Opening a bank account

I have my Philippines PayPal account linked to the Visa debit card of my Philippines bank account ( pesos only) , works like a charm. I never have to "top up" PayPal since everything I spend is debited directly from the card so PayPal balance is usually zero.

 

Me too, easy as......though had to ask my bank at first to honour PayPal debits.

 

yes very true, you can do that for sure ( but extra charges for that, but if you have cash in your paypal balance and choose to use that then there is no fee), if you choose to buy something and only use your card as your sole means of funding then there are a few extra charges and a lot more if its sending cash to someone and using your card as opposed to having it in your paypal balace

 

I still have my Australian Paypal but I cannot load money as my Bank Account there is only $1.00 credit and no way to transfer money to that account without it costing a fortune! I have repeatedly contacted Paypal and after a year and around 5 or 6 contacts I am still to receive a reply. I think it is stupid that you cannot load from your Bank account like back home, do they not trust Filipinos/Filipino banks??

I asked my Bank about a Visa Card (BPI Bank) and he told me I cannot link it to my account where my Pension is deposited and need to open a new account, I am yet to do this and am still confused as to whether it will be a 'Debit Card' or a 'Credit Card' account... I do NOT Want a Credit Card, I only want to be able to load what I wish to upload without those thieves at Paypal having access to a line of Credit, I have read and heard too many stories of them emptying out accounts and with them not being a part of the world bank system (rules do not apply to them) they are a law unto themselves and apparently a nightmare to try and recover money stolen from your account!

I did a lot on ebay back in Oz and miss the freedom of being able to buy what I need at the touch of a button and do not trust most other online pages like Lazada that seems to pop up in every second click of the mouse when browsing online here!

 

Are you with the BPI Bank? I asked for a Debit Card and he told me I needed a Visa Card, if you are with them, then is it only a Debit Crad (as in only works on what you load into that account) or is it a line of credit where you can buy then receive a Bill at the end of the month like a normal Credit Card?

 

I'm with the Philippine branch of HSBC. It is just a debit card, no line of credit and every transaction more or less immediately shows up as debit in the bank account. I think most banks here by now issue such debit cards with either the visa or Mastercard logo on them. BDO and eastwest I know for sure.

 

There's also prepaid credit cards, in case you want something entirely disconnected from your main account. I remember globe giving away prepaid master cards for a one-time fee of 100 pesos,these were linked to their gcash system. This was a promo in a mall in Manila couple years ago, just show an id and there you got it. don't know if they still have this on offer. Think some banks also offer such cards.

 

I don't think no money in your account will stop them mate, I received an overdrawn notice once when I was still in oz, they took payment from my Bank Account (withdrew around $30.00+ with a $1.00 balance) on an item that someone clicked on Buy Now but never paid for. I had to go into my Bank and top up my account before they closed it and asked the Bank to reverse the withdrawal as I contested it, they told me to take it up with Paypal, never got that back from Paypal either! Paypal as far as I know are not affiliated in any way with the Banking system so operate under their own rules and are virtually untouchable.