WISE transfer service

I used bank to bank wire transfer. Any amount is about $50.00 .

For me, The WISE app works via internet and is in that way independent of the telephone number. I have not tried to receive an OTP code on my Filipino number, but I use fingerprint authentication.

I am European and replenishing my wise account is a matter of minutes. I tell The app to replenish my EUR account, I select from the options to do so (in my case charge my bank), Then my bank asks if it OK and immediately my Wise account refelects the amount that was requested.

If you still have a US bank account why not transfer directly from there to your account in the Philippines. I can send money from my Canadian account directly to a Philippine account

Filamretire said . . . Noticed quite a few fans of Wise on here. I just got an account after issues with 2 factor authentication from banks requiring a US cell number. Got the first deposit done by routing number and waiting 3 days. My question is to transfer money do I then transfer from the bank into Wise then transfer it out of Wise to the Philippine account? I noticed to access Wise I need to accept the prompt on my cellphone, but I assume that once I have the app on a PH number it will still work? Im a Wise noob! Also, transfer of large amounts ok? (building a house)

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Wise is the agent in transferring your money. Wise transfers from your bank account to your Philippine bank. Transfers are Dollars, or your local currency to Pesos. Wise will SMS your Philippine phone with a six digit code to authenticate it's actually you when you login. I do the transfer from my laptop, so a smart phone will be different.

ERL369 said . . . . .I used bank to bank wire transfer. Any amount is about $50.00 .

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You are paying way to much, I transfer money as need, many times the total fee is less than $5. Suppose you want to transfer a small amount in bank to bank wire, $50 that's Coocoo.

Also examine the exchange rate, just 1% difference on large amounts could cost you hundreds of dollars plus your $50.

Also my money arrives in several minutes.

@Enzyte Bob I can xfer $20,000 dollars to my Philippine bank dollar account, or even more for the $50 charge. I don't think you could match that charge with any of the remittance providers. I don't xfer small amounts. Generally I xfer enough for 6 months living expenses. When I bought my house here I xferred $ 120,000 for the $50.00 charge.

@windsurfer51 I think my bank requires authentication with an SMS code that I cannot get on my phone when in Philippines

@Filamretire I can receive texts (for example a OTP or code) from my bank in Canada (automated) but I have to swap SIMS (put my Canadian SIM in). No charge to receive the texts. I also receive them from gov sites, ie when I did my taxes. Not sure if this is true with other carriers and countries.

@Dude55 Yes thats how I did it for a short stay, however I'm planning to live there and all US carriers will cancel service if phone isnt connected to their carrier after x number of months. Why they do this is crazy, its free money for them via the postpaid account, without using their service!

@Dude55

Same here from Europe. I have dual sim and I switch on my EU SIM when I expect OTP.

ERL369 said . . . . .I used bank to bank wire transfer. Any amount is about $50.00 .
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You are paying way to much, I transfer money as need, many times the total fee is less than $5. Suppose you want to transfer a small amount in bank to bank wire, $50 that's Coocoo.

Also examine the exchange rate, just 1% difference on large amounts could cost you hundreds of dollars plus your $50.

Also my money arrives in several minutes.
-@Enzyte Bob

Can you please explain the method you use for a $5 fee?

          Deposit a check from my USA checking account into my wife's BDO account (dollars to dollars) costs $5, takes 30 days to clear.

ERL369 said. . . I can xfer $20,000 dollars to my Philippine bank dollar account, or even more for the $50 charge. I don't think you could match that charge with any of the remittance providers. I don't xfer small amounts. Generally I xfer enough for 6 months living expenses. When I bought my house here I xferred $ 120,000 for the $50.00 charge.

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Again what is the exchange rate they charged you for the converting dollars to pesos?

At this moment Wise exchange is P55.558 per dollar. If your bank exchange rate was P1 less per dollar for the $120,000, that measly Peso means a $2159.90 hidden fee.

Did you actually know the exchange rate before making the wire transfer? Many banks do "Free Transfers" and gouge you on the exchange rate.

