Hello to ALL ! My first post Here..I will be visiting the Phillipines during August

[Ice Patrol]

I will be making my first trip to the Phillipines in the first week of August and will visit various vacation spots and cities for 3 weeks.I have a question concerning credit cards.What are the most commonly accepted cards.Thankyou for any info you can send my way on this subject.       Ice Patrol

[Dave Hounddriver]

You may already know that different bank cards are linked by networks. Here is one of the most commonly accepted.  There are many others that are also accepted.  Only rarely will you come across an obscure card that is not accepted anywhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_(interbank_network)

 

[Jack Peterson]

2 hours ago, Ice Patrol said:

I will be making my first trip to the Phillipines in the first week of August

[Arizona Kid]

3 hours ago, Ice Patrol said:

I will be making my first trip to the Phillipines in the first week of August and will visit various vacation spots and cities for 3 weeks.I have a question concerning credit cards.What are the most commonly accepted cards.Thankyou for any info you can send my way on this subject.       Ice Patrol

OK Barney. Look at the back of your credit or debit card. If it has the Plus or the Cirrus emblem on it you are good to go. 

[scott h]

4 hours ago, Ice Patrol said:

.What are the most commonly accepted cards.

Plastic ones 

Sorry couldn't resist. The only card I have seen signs of not being accepted is American express. Just make sure you have your passport or other ID with you

[Jollygoodfellow]

4 hours ago, Ice Patrol said:

I will be making my first trip to the Phillipines in the first week of August and will visit various vacation spots and cities for 3 weeks.I have a question concerning credit cards.What are the most commonly accepted cards.Thankyou for any info you can send my way on this subject.       Ice Patrol

Make sure you inform your card company you will be using the card overseas otherwise you might find you have issues. Depending on where you go ATMs are not always available or maybe out of cash.

When in larger cities ensure you have back up cash if traveling out of the city.

[Guy F.]

49 minutes ago, scott h said:

Plastic ones 

Sorry couldn't resist. The only card I have seen signs of not being accepted is American express. Just make sure you have your passport or other ID with you

I never carry my passport unless I know it will be required. A photocopy will do if you are stopped by the police. When using a credit or debit card my US driving license has always been sufficient.

[Jack Peterson]

56 minutes ago, Guy F. said:

I never carry my passport unless I know it will be required.

 Gary on this we must be careful as it is the VISA in it that is important. Just saying

[earthdome]

Bring along some cash. $100 bill's work well. It is easy to find a money changer and get a good rate. You will need cash because the Philippines is still mostly a cash society and you will need to use cash much more often. Second, you will need multiple credit cards in case one doesn't work for some purchase. With some credit card companies, such as Capital One, they no longer let you tell them about international travel to authorize use of the card. Instead they use other more sophisticated anti fraud mechanisms now that the credit cards have chips. Basically, the card will only work if the vendor has a credit card machine that reads the chip on the card. FYI, Capital One has great cards for travel because they don't add any fee's for international transactions and have a fairly good foreign exchange rate. So you can have the charges done in peso's and Capital One does the FX to USD.

Second, before you leave download the Grab app. Grab is like Uber or Lyft and works in some of the larger metro's. You can download this in advance and setup your credit card so you can use it for transport instead of taxi's. So much nicer than the normal taxi's. Especially in Manila.

[Hobbit112]

Even better, get a Schwab High Interest Checking Account with Debit Card.  They also don't charge international transaction fees AND reimburse you for all ATM charges!  It is a Visa debit card so runs under the Interlink, Plus, Star and Money Pass systems.

Grab highly recommended for the Manila area, Cebu City, Bacolod, Iloilo and Davao too. Other areas you will end up using jeepneys and tricycles.