WIRE transfers from US to Philippines

https://moneytransfers.com/regulators/i … egulations

Maybe that can help.

I suppose the logical step would be to call your bank.

chughes6302 said. . . . I'm sure this is a popular topic... I'm buying a car and need to pay cash.  I do not have a local bank account yet, because I've only been here for a month.

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Whoa Chris,

You've only been here about one month and buying a car?

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Slow down

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There so much you may have left out, it seems many newbies skip or gloss over some important details surrounding their life. You can always buy a car sometime in the future. Take your time, make sure both your feet are on the ground.

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There are a lot of pitfalls Expats can fall into. When I've talked to people who made big mistakes and ask them why, it seems them same answer keeps cropping up: It seemed a good idea at the time.

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So you can only move $5000 at a time, well do it several times.

@chughes6302 I did the same to buy a car and later a house here.

Say you need to transfer $40k for the new car. Your US bank will transfer that to the dealer's Philippine bank for about $40. They use the SWIFT system, very relliable. They may or may not have a max limit,l like 50k per transfer. It takes 2-3 days. Contact your bank to initiate it. I will note the following: Your bank will generally assume you want to send pesos and will make the peso conversion by a company in the US. That company will always have a more than terrible rate...maybe 48:1.What you do is transfer in dollars, making sure ahead of time that you can transfer dollars to the dealer's Phillipine bank and let them convert to pesos at the normal rates. Most large banks will be happy to do this for you and get access to $$$. You can avoid being ripped off for thousands of dollars. My credit union was kind enough to warn me and I saved a LOT of money.

BofA to Wise to Dealers bank, I have done this. Need more info on the crash.

    BofA to Wise to Dealers bank, I have done this. Need more info on the crash.
   

    -@Filamretire

He is buying a car. How much must he transfer? I was thinking probably around $40k. Wise can be used for certain amounts but has daily limits in some cases as to the amounts you transfer IN and OUT of your wise account. So I agree that wise might work but it depends upon the amount transferred,  how many repeated transfers to do and even where you are transferring from. See

https colon slash slash /wise.com/us/blog/wise-limits.

Only an observation but at a guess the OP is purchasing a second hand vehicle and the owner wants cash, fraught with danger in my opinion given the paperwork involved as well as holding an address.

I would agree with Bob, back off for some time until you know the ropes especially with government bodies, buying a car here is very different to western countries and the LTO love to make things hard.

Ben went to LTO yesterday to renew his license, a simple task that took nearly 5 hours for a bit of plastic.

To the OP Chris, if a second hand car has it been CASA maintained? Is there a current certificate for an emissions test? Is the car registered in the sellers name? The list goes on.

Due diligence, learn the system here.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.   

@danfinn Good point, I dont recall hitting a limit so I checked wise limits. For a wire transfer from wise licensed state ie in the US its 1m. If you hold a USD balance in your Wise Account, you can use it to send payments worth up to 6 million USD. Yes check if you  are bumping up against a limit, it will let you know

    Only an observation but at a guess the OP is purchasing a second hand vehicle and the owner wants cash, fraught with danger in my opinion given the paperwork involved as well as holding an address.
I would agree with Bob, back off for some time until you know the ropes especially with government bodies, buying a car here is very different to western countries and the LTO love to make things hard.
Ben went to LTO yesterday to renew his license, a simple task that took nearly 5 hours for a bit of plastic.

To the OP Chris, if a second hand car has it been CASA maintained? Is there a current certificate for an emissions test? Is the car registered in the sellers name? The list goes on.
Due diligence, learn the system here.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.   
   

    -@bigpearl

Well, he had said:

"Western Union (only a 5k daily limit), Maya, Gcash, World Remit, and thought I was getting somewhere with Wise, but it crashed and burned near the end of the process"

So I think he may have been running into limits but not knowing the transfer amount; it was greater than 5K for sure. I believed he was going for a new car. I agree with the points you make about private car sales and I would never do that based on previous experience buying a Phils multicab... there are many things to screw up.

I suppose Dan if it's a genuine seller whether S/H or new the safest way is direct deposit and as he doesn't have an account difficult to raise a bank cheque.