ERL369 said . . . . .I used bank to bank wire transfer. Any amount is about $50.00 .
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I replied. . . .You are paying way to much, I transfer money as need, many times the total fee is less than $5. Suppose you want to transfer a small amount in bank to bank wire, $50 that's Coocoo.

Also examine the exchange rate, just 1% difference on large amounts could cost you hundreds of dollars plus your $50.

Also my money arrives in several minutes.
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Kampkos 104 asked. . . .Can you please explain the method you use for a $5 fee?

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At this moment if I send $529 using Wise.

There is a 69 cent ACH Bank Fee

              $4.31 Wise Fee

Total fees $5.00

I am well established so never have to transfer large amounts. A $500 transfer is my typical amount, as often as needed, and I get P55.558 for each dollar.

mugteck said. . . .Deposit a check from my USA checking account into my wife's BDO account (dollars to dollars) costs $5, takes 30 days to clear.

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Use Wise or any similar transfer service, my money arrives in less than 30 minutes, But it will be Dollar to Peso.

If you can plan 30 days ahead, then the checks are cheap.  Only thing at BDO they were very fussy about my hand writing and printing on the checks.  Easy solution, I let the banker fill out my check, give her the amount and to whom it is written, takes a little longer, but then again most things do in the Philippines.

@Enzyte Bob

My bank HSBC typically has a 50centavos margin between rhe interbank rate and what they give me for Euros.

For large amounts Wise [percentage] may be more expensive than a transfer at a fixed fee.

Lt Columbo I see now Bob, good choice.

My main bank in Oz, I transfer funds to our joint account, my bank is .1 to .11% lower than the current live posted market rate and they charge me 5 bucks for the transfer, that's why banks make money but I've learnt it's simple and BDO calls us to tell us the money has arrived 2 days later and the proverbial "What is that for sir and where did it come?" from even though we have done this a dozen times and banked with that branch for over 6 years.

Simply watch the exchange rate and jump in when you think its the best.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Mugteck said . . .If you can plan 30 days ahead, then the checks are cheap. Only thing at BDO they were very fussy about my hand writing and printing on the checks. Easy solution, I let the banker fill out my check, give her the amount and to whom it is written, takes a little longer, but then again most things do in the Philippines.

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When I initially came to the Philippines my wife had an account at BDO, (still does, I didn't bother to have my name added) even though five years has pasted.

I deposited a check for $2500, the check that was pre-printed from Citibank USA with both of our names on it plus our Pasig City address. (Citibank USA printed up these new checks for me for free, the customer service person was a Filipina.)

It took 25 days for us to withdraw money on that account. But, the check had cleared Citibank the next day.

Then sometime later I received a treasury department refund check from the IRS made out to both of us. BDO wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, (3.048 meters).

My stepson using a phone app, sending a copy of the check to Citibank USA, which was credited the same day allowing me to use Wise if I was inclined to transfer any of the proceeds over.

@bigpearl Wait, they really call you and ask what the money is for? Thats insane!

bigpearl said . . . . My main bank in Oz, I transfer funds to our joint account,

BDO calls us to tell us the money has arrived 2 days later and the proverbial "What is that for sir and where did it come?" from even though we have done this a dozen times and banked with that branch for over 6 years.
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I have the same thoughts as Filamretire, BDO has never called me in hundreds of transfer to tell me the money has arrive, let alone what I'm going to use the money for.

Maybe because of the method you use to transfer could raise eyebrows in some bank regulations or the size of your transfers.

Maybe the size of my transfers or simple Tsismis. Money laundering seems to be big on the agenda here, no matter P100K or P 2M they call Ben and always the same questions.

Bob our transfers are simply bank to bank, my banks in Australia never bat an eyelid but here it's the third degree questions.

Matters little as this system works for us.

Yes filamretire, Your turn may come, every time we deposit funds to our bank here, stupid at all levels and I have suggested to Ben when they ask what's that for? Tell them lots of drugs or mind your own business. He doesn't as he is too polite.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

Same questions here. Twice per year atm

haha yeah I'm sure they will ask those questions, I will just say living expenses.

@ERL369 What service did you use? I've looked into Wise for a large amount and the fee was around $500 Cdn, still cheaper than a bank transfer and a decent exchange rate but no where near the $50 or $5 fee I have seen mentioned, am I doing something wrong?

