my response would apply to anyone from the US re any source of income. i keep my bank account in the US. i have direct deposits to a checking account in the US. in the phils i have a dollar account and a peso account. when appropriate i write a check on my US bank and deposit to my philippine bank. it takes five to six weeks to clear. but then i have my dollars in a philippine bank WITH NO DEDUCTIONS AT ALL. then when the exchange rate is to my liking i take dollars out and exchange for pesos any place that has the best rate, and redeposit the pesos in my peso account. as i need money to live i withdraw pesos. i get all of my US dollars in hand here for no fee at all, and the only nick is the exchange rate offered by the place i use. my bank in dumaguete is RCBC although i am sure this arrangement might work with other banks although some, like UNION bank charge a fee to do this. this way i have all my eggs in three different baskets and pay a minimum fee when i exchange dollars to pesos. works great!!

 

about 3weeks ago, i inquired about online fx transfers at BDO and i was told that online fx is not available at BDO. maybe i need to polish my shoes.

 

Or maybe learn how to shake hands

 

I get charged $10 (by Metrobank) for a transfer from my USAA bank in the US to my $ account at Metrobank. Money takes 1-2 days to show in my Metrobank account. Personally, I think it’s better to pay the service charge and not have wait weeks for the money to appear using the free check transfer process.

I always transfer $10k or less to avoid money laundering questions.

 

Also, Metrobank does not allow online exchange services.

 

How do you transfer the money out of the USA? You state that Metrobank charges a fee to receive the transfer. Do you pay a fee to initiate the transfer in the USA?

 

BPI just in the last week or so added the dollar to peso feature on the transfer window in the new site (see my june 11 above) .

 

"It's more phun in the Philippines."

 

xoom.com is what we use every payday to send money both to people (relatives) there in the Philippines as well as to an account we have at BDO. The money is there within 24 hours, usually less than 12. There is no fee as long as you transfer $200 or more to a bank account, there is a slight loss in exchange rate to pay for the transfer, but not enough to quibble about. If you just send to a person there is an additional 4.99 fee. You can transfer up to 10,000 usd provided you supply them the necessary info to verify everything is legal.