We looked at S/H cars 5 years ago, 1 to 3 years old, always a fail, either not serviced, selling it for someone else (that wasn't in the country), incorrect/incomplete paperwork etc. always dodgy.

New cars if you have the funds as you get 3 plus years rego and compulsory TPI as well as not needing the all annoying line up for the emission test for the first 3 years and you have control over how the car is treated and maintained, just our choice.

Perhaps the OP can enlighten us a little more on his situation. What he wants to purchase, why cash and not direct deposit.

Cheers, Steve

Folks know what happens when you "assume"?

1. I did exactly what the op is trying to do this year. Well ok....maybe.
2. I was here a month and bought a car too.

I bought a New 2023 Mitsubishi from the dealership on a cash deal. I got the $$ numbers on the car. I got the VIN# for the car. I got all of the banking information for the dealership to send a wire. I called my US bank and sent the wire, including notes for vehicle ID#. Thirty days later the wire cleared for the dealership! Yes, the wire hit the bank in a day or two. But the funds were not released to the dealership until about 30 days after. I had to pitch a bitch and make demands to release the money. As we are well aware, customer service is not common in the Philippines, so getting honest upfront answers was nigh impossible. No matter how hard I tried. If they had just stated "we hold for 30 days as part of our process to prevent money laundering" or some other odd statement, I would have accepted that. But they just don't say anything. Anyways, the money got to the dealer, and I went up and picked up the car.

Funny I sold my $150,000 Semi truck in the states via wires and it was done in two days. Money in my account. I also paid off my truck in the same manner previously. $34k payoff, wired to bank. Title in my hands within days. Here, being a non-citizen, using a foreign bank (US) to Philippine bank, I learned to not expect the same efficiency.

Op, if you're buying from a dealership, which I suggest, get all the banking info of the dealership. They use swift here. B of A should handle that just fine. Send to their bank the exact amount, or a few hundred less that you can pay after the exchange rate is confirmed.

Similar here Larry, new car 4 odd years ago, direct deposit via my bank to theirs, swift codes etc. cleared my bank and got to theirs the same day,,,,, bank wouldn't transfer to the dealership, bank makes more money sitting on it. We pushed the dealership who pushed the bank but it still took 9/10 days, better than your 30 days but still!

It's interesting as we often transfer AU 30/40K from my bank in Oz to BDO and the funds are cleared in 1 to 2 days, They did a few times slug us P200 per transaction several times, meeting with the manager at our branch and several times he blamed a middleman, told him that's ridiculous and if you deduct next time we will move banks....... fee free now.

I suppose like all countries if someone thinks they can take the piss they will.

Let's wait and see what the OP Chris comes back with.

Cheers, Steve.

          Expect banks to play the float whenever they can.  BDO tells my wife a deposit from my Wells Fargo account into her dollar account will be available in 30 banking days.  Check clears my USA account 4 days later.

Interesting some banking systems mugteck,,,,,, especially here but we won't go there, we simply transfer AU to PH online with my bank in Oz and get the live exchange rate valid for 5 minutes so here they get pesos. I watch the markets and exchange rates daily to get the best deal, bank to bank max 2 working days, sometimes only 1 day excluding W/E or public holidays,,,,, plenty of them here.

Agree banks love to hold the cash but as the market goes up and down they can win or lose but hedging bets make the customer wait in frustration, saw that when we purchased the car but My bank to the R/E agent here when we purchased the property was cleared in 2 days, bank to bank, AU to PH. and I'm sure the principal of the company we purchased through wields a large stick with his banks.

An add on, I have not written a cheque for 6/7 years, no need.

As said let the OP come back with the full story.

Cheers, Steve.

    Interesting some banking systems mugteck,,,,,, especially here but we won't go there, we simply transfer AU to PH online with my bank in Oz and get the live exchange rate valid for 5 minutes so here they get pesos. I watch the markets and exchange rates daily to get the best deal, bank to bank max 2 working days, sometimes only 1 day excluding W/E or public holidays,,,,, plenty of them here.
Agree banks love to hold the cash but as the market goes up and down they can win or lose but hedging bets make the customer wait in frustration, saw that when we purchased the car but My bank to the R/E agent here when we purchased the property was cleared in 2 days, bank to bank, AU to PH. and I'm sure the principal of the company we purchased through wields a large stick with his banks.
An add on, I have not written a cheque for 6/7 years, no need.