@Filamretire Good point, only here for 5 months on this visit. Luckily my bank instituted their own authenticator app, so no more swapping SIMS.

haha yeah I'm sure they will ask those questions, I will just say living expenses.
-@Filamretire

Living expenses and paying 10 workers, though we are down to 6 now as the masonry is virtually done. I think it's the drug/money laundering and not so much tsismis.

Cheers, Steve.

@Filamretire Good point, only here for 5 months on this visit. Luckily my bank instituted their own authenticator app, so no more swapping SIMS.
-@Dude55

Sorry you are getting charged so much Filamretire.

As mentioned before, my banks in Australia have my local number (PH) for 2 part verification and my main bank transfer to PH bank charges me 5 Aussie bucks or like a few bucks US. and they are point 1 to .11% lower than the posted live bench mark and active for a few minutes then locked in so it pays to watch the market more so than the 5 buck fee.

Transferring funds from my other accounts in Australia to my main Westpac bank is free.

If you don't have an account in PH, which I didn't have 13 years ago I would go to HSBC in Manila and draw on my debit card, fee was perhaps still is 200 pesos but I could draw PHP 40K instead of other banks charging me P200 for a P 10K withdrawal.

Pays to shop around but the important thing is to follow the exchange rate.

Cheers, Steve.

@ERL369

I use Scotia bank and i can transfer money online for a minimal fee to a bank account in the Philippines and i can arrange to increase the limit.

Wise is one part of a somewhat more complicated (than the US) banking system.  I use Wise for larger sums as they have the best exchange rate I've found.  I use Sendwise for getting cash locally at Palawan Express.  It's fast and easy.

I've been a member of the same credit union since 1983.  Most US deposits go straight in, then Wise (or Sendwave) transfers to PH.  I've had two instances when I received a live check by mail.  Having a phone app to make deposits helped with these.  Sign the check, photograph the front and back, push Submit...

Wise has great rates, but takes 3-5 days to clear, typically.  My bank is about a two-hour round trip away.  Worth the drive to pick up 200,000 but for 50k I use the local Palawan Pera Padala.  Sendwave transfers come through Metrobank on this side.  The transfers happen instantly.

To ALL.

Be careful with WISE they STOLE me 10'000 CHF. NEVER TRANSFERED!!

To ALL.
Be careful with WISE they STOLE me 10'000 CHF. NEVER TRANSFERED!!
-@stillbiker

That is about £9000, can you get it back?

To ALL.
stillbiker said . . . .Be careful with WISE they STOLE me 10'000 CHF. NEVER TRANSFERED!!
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Cherryann01 asked . . . . That is about £9000, can you get it back?

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Cherryanno1 is more diplomatic than me, so stillbiker can you back that up?

Please give details of this robbery, maybe you can inform others, so their booty will remain safe.

@stillbiker

i'm wondering how this happened.

I've been dealing with WISE for all sorts of transactions for nearly 4 years. with a day or two in delay for transfers occasionally aside, i have never had any serious issues.

@kristopherryanwatson Can I ask what you pay in fees with Wise? I've seen some mention sending large transfers for $5 to $50, I was quoted approx $500 CND  (.66%) for a large transfer.

Dude55 asked kristopherryanwatson . . . . Can I ask what you pay in fees with Wise? I've seen some mention sending large transfers for $5 to $50, I was quoted approx $500 CND (.66%) for a large transfer.
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Hey Dude . . . .

I did a little sleuthing for you today on Wise. I know you're Canadian, but my sleuthing was in US Dollars.

Exchange rate for dollars is P54.6005 this moment, the following chart is the total cost of transfers.

$50. . . . . ($1.52)

$500. . . . .($4.79)

$5,000. . . . .($37.44)

$50,000. . . . .($363.91)

$500,000. . . . .($3203.65)

The most important thing is the exchange rate paid, not the fees in most cases.

Thanks for that Bob, appreciate it. Rate seems good, close to what I would get with LBC from Canada.

worthable information,thanks you for distributing to us.

worthable information,thanks you for distributing to us.
-@accivatravels2021

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