⌛ Best Bank ? The best way to Expat transfer in ?

DG, I am very interested in this. I would like to write a check from my US bank and deposit in my dollar account at BDO, rather than transferring funds electronically, if that is possible and doesn't take forever. Thanks

 

Pnb

When I was in Madrid in early march, I opened a PNB account. PNB (Europe) is a wholly owned Subsidiary of PNB (Philippines) and has branches in most major Cities across Europe. All I needed was my 13a card, Passport and Marriage Details and my latest BNI Clearance. Proof of temporary address in Spain, Now, I can Pay in any moneys gained here, pensions if I want and all I do is raise a transfer order to Dumaguete branch. Where we have our main Account. As it is the same bank, both are now tagged together and are identified as One Account holder. When I am back in PI and certainly when I retire, any monies due to me, Pensions out standing credits ect, can still be paid in to this account via Iban transfers. I pay only very minimal conversion charges from € to Peso for transfer. Using Iban transfers, I can pay in at any nominated bank in Europe at a very preferential rate of € 5euro per € 500 deposited. This means that when ever I deposit in Europe, my money is always in a PI Bank from Day one. Not need for outside Agencies (Pay pal ect) Cheque clearance is Quicker as it is done in Spain and no need for the time delay via PI, usually 3 days. Any Moneys accredited to the account are then shown on my account 1 day later + the 6 hours time difference. Not sure if this helps you US members but worth a look to see if PNB has US branches at all. I will add, that the PNB ATM card is accepted all over the world as is The PNB essentials Master Card. I have just set up a standing order for a monthly transfer from Madrid to Dumaguete so The family is getting their needs in Dgte by card on time and not sweating about clearance and time delays. I can't remember who told me about PNB Europe but a BIG thank you for this.


Jack P.

 

I've done many hundreds, maybe thousands, of Paypal transactions in both directions for years. Not sure how they are with the Philippine Peso....but certainly their exchange rate with every other currency I've dealt with around the world has been abysmal. The only worse exchange rates would be at airports. Convenient and reliable, yes. But they charge a lot for the privilege. I would be interested to hear how Australians transfer money to the Philippines. I've used CBA wire transfers. Good exchange rate but the transfer fee takes some of the shine out of it.

 

Same situation....

I am in the same situation..... when I am overseas and money transfers.... Five years ago I gave my wife her own ATM card so she is independent from overseas transactions and how soon the money arrives. Works very well for us.

Benjamin

 

Pc bad day

:o:o seems my PC is having a bad day, I was trying to post a link for PNB Global, it seems they do have branches in the US, If anyone is interested in their services, punch in PNB GLOBAL SERVICES on Google and choose the link that applies. Sorry but I could not get the link to work. Hope you can find some help and inspiration there.


Jack P.

 

PNB in USA

I looked into getting a account at PNB and so know a little bit about PNB in USA. If you do not get what you want here, send me email asking what you want to know and giving a return address. I will tell what I can.

 

Pay Pay bank ID Numbers

For those interested, on the link below can be found the Pay Pay Bank I/D numbers for your reference.

When page up, scroll down to bottom left on related Topics and click, WITHDRAWL on Pay Pal.
on page 2, scroll down again bottom left and there you will find the link for Pay Pal bank Codes and participating PI banks.

Hope this helps.


How to open a bank account in the Philippines : PinoyMoneyTalk.com – Make Money Online, Stocks, Forex, Mutual Funds Philippines




Jack P.

 

Thanks Jack P for good information and a nice link. Thank you all for all the contributions to this post. Take care

 

Sending Money to Philippines

Thought I'd add my experience in case it helps anyone. I don't live here yet, but occasionally visit and also send money regularly to wife's family. These are not necessarily the methods I'd use if living here full-time, I'd defer to the advise of the expats for that.

Last visit we knew we would need to bring more money than we felt comfortable carrying. Went to PNB in New York, and said we would like to open an account. They said that technically, you can't open an account with them, but they will do the paperwork to set up an account at any PNB branch in the Philippines. They set us up with a peso account at PNB Dumaguete and took our initial deposit, a check drawn on a US bank. This was about a month before we arrived in Phils, so clearance time was not an issue. Note, this was a joint account, wife US resident/still Phils citizen. They checked both our passports, did not ask about my PI residency status (don't have any). They gave us paperwork to bring to bank when we got to Dumaguete, where we would be issued passbook.

In Dumaguete the process was smooth and relatively quick by Philippine standards. We did have to take a walk around the block to get some correctly sized photos for the bank to use in the passbook, so we took a lunch break while we waited for the photos. Whole process took a couple of hours including lunch. After that, withdrawals were pretty routine, and if I remember correctly, could be done at any PNB branch.

For regularly sending smaller amounts of money we've tried several methods over the years, but lately have been using Xoom. I've found them reliable and very quick when I do an online transfer from a US dollar account directly to a PNB peso account, money is typically in the Phils account in a few hours. Their fee is competitive with other rapid remittance methods I've found. There's also the ability to set up automatic recurring remittances, have not tried that yet.

Note, on both of the above, can't really comment on how competitive the exchange rate is, not sure. One concern regarding the PNB account that I have to investigate is if there's any dormancy issue, as we really only use it just befor a trip, and only leave a little in it the rest of the time. Never checked if there's any chance they will close it down for lack of use.

 

Clearing Race (US drawn check)

Well...BDO won the clearing race...took 16 calendar days to clear (with funds available) a US-drawn check from a local bank in the Southern US.

Chinabank suggests my funds will be available there in another two days.

Meanwhile Unionbank appears as though they will come in last...saying my funds will not be available for use for another 5 to 15 (gasp!) days!

None of these banks charge any fees for clearing US-drawn checks, but I am hoping to find something faster than 16 days. The issue again isn't the clearing...its the hold the banks place on the funds so they can play with the 'float'.

I checked with BPI...they told me 20 calendar days....next, I will inquire with Citibank and Standard Chartered. (Although, that might not be as attractive an option if you are in Dumaguete...)

I should note...this check was drawn on a small bank....the Unionbank manager suggested to me that perhaps a draft drawn on a large institution might clear faster...(however, actual clearing doesn't seem to be the issue...that only takes 3 or so business days...it's the hold that is the problem...)

Again, if anyone out there knows of somewhere better, let us know!