Sending money these days

I used TransferWise over the weekend and have yet to see how it works speed and cost wise vs using a foreign Debit card in a local ATM.

My foreign Debit card expired and the replacement card was sent USPS which translates into delivery by the PhilPost.

Getting access to the foreign money in my account without a Debit card was impossible.

In normal times I would use my foreign Debit card in the local ATMs to withdraw my monthly expenses incurring all kinds of charges.

Locally P20,000 is all you can get with one swipe. Each local bank ATM adds P250 to your withdrawal if you are using a foreign Debit card so if you are requesting P20,000 it is shown as P20,250. There is also a 1% charge added for the interbank charge for converting the Piso to what ever local currency your foreign account uses. Your foreign bank also adds a charge for using your Debit card in ATMs they don't control. My bank charges a dollar.
Your foreign bank doesn't have to be open to use your foreign Debit card and the network always remembers your latest balance.

TransferWise requires your foreign bank to be open so they can fetch the money and distribute it within a day but if the bank is closed it doesn't appear to be able to fetch your money.

Lots of international companies and governments are paying their workers using ACH. Your TransferWise funds use the same mechanism to put your funds in a local bank. With shortened banking hours for example funds transmitted in the morning will be available to be withdrawn by noon or the next morning.

Local Debit cards have a P10,000 limit per swipe. two swipes are permitted with a limit of P20,000 per banking day unless you make arrangements with your local bank to increase your daily limit. Using a different bank's ATM is ok your local bank will only charge you P10 or P15 per swipe.

I am still analyzing using TransferWise and retiring my foreign Debit card.

shakey

 

I have never used a credit card in an ATM. I assume you get a pin from the CC company. What are the fees?

 

Using Mastercard cost a fee 450-500 pesos to split between the Philippine bank and fee to the bank who issued your card, then a bad exchange rate and then 3% on the amount you take out of ATM or that what it cost me, TransferWise is god and cheap from my point of view

 

Taking 100 k out of Atm with Mastercard(I know max 20 k in one transaction) or send by TransferWise I save 5-6 k pesos on 100 k that's a big difference

 

I have a US Bank account also and a platinum one as its free for veterans. You don't get reimbursed for all fee's but just the ones on the US Bank's side which is generally like $2.50 and sometimes double for certain situations. The exchange rate though from them is very poor as is with all US based banks as the exchange is done at their end and the foreign atm fee isn't included included in the reimbursement.

Things you get changed for generally. (Note 1. and 2. can happen together and be a double fee)
1. Using a non bank branch atm (charge from your bank)
2. Using a foreign atm (charge from your bank)
3. The foreign atm's charge (change from the atm's bank) (NOT reimbursed)
4. The atm / US banking systems exchange rate which is horribly bad often losing 2-2.5p per dollar. (not reimbursed)

Still sometimes you just gotta suck it up but it should never be the go to option.

 

I have used Xoom a lot to send money from USA to relatives in the Philippines, but I have checked out Transferwise the last two times. You definitely get more money out of Transferwise than Xoom. The fees are greater on transferwise, but you still end up with an exchange rate of roughly 50.6-50.7 today, where as fees are a lot less on Xoom, especially if you do a bank to bank, but the exchange rate you get is in the 48 range.

I have credit cards that have no foreign transaction fees and will probably use them frequently when I retire and pay them using my US based account. I will have to look into exchange rates for them, but I would think they would have to be at or near the market price. If they are lower, it might not be such a good deal as I think. But Hypermart, most stores in Robinsons, Citi hardware, Du Ex Sam among others all take credit cards and as long as you pay them off every month can be a great thing.