As said let the OP come back with the full story.

Cheers, Steve.
   

    -@bigpearl

OP has had sufficient time to clear things up but we are wasting our time because no needed engagement from OP...looks to me like another post and ghost (as I call them lol).

mugteck said. . . . Expect banks to play the float whenever they can.  BDO tells my wife a deposit from my Wells Fargo account into her dollar account will be available in 30 banking days.  Check clears my USA account 4 days later.
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That's  why I use "Wise", transfers take 20 minutes or less. You can use similar services like Wise. Your check deposits, if I remember correctly gets a charged $5? by BDO.  Wise also has excellent exchange rates.

The only caveat using Wise that it was not possible to transfer dollar to dollar, but rather dollar to peso.

    mugteck said. . . . Expect banks to play the float whenever they can.  BDO tells my wife a deposit from my Wells Fargo account into her dollar account will be available in 30 banking days.  Check clears my USA account 4 days later. ****************************************
That's  why I use "Wise", transfers take 20 minutes or less. You can use similar services like Wise. Your check deposits, if I remember correctly gets a charged $5? by BDO.  Wise also has excellent exchange rates.
The only caveat using Wise that it was not possible to transfer dollar to dollar, but rather dollar to peso.
   

    -@Enzyte Bob

Since OP does not engage in his own thread it is not possible to give advice. He says he has no bank account here and must pay in dollars so where does the money get transferred, a private seller's Phils account? Will he transfer into a dollar account or peso account. How much is the transfer amount? Is this to a dealer accustomed to accepting ansc.international or a private person whose bank account may have rules such as holding the money for 30 days, which will never happen at a large commercial dealership that has to move inventory. We don't know what account the guy wants to transfer the money ( he has no account himself). The thread is useless.

For regular bank to bank transfers, traditional style, not wise which Is am sure is a good method but which I personally have never done:

"How long does an international wire transfer take for credit unions and banks?

An international wire transfer is usually debited from your account within hours or minutes, but it may take up to two days to arrive at the recipient’s financial institution, and up to another two days to get to the recipient. This time line depends not only on your financial institution but also on the receiving institution, the receiving country, and even the date on which the transfer was initiated. In most cases international transfers are completed within two to four business days, ****but there are exceptions.****" (one being a non-commercial bank account that may hold any dollar or peso transfer for 30 and the buyer can do nothing about it. Seller needs to be aware of policy and in my opinion is responsible for any unanticipated delays arising from his banks holding policies).

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mugteck said. . . . Expect banks to play the float whenever they can.  BDO tells my wife a deposit from my Wells Fargo account into her dollar account will be available in 30 banking days.  Check clears my USA account 4 days later.

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I replied. . . That's  why I use "Wise", transfers take 20 minutes or less. You can use similar services like Wise. Your check deposits, if I remember correctly gets a charged $5? by BDO.  Wise also has excellent exchange rates.The only caveat using Wise that it was not possible to transfer dollar to dollar, but rather dollar to peso.        -@Enzyte Bob

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danfinn said. . . . Since OP does not engage in his own thread it is not possible to give advice.

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My reply was to mugteck in response about the 30 day delay experience. It was not directed to the OP.

          Not in a hurry to get the money, makes my wife budget better, no quick fixes.

@Enzyte Bob I replied. . . That's  why I use "Wise", transfers take 20 minutes or less. You can use similar services like Wise. Your check deposits, if I remember correctly gets a charged $5? by BDO.  Wise also has excellent exchange rates.The only caveat using Wise that it was not possible to transfer dollar to dollar, but rather dollar to peso.        -@Enzyte Bob

Wise and the US banks will get it transferred to the Philippines bank within minutes to a few days. The problem is with the Philippine bank who sometimes (apparently) take their time crediting the transfer to Seller's account. It could be if wise only transfers pesos the Phillipine bank will have less incentive to delay crediting the transfer as they might with dollars.

