⌛ transfer quantity Aust. $ to Philippines

Hi folks,

Need advice of the best way to transfer quantity of money from Australia to the Philippines.

The best way is bring a pocket full of money here and change the dollars at a money changer, rate is 4 or 5 peso's better than bank transfer. There are risks in that, particularly if we are talking say $50k.

At present I transfer money from my Australian savings account to my peso BPI account, loosing the 5 peso's per $1. I can not open an Ausralian dollar account where I live, I can open one in Cebu which is a long way away. How about if I open a US dollar account here and do the fransfers as US dollars. Will I get "done" with the additional fees, Aust. $ --> US dollar ---> to BPI ??

any experiences you have would be helpful, regards, me.

 

I can't help you with Australian account, but I guess it could work like from germany.

I use BDO, they have a branch in frankfurt (I am sure they have one somewhere in Australia too).

The transfer from my german account to that one costs me 7 $, the exchange rate is only a few centavos lower as the rate on xe.com.

Of course you need to open a BDO account here though.

hope it helps

cheers

Rhoody

 

I use Western Union and only lose .2% (2/10 of 1%) on the exchange + $14 service fee up front when sent from the States. So out of $1,000 sent I lose 1.6% off the official exchange rate of that day. It pays to really watch the exchange rate. It seems M - W are always the best days and it always seems to be lower on Th- F. Go figure. Don't know the fees for sending 50K however.
Philippine "law" only officially allows one to bring in 10K on their person in U.S. currency on arrival. I don't know about Australian currency. The Philippine money changers only want perfect U.S. bank notes too! No writing on them and no tears or old currency. They can be really, really, picky!!

 

Rhoody's method is a good one. However, if there is no Philippine bank branch near your Aussie location, you can also wire money (preferably in US Dollars) to your bank here and then use an outside money changer to convert to pesos. The outside money changers are far more competitive than the banks, but you may need to go to Cebu for that anyway (as money changers for larger sums may be difficult to find/less competitive outside of Manila and Cebu).

One thing to keep in mind, if you plan to deposit those pesos into a peso bank account, and you are here on a tourist visa, you will need to show the bank documentation proving that they originated with a foreign source. (As tourists should not be earning pesos.)

 

Money transfer

Sid I can reccommend FOREXWORLD PTY LTD they are at Prestons in Sydney here is there number 02 87770000.
They can set you up with B.D.O account and transer money for heaps better than local banks, they have a website Forexworld Australia hope this helps.

 

I transfer the money direct in peso and the exchange rate seems fine, same with atm of my Dutch account, no extra costs and good exchange rate. If I move that is what I will stick to as well.

 

You are right on that, the rate of exchance is okay :

23-06-09 14:16 GELDAUTOMAAT
METROPOLITAN B / DUMAGUETE
003 689549 KOSTEN EUR 1,82
PHP 10.000,00 KOERS 66,0894

 

1,82 Euro for 10K is ok if you need some cash for the weekend but will become quite a lot of fees if you need 300K for a car.

 

what bank are you using? I recall Rabobank and I think also ABN-AMRO not charging anything last year (what was a big surprise btw).

Making transfers to a Phillipino bank has a standard transfer fee (ABN-Amro) so is excellent for large amounts and has the same exchange rate if you transfer it straight into peso, just have to make sure the local bank will not charge any % but depending they seem to charge at most 5 dollars (either in peso or dollar account) per transfer (so the larger from Dutch bank to peso account the better really).

 

Thanks for your quality replies. Deriviaive Guru seems to be the "least" painful option. I will open a US dolar account here, transfer in US dollars, then change them at a money changer. Remembering timing of the rates is the key. My Aust. bank only charges me (I found out yesterday) one fee ($22), and I can get a better outcome at the money changer with the US $ cash.

The Aust bank seems to have a better/steady US dollar rate than the peso rate.