Best Posts in Thread: Why do I want/need a local bank account?

I admire the optimism but you'll be looking for other options to get cash within a month of having boots on the ground. P200+/transaction, ATMs usually run out of cash on weekends and every single machine in Dumaguete run dry on holidays, which usually run 4 business days (and it will take you awhile before you figure out all the national holidays), insanely long lines at the ATM and every person takes 5 minutes each at the machine that, I can only guess, to pay their bills, get some load, check their FB and online dating profiles and then finally decide to get some cash out.....but wait, their account is dry so they have to pull out another ATM card and go through the whole process again only to find that both of their accounts are empty, they then need to call their sister to bring their 3rd ATM card that they left at home (and they aren't going to go stand at the back of the line). Then you still have 10-50 people ahead of you that are going to do the exact same thing (don't forget it is 90 degrees outside with 80-90% humidity while you are waiting.....and 2 out of the three machines will be out of order....and when you finally get your turn the thing will run out of cash or worse.....malfunction and eat your card......that'll take at least 24 hours for the bank to find the guy with the key to open the machine to get your card out. Wait awhile sir, wait awhile longer sir....come back tomorrow sir......wait awhile sir......the guy with the key is on vacation sir.....come back next week sir).

Think you are going to get here and open a bank account.....the lines at the ATM were long and took forever to get through, wait until you see what's happening inside the bank. A couple hours later you make it to the desk only to be told you will need to make 10 photocopies of your passport, SSN card, your blood type, any allergies or medical conditions and your first born child's left pinky fingerprint. So you finally get all that a week or two later and wait another 3 hours to get the lady and she informs you that you don't have the proper visa to open an account.......but China Bank might open an account for you.....you can try to open one with them. Rinse, wash, repeat.

Obviously this is a bit of an exaggeration......but sadly not nearly far enough from the truth.

If you don't have an account with Xoom, Western Union, PayPal, MoneyGram and WorldRemit I suggest you get to it before you hop on that plane. You will be fed up with the ATMs and banks here before you even have time to settle in. Luckily I have not been screwed over by Xoom yet and I have used that for the past 3-4 years but they were just bought out by PayPal and I have had nothing but problems with them. I suspect it is only a matter of time before Xoom freezes my account and I'll have to start resetting passwords for all those other remittance companies I mentioned above.

Just saying......be prepared to find alternate methods to get cash.