@Enzyte Bob I replied. . . That's  why I use "Wise", transfers take 20 minutes or less. You can use similar services like Wise. Your check deposits, if I remember correctly gets a charged $5? by BDO.  Wise also has excellent exchange rates.The only caveat using Wise that it was not possible to transfer dollar to dollar, but rather dollar to peso.        -@Enzyte Bob

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danfinn. . . . Wise and the US banks will get it transferred to the Philippines bank within minutes to a few days. The problem is with the Philippine bank who sometimes (apparently) take their time crediting the transfer to Seller's account. It could be if wise only transfers pesos the Phillipine bank will have less incentive to delay crediting the transfer as they might with dollars.

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My comments were strictly aimed at Citibank to Wise to BDO, not about the sellers account. Wise makes their money on the exchange rate which is low (dollar to peso) that's why I can't use Wise to transfer dollar to dollar, no vigorish for them.

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Mugteck mention BDO and my experience is also with BDO. Five years ago, I deposited a check for $2500 into BDO, it took almost a month to be accredited, but it cleared Citibank in one day.

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Actually a transfer from Wise shows up almost as fast as I can check into my BDO account, much less than 20 minutes, with zero fee from BDO.

@Enzyte Bob Actually a transfer from Wise shows up almost as fast as I can check into my BDO account, much less than 20 minutes, with zero fee from BDO.

I have wise but have used remitly for all transfers up to now. Remitly transfers have also beeni instant like your wise to BDO. If/when I do need to transfer more than remitly limits of :

24 Hours    $2,999

30 Days    $10,000

180 Days    $18,000

I will use my wise account.

Appreciate all the input guys and very interesting info, I just wonder why you don't simply transfer bank to bank instead of an intermediary, regardless doesn't help the OP with no bank account here.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl Bank to bank using the usual international SWIFT process is 10x the cost (about $45 vs $4.50), terrible exchange rate when converting to pesos in home country (48:1 vs 52:1$/php) and time (minutes vs days). But I used only bank to bank for purchasing a new SUV and home. Others will say that I could have used wise; true I suppose but this was 2018 and I didn't even know about that option.

bigpearl asked. . . . Appreciate all the input guys and very interesting info, I just wonder why you don't simply transfer bank to bank instead of an intermediary, regardless doesn't help the OP with no bank account here.
Cheers, Steve.

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From previous discussions with you, your bank charges you $5 and an almost nonexistent exchange rate. Unfortunately most members on this forum cannot use your bank.

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Some banks actually give free wire transfers, but there is no free lunch because they make their money on poor exchange rates.

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So a bank to bank transfer could be expensive unless they use your bank. I don't do large transfers as I keep my money in the US. For example if I'm going to S&R/Landers I can transfer money before I leave and the money will be in BDO for use of my debit card. On Wednesday at Landers I spent P20,395.87, that includes P1797.42 VAT.
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Spam P208,

Hormel Chili P200,

Nescafe Classico P550,

Welche's Grape Juice P450,

V8 Vegetable Juice P350,

Kewpie P321,

Folgers Coffee p1099,

Cheeze Whiz P190,

Skippy Peanut Butter P494,

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These prices rounded off to the nearest Peso.

   

Correct Bob, you have a good memory, AU 5 buck fee and live rates on the market less their cut of .1 to .1.1%, they make money and are not silly, nor am I. 1 to 2 days cleared.

Works for me and all done without pain,,,,,,, aside from the bank here calling "did you know sir that xyz has just been transferred to your account?" yes mam "what's it for?" none of your business.

Cheers, Steve.

@chughes6302

I bought a new Fortuner by wiring $33,000 from Fidelity directly to the account of Tacloban, Toyota. Fidelity only wires US dollars and the transfer rate is whatever it is at the bank that day which was pretty good. Fidelity doesn't charge anything for wires. That was an approximate amount since I was sending dollars instead of pesos so I had a small balance I paid with something like Remitly.

I later bought a new Wigo using I believe Remitly to deposit $10,000 directly to the Tacloban, Toyota bank account and used another I believe World Remit to deposit the balance which was around $2,000.

