I did a comparison of using Transferwise versus bank FX and found Transferwise a better deal. For example I transferred 480,000 php at 52.08 to the $ and their fee of $74.92 (you can save money by setting up a wire transfer but I optioned for a bank debit) for a total cost of $9,291.51. If I deposited a check for $9,291.51 into my local bank it would cost $5 for the deposit and their exchange rate of 51.05php to the dollar I would get 474,076php. So unless anyone knows where to get a better exchange rate Transferwise will save you some peso.

 

Plus one for transferwise, it is free to sign up but they charge a fee for each transaction. It is VERY reasonable compared to banks and the FX is a spot rate that is also much better than the banks offer.