What is the best way to send money to Philippines?
not western union, lbc or moneygram etc I am a student that will be studying in the Philippines soon. I have a parent with a separate Citibank account in the U.S. that automatically has funds transferred there every 2 weeks and is not linked to any automatic withdrawals or anything. Citibank though charges $8 for international transfers and $30 for wires. My question is.... Is there an automatic and cheaper method of sending money from the U.S. to a bank account (BPI,Citi,BDO) in the Philippines with any other company/bank?
Philippines - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
The cheapest and most convinient way in my experience to frequently transfer money to the overseas especialy to the South East Asia countries is by opening your a chequing account at your local HSBC account. Send the atm card to the recepient and ask them to withdraw from the local hsbc bank. The service charge are much lower compare to the transfer fund transfer fee, and also, the exchange rate HSBC uses are always always much better than those of Western Union or any other regular overseas money transfer method.
2 :
Wells Fargo does not charge for remittance to the Philippines if you have an account with them...If I recall correctly.
3 :
There are two methods that may suit your needs. The first is open a checking account and send the ATM card to the recipient. T The second method is to open a US checking account and a Philippine dollar account. You then deposit a check once a month into the Philippine account. It will take about 21 days (depending on bank) for the check to clear, but in most banks there are no charges or fees this way. Either method make sure you have some "emergency money" not dependent on the method that you can access in the Philippines.
4 :
you could try paypal
5 :
I personally do not like to rely on an ATM to get my money. There are main reasons for that. That question gets asked a lot so I wrote an a FREE eBook about called "Send Money To The Philippines." You can get it here, click on the book cover in the article: http://cebuexperience.com/living-in-the-philippines/how-to-get-your-money/ There is an article that discusses the issues as well but more is covered in the FREE eBook. The two reasons I don't like to use an ATM card are: 1. For Many It is More Expensive 2. If a Typhoon or other problem hits your locality you may be unable to access your money for days, possibly longer. Using an ATM: MOST banks are going to charge you a international transaction fee of 5%. Not long ago, I sent money with an ATM because I was lazy. After my bank charged me $5.00 for the transaction and the local ATM also charged me an amount along with the huge 5% fee, my effective exchange rate was P35 to 1USD. I heard that HSBC does charge that fee but I don't have $60,000USD to open an account at HSBC so I'll never know for sure. The banks don't always separate that fee out, so unless one actually computes the amount, they may not know. That fee is not charged by your sending bank. That is a Visa and Mastercard fee. I don't know how HSBC or credit union or anyone else could get the card companies to waive their fee just for them. Perhaps they can but I remain skeptical. Again, I don't know. If you can get an HSBC account that is probably the best way to go if you're going to use an ATM. The second reason I don't relay on an ATM is that soon after I moved to the Philippines, we had a typhoon hit and it was time for me to get some cash. It happened on my payday. The electricity and internet was down for three days. I was out of cash in hand and I was hungry. I couldn't get my money. I ran into trouble using WU because I live in the Philippines and Money Gram said I couldn't use it at al if I was no longer in the country. I don't recall what the problem with WU was but I never got it. My GF ended up taking a bus 120Km to a larger city to withdraw cash on the third day. If you're going to use that method, consider opening a credit union account if you can't get HSBC. They will usually save you money I'm still doubtful they can escape the 5% international fee. There are two good companies for setting up automatic transfers. Those are Xoom And Remit Home. With both companies you can submit directly into a Philippines bank account in Peso. You can also do it with dollars but the fees go up. Xoom is the fastest way to get your money. I give some hints my eBook on that though important hints. They are also the cheapest way I have found. Currently their rate is $5.99 for up to a transfer amount of $2999.00 Remit Home has the best customer service, well they did a year ago. That was the last time I used them because Xoom is faster and Cheaper. They fee Remit Home charges is either $8.00 or $10 per transaction. Both avoid the 5$ international transaction fee. There are many tips in my eBook. I've been sending money to the Philippines for 6 years. I almost never use an ATM. Another thing, the lines at ATMs are often long, you might be in it for an hour.
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