@chughes6302 hi, my husband uses coins.ph to move money from his $ account to BDO (local bank). there’s like a 10 peso fee 3 day processing and 2,000 pesos if you want it in a few mins. hope that helps.

@chughes6302

I've done wire transfer to fiancee bank account, no problem. I would say you could wire transfer to a dealer's bank without any issue.

BillTinsley said. . . . I've done wire transfer to fiancee bank account, no problem. I would say you could wire transfer to a dealer's bank without any issue.

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Filipino Cupid Fiancee?

    @chughes6302
I've done wire transfer to fiancee bank account, no problem. I would say you could wire transfer to a dealer's bank without any issue.
   

    -@Bill Tinsley

Have you actually met your fiancee in person?

@Enzyte Bob

I can NOT agree more with Bob on this one.

Slow down on the car/truck route.

I made that mistake in Thailand and this quote is so true:

"

“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

"

Please reconsider buying so soon. I bought a truck trying to move towards staying long term with someone i met. BIG mistake! I will most likely take a big hit on the initial amount i paid but to be free again will be worth it. Better to buy just a scooter but even that comes with potential issues down the road. Cover your Arse with insurance btw and fly legally and by the books regarding license, insurance, visas, etc.

"In Phillipines only RENT, never BUY!"

Also:

"If It Flies, Floats, or Forks, Rent It! — Felix Dennis

https://marketinglegend.medium.com/if-it-flies-floats-or-fucks-rent-it-felix-dennis-8abf3beb1679

Excerpt:

Divorce is Fatal to Wealth

On the subject of wives, getting divorced is the surest way to destory your net worth. Especially if you are dumb enough to do it two or three times like the majority of celebrities. It’s amazing how many people jump from one bad relationship to another."<snip>

I can not speak to the phillipines but the potential for mishaps must be similar. Any time a foreigner or Expat enters in to a foreign society there is a huge potential for problems down the road.

    @chughes6302
I've done wire transfer to fiancee bank account, no problem. I would say you could wire transfer to a dealer's bank without any issue.
   

    -@Bill Tinsley

When you get over $10k things change.

Fidelity had a $30K daily limit on online wire transfers but I was on the phone with the agent and he let me transfer $33K to the Toyota dealers account.

My bank Wells Fargo has a $25K daily limit on online wire transfers and charges $40 a wire for international transfers. Fidelity has never charged me for wire transfers so if I wanted to get around the $40 fee I could do a free transfer from Wells Fargo to Fidelity and when it settles do the wire with Fidelity.

It isn't YOUR BANKS that are the issue folks. Yes our banks in US will wire the money provided proper stuff they want. It's the CLEARING THE MONEY in the Phils that can be the issue once the $10k USD threshold is met. Notice how that $10k aligns with countries declarations when you arrive in a new country? "Are you bringing more than $10k USD? If so you must declare it. Your favorite bank here be it BDO or whatever will RECIEVE it same day! But it ain't gonna get CLEARED that fast! heh.

In Phils time.

I'm sure you are correct Larry, My bank in Oz Westpac transfer straight away and BDO here clear in 1 to 2 days and large sums. Only the teller calling telling us the money is there and "what's it for Sir?" Maybe because I had a chat to the manager some years ago?

Cheers, Steve.

    I'm sure this is a popular topic... I'm buying a car and need to pay cash etcetera etcetera

This post quoted by mistake. Please ignore. I cannot delete it.

Except I never had a delay when transferring 30K and later 2 X 50K from my credit union to Toyota Dumangute and a private account at Metrobank. It always came by SWIFT in 2-4 days, just as my CU told me it would. The transfers were over 10K which means our IRS would have been informed by the US bank (but no problems). No issues at all with Phils banks but I do understand they can hold on to the transfer for a while to collect interest. That did not happen to me and nobody at the Phils banks asked me what the money was for.

Some times the banks try to take the piss Dan, not with all but many it seems, as said a few words and advice to my manager here sorted things out real quick.

None of this is really helping the OP as he has no bank accounts here.

Cheers, Steve.

@danfinn

I was making noise with the bank in Cebu when I transferred to the dealership's acct. Took 30 days! Even though it arrived in one day!.