Finance & Legal GOtyme bank

At the entrance of the supermarket in Robinsons mall there is a gaggle of girls promoting this bank, a few days ago i took one of their leaflets and was very interested in the part that states 5% savings interest.
I looked at their website to see if there was a limit on the amount of deposit the 5% was paid on but could find no information regarding this.
The last time i was there i asked the girls but it became obvious that they are only there to hand out leaflets and know nothing about how the bank actually works.
Does any one on the forum have an account with this bank or know if there is a limit on the amount of deposit the 5% is paid on ?
I ask this because my bank in the UK advertises very attractive interest rates but the fine print states that is only for the first 1k then the rate drops significantly.

 

Their ad on Facebook says its good up to the 500,000 peso limit set by the PDIC

 

PDIC = Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation. PDIC insures your saving up to 500K if the bank goes belly up.
In the advertisement they said No Limits but as charlyB suggests you need to read the fine print.

 

The reason i ask about this is that we will be selling some property soon and hopefully have a substantial amount of cash to find a parking place for.
I have already had severely burnt fingers with various investment schemes so 5% sounds a good "safe" option.
I already have a BDO account that pays close to zero interest on any balance.

 

If I were you, I would open an IBKR brokerage account so I could keep my money in a US traded ETF that pays monthly. Examples being the JP Morgan accounts of JEPI or JEPQ.

Here is a link to how to sign up with IBKR from Philippines

You can go to Google.co/finance and enter the ticker symbols to see how they are doing. You can expect to average close to 10% per year (paid in monthly increments) if you get half of each. Or live a little and trade some more volatile stuff. YOLO

 

1. You can only open an account at GOtyme if you are a Filipino citizen.
2. As far as I can find there's no DEWI (deposit/withdrawel) kiosk in Dumaguete yet, but that may change pretty soon.
3. There are 3 more licensed online only banks in the Philippines, UNObank, OFbank and Neobank Tonik.
4. Remember the use of any online bank will be only as good as your internet connection at any time.
5. Yes money at a licensed bank is guaranteed up to half a million Peso, but somewhere in the unwritten small print it says that if the bank goes under, the Central Bank / Liquidators will need a couple of years to figure out what needs to be paid to whom.

 

Exchange Traded Funds are definitely not recommended as a place to store (keep) money.
ETF's can be a choice when looking for an investment vehicle.
But to present it as an alternative to a savings account without pointing out the caveats is a stretch.
To illustrate:


If you were the unlucky soul to have bought these near the start of 2022, there would be nothing to celebrate.

 

If you have a UK address then try Starling Bank. Everything is online / phone app and their fixed saver rate is 5.25% for 1 year (Up to £100,000)
- which should give you enough time to decide and disperse. It's simple to apply and use. ATM/Cash withdrawals are free.

 

You do understand what ETFs are? I'll let Schwab's site explain it if you click on this link.

For those that want the condensed version, an ETF is just a group of stocks sold as one entity. Almost exactly like a mutual fund except you trade them instantly in your online broker. Would you keep your money in a mutual fund?

Here is another example of how safe ETFs "can" be. (Just like mutual funds you have to pick and choose):

Treasury exchange-traded funds (ETFs) enable investors to gain exposure to the U.S. government bond market through a stock-like instrument.

 

Can i ask where you got this piece of information as this seems to be something else the girls at Robinsons don't know