do need to use an ATM I always withdraw the maximum amount, 20,000 php, to minimise costs, but only put maybe 3 or 4k in my wallet. The rest I hide about my person. I always use in branch ATM's, both for security, and also, on one occasion, the ATM kept my card and as the machine was inside I was able to retrieve it. That would not have been possible with an ATM in a mall for example. As others have advised, never carry more cash than you think you will need.

Ken

Edited January 19, 2016 by Huggybearman

[AlwaysRt]

Sounds like 10,000php is the number to start at, thanks. Kind of in line with the $2,000HKD a week I get here in Hong Kong. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

The reason for 10,000 pesos is that is the highest amount most machines will give out at one time.  When using a Canadian card the fees are high enough that I like to take out the maximum withdrawal each time.  For a while I was going to a BPI machine in Dumaguete which allowed me to take out 16,000 pesos which was just under the CDN$500 daily limit that my card allowed.  I believe those machines will dispense up to 20,000 pesos on a foreign card if your limit allows it.

 

NOTE that only certain machines will allow it.  The machined that only give out 1,000 peso notes (nothing smaller) are the ones that will often dispense more on a foreign card.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I have heard that BPI has cut back to p10,000 in some places - but here in Iloilo I regularly take out p20,000 at a time.  I hope they don't change it here :tiphat: