A company to transfer my money from US to Philippines

when we lived in cebu city there was one money changer that gave us 52php to the buck while the bank gave us 49, there were money changers near the bank that gave 50, some right beside the bank.

everything varies here its good for each person to check on their own even after getting the scoop on things or advice. many times we do something at an office or immigration and they cant do it for some reason or they say its not allowed etc.. come back after lunch when a different person is behind the counter PRESTO !..no issues!

Nuckinfuts wrote:

So 20,000 php X drawn down per month equals What per monthly  budget

just under $400 US...Of course it goes up & down. i have seen 39 peso per dollar and 52 peso per dollar and all in between.

Hi. I use Dbs bank Singapore.  I setup a remit service.  No charges to transfer to phillipines bank. It's the same exchange rate to transfer peso 500 or peso 100k.

Soonretired wrote:

it doesn't cost me anything to wait for my checks to clear. i have done it at metro and bpi.

That's the way I started, it became a pain in the neck going to the bank and waiting in line and then waiting a month for credit into my account. Whenever I checked the clearing of the check online it was always cleared the next day back in the states.

Also I would transfer a nominal amount keeping the mother lode in my account in the states. Then up would pop a new unforeseen big expense causing a crunch.

One time I made an error in my taxes and surprise surprise (Gomer Pyle imitation) I received a check from the US Treasury made out to myself & my wife. Our account was in my wifes name, I try to deposit it and they wouldn't accept it.

Back in the states, at the supermarket, some galoot would hold everyone up writing a check. Which brings up another thought, in the states most markets have a self checkout, you use your debit card and the checkout register asks you if you want cash back. Wouldn't it be nice when using your BDO debit card say at S&R, they would ask you if you wanted cash back?

Banks here are archaic, their system is archaic, they take forever at the counter & I though bank queues in HK was bad, maybe 5 min average per customer. Here it's more like 15-20min or more per customer transaction, I was looking at their systems one day and I haven't seen equipment like that in 20 years. low efficiency, robot drones at counter or desk that seem to compute task at a very slow rate, don't ask them anything when they are busy, SYSTEM ERROR... took over 2 hours to even open an account at BDO, 2 freggin hours.. seriously ?    Metrobank, less than an hour, still slow for what I'm use to but it's a bit better and apparently, less strict (read below).

I wish I can get cash back using a debit at supermarket too, but can you imagine the limit ? 500₱ ? 

or have you heard the cashier go "SIR IS THERE MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT ? THE CARD IS DECLINED" really loud ? 

anyhoot - on topic

I used to get paid USD and it's automatically transferred to my HK bank account back in the days, next business day via TT. Citi to HSBC, didn't cost me anything as the sender covered all expenses

now a days, it's USD or HKD and I transfer it via TT to PH Metro or BDO, my experience with BDO is hit or miss, can be next business day or 3-4 business days, twice they actually rejected my transfer with no explanation and it took me months to get my money back.

since Metro and BDO actually belongs to my missus, not me. The bank did request info on the source of income, while Metro was much simpler, they just ask her where the income is coming from and what is it for, done. While BDO asked me for hard copy of source of income and work contract or ID.. wtf 

I leave most of my funds in a HK BOC bank if china.

Your best way is if you have a GF/family/wife/someone you trust here, wire it to their account. If not, then you can probably use a local palawan or western union, something similar, still probably cheaper than using ATM. use only ATM as a last option, cus they hit you with 250₱ fee + your bank fees, exchange rate is pretty good at least. YMMV

Edit: My bad, I see OP has a checking here in PH  already, then in that case. Set up TT, do you have access to online banking? or ask your bank what are your options. Make sure you lock down your online banking tho, use 2FA and uh, just remember. Your bank will never ask you  for personal info via a text or email, nor will they ever call you and ask your for a 2FA code. Yes I have heard people falling for this.

I hear you frank, we all jump through hurdles and then some. I occasionally use worldfirst for large sums, house, cars etc. but generally  transfere direct from our Aussie bank (Westpac) to here (BDO) and the funds are cleared the next business day, What peeves me is that if I transfer AU 3K there are no fees in PH. only the 5 buck fee from Westpac. If I transfer AU 10K I get the normal AU 5 buck fee from Oz and then a mysterious 200 peso charge from the ether. BDO say it's an intermediary and Westpac say it's BDO. BDO are taking the piss but when I do the sums it's cheaper to go with a twilight zone fee than do 3 + transfers from my bank in Oz.
We transfer Pesos and are normally average .2 off the interbank rate. Just wish BDO would fess up,,,,,,, or the clerk pocketing the 200 pesos.

When we lived in Manila we always went to HSBC hole in the wall and drew PHP 40K for a 200 peso fee.
There are many companies around for transferring funds and at the end of the day it's up to the individual to find the best deal and gives them a level of comfort.

Cheers, Steve.

Nuckinfuts wrote:

So 20,000 php X drawn down per month equals What per monthly  budget

Haha....You'd be surprised what 20,000p/mth can get you here (a 3rd class province)...It can last longer if you stick to what the locals do...wif a little extra Red Horse, Tanduay Rhum topped up wif local/xxx-duty paid cigarettes.
Humbly fm an expat/squatter's point of view.

Well OK .. I guess 250 ₱ worth of Red Horse and of course the 40₱ on the returned bottles .. is drop in the ocean when drawing down 20K₱ .. yeah it's peanuts

What about transfers from my US account to my girlfriends account. Figured that might be easier than opening a bank account.

Arcadieus wrote:

What about transfers from my US account to my girlfriends account. Figured that might be easier than opening a bank account.

yea, that's how I do it. TT aka swift is the most straight forward method. This cost me around $6.50 USD regardless of how much I transfer, exchange rate is decent and the entire process on average takes one/two business day, usually get the money next business day in my missus account. BDO sometimes takes 2-3 days

https://www.bdo.com.ph/mobile/forex

https://metrobank.com.ph/forex

some bank apps are complicated especially if you are trying to wire funds to a new account, it's part of their anti fraud system.

depending on your bank's online banking app, you may need to contact your bank if you need assistance on this.

I was able to do this simply using phone verification and their 2FA token.

All you need is her bank account number, swift code (example BDO swift is BNORPHMM) and her complete name that is registered on the account. Your transfer has to match exact details or they will reject your wire.

Yep agree frank, a couple of minutes to set up new payee and you will probably need a phone to receive SMS code to authorise depending on how you set that up, some via email, I set up before I left Oz but can change the number with telephone banking, but of course costs with international calls.
I or the better half does this while living in PH and works well with pretty good exchange rates.

Also to the OP as you are both in Romania I doubt very much opening a new account in PH, perhaps it could be done through HSBC but they have limited branches, from memory only 3 in Manila.

If your GF has an account then easy peasy but why send money there if you are both stuck in Romania? Only going on a previous post in another thread but I have been known to have old timers and make mistakes. Regardless I wish you luck and as said if your better half has an account then it should be easy, in saying that if no one is there to withdraw funds then why bother? OMO.

Cheers, Steve.