Transferring Money Between Us And Philippines

[earthdome]

 

This is what I do (only because it is what the wife decided to do, so it IS NOT OPEN TO DEBATE :hystery: )

 

We keep the bulk of our money in the states, pension is deposited there. We have a dollar account at BPI. We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear. There is a 100 peso fee for each $2000 check we deposit. We with drawl dollars as needed and change them into pesos at our local money changer for a better rate than the bank.

 

We also have a BPI peso account where we keep an emergency fund.

 

There are many different methods, but this is the one that the wife decided works best for us :cheersty: .

We do the same thing with our BPI. Except we do not get the 100p fee for check deposit and we exchange our $ for Php in the bank. Our branch checks the "live" rate at the time of transaction and we usually get an excellent rate. Also being that we are in the bank makes us feel a little more secure than going downtown to a money changer.

 

 

I did the same using BPI. No fee's to deposit the check in my BPI USD account. Then as needed or as the fx rate looked good I would do fx from my USD to peso account using BPI online banking which gave a slightly better rate than in person at the bank. BPI's rate is very close to what you would get on the street and worth losing a few centavo's for the convenience and security of doing the fx online.

[GregZ]

Read this thread:

http://www.philippines-expats.com/index.php?/topic/24044-Transferwise-Anyone?

[AlwaysRt]

For rate comparisons actual real rates would be informative, this way gets a better rate than that way is merely an opinion. 

 

For example, today I made a withdrawal at a BPI ATM. The rate on xe.com was $1USD = p47.60, the rate I got was p47.62. (My ATM fees are refunded at the end of the month so I did not include the fee in the conversion)

[Richieboy67]

I normally use Xoom but we got a BPI account a couple months ago. I'm planning on adding it to my PayPal if possible and then I'll just transfer that way.

[Dave Hounddriver]

We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear

 

You wife is very smart.  If my money was paid to me in US$ I would do the same.

 

Write check

Deposit

Wait for it to clear

Take out cash

 

Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

Edited February 26, 2016 by Dave Hounddriver

[robert k]

 

We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear

 

You wife is very smart.  If my money was paid to me in US$ I would do the same.

 

Write check

Deposit

Wait for it to clear

Take out cash

 

Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

I tried to do this at PNB and they charged me 100php service charge to deposit my check which was equal to $2.40 USD at the time and it took 7 weeks for the check to clear so I just closed my accounts with them as there was nothing that could explain it taking 7 weeks.

 

 Western Union would wire me money from my bank account $2,999 USD for $2.99 and usually it was instantly available for pickup, worst case 24 hours. The only problem was finding a location that had that much $100 bills in USD to avoid Western Unions crappy exchange rate. I frequently had to wait a day or two so they could order the USD. I did notice that Western Union's exchange rate got better. Maybe they caught on they were losing money to the money changers right next door?

[AlwaysRt]

 

We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear

 

You wife is very smart.  If my money was paid to me in US$ I would do the same.

 

Write check

Deposit

Wait for it to clear

Take out cash

 

Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

 

Ummm Yup. Looking to buy a bike (motorcycle) so put my system to the test today. Went to BPI to make an ATM withdrawal. Did two p20,000 transactions one right after the other. Smooth as silk. XE.com says USD exchange rate is 47.44 and I got 47.63. 

 

disclaimer - BPI adds p200 fee to each transaction but I use my Charles Schwab account because they reimburse the fees every month. Net fee = $0.00 which at the current rate is p0.00

 

So, Moved $$$ from the States to p40,000 in my pocket in less than a minute with no fees. Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

[robert k]

 

 

We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear

 

You wife is very smart.  If my money was paid to me in US$ I would do the same.

 

Write check

Deposit

Wait for it to clear

Take out cash

 

Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

 

Ummm Yup. Looking to buy a bike (motorcycle) so put my system to the test today. Went to BPI to make an ATM withdrawal. Did two p20,000 transactions one right after the other. Smooth as silk. XE.com says USD exchange rate is 47.44 and I got 47.63. 

 

disclaimer - BPI adds p200 fee to each transaction but I use my Charles Schwab account because they reimburse the fees every month. Net fee = $0.00 which at the current rate is p0.00

 

So, Moved $$$ from the States to p40,000 in my pocket in less than a minute with no fees. Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

Must be a catch somewhere? Minimum deposit? Monthly account fee?

[Mike S]

Must be a catch somewhere? Minimum deposit? Monthly account fee?

 

Robert we have been doing the same thing with Bank of Commerce for almost 9 years .... no fees or anything ....

 

 

there was nothing that could explain it taking 7 weeks.

 

The reason for the 6-7 weeks s because checks that have to clear from overseas even though your bank may processes they much faster (mine does it in 3 days after receiving the request) they banks here want to insure that you don't write a check ... collect your money and then skip the country leaving behind a hot check and no way for them to collect on it .... once you get by the first month it is no big deal ....

 

Now as to PNB .... in our opinion (J's and mine) that are absolutely the greediest and screwed up of all the banks she has an account .... she has accounts with BOC .... BDO and PNB .... just the other day she came home madder than hell as she wanted to withdraw some money from a PNB bank and they charged her p200 because it was not drawn on the PNB where her account is .... she asked them why and they told her "well ma'm you can transfer you account to us and there will be no charge .... the two banks are about 6 blocks away .... greedy ass-holes .... :unsure:

:cheersty:

Edited February 27, 2016 by Mike S

[AlwaysRt]

 

 

 

We write a USA paper check as needed and deposit it into our BPI dollar account and wait the 3-4 weeks for it to clear

 

You wife is very smart.  If my money was paid to me in US$ I would do the same.

 

Write check

Deposit

Wait for it to clear

Take out cash

 

Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

 

Ummm Yup. Looking to buy a bike (motorcycle) so put my system to the test today. Went to BPI to make an ATM withdrawal. Did two p20,000 transactions one right after the other. Smooth as silk. XE.com says USD exchange rate is 47.44 and I got 47.63. 

 

disclaimer - BPI adds p200 fee to each transaction but I use my Charles Schwab account because they reimburse the fees every month. Net fee = $0.00 which at the current rate is p0.00

 

So, Moved $$$ from the States to p40,000 in my pocket in less than a minute with no fees. Could it get any simpler or cheaper?

 

Must be a catch somewhere? Minimum deposit? Monthly account fee?

 

 

The catch is you must open a brokerage account to open a checking account (with fee paid debit card). No minimum deposit, no monthly fees. I originally opened my accounts with $100 a year and a half ago. Only other catch is you need a US address (if my memory is correct). Check it out at http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/accounts