Deposit Funds in Philippine Banks

Hi everyone
I have been following this thread and i believe some of the posts have been well intentional but confusing.
Setting up a bank account here is easy on tourist visa. I did without acr however would probably be easier with one.
When you come here you can get a visa extension for 6 months but I just extend every 2 months because I don't know when I need to go home(Oz) again due to family situation. After you have extended your 1 mth tourist visa by an extra month you need to extend again for 2 months at a time. Your next extension requires the ACR. At my immigration branch( Cebu-Island Mall) it is P7000+ for the extension incl ACR.
Regarding money transfer I use OzForex (http://www.ozforex.com.au/) and have been for a while. Rates are far better than any of the banks and service is A1. Very competitive with the money changers here also. You track your money and they deliver to any bank here. Yes easy to bring money into the Phils but not so easy to take out...but hey, that is just the way it is here for many things. PM me and i can say more.
Hope I have not muddied the water further.

Last Tip for everyone :
Try to build up a friendly relationship with the Bank manager. (Never shout, get exited or try to "educate" them in such a way to say: "But in the xxx it is..." - because You're not in the xxx anymore)
One can also negotiate certain fees !
Such as :
Waiver of local Intrabank fees ( 50 php), Waiver of withdrawal fees  to a certain limit. Waiver of payments to local companies.
One can not negotiate : Fees to other banks/Paypal/Visa/Authorities, as they are from the other banks. Wrong end.
One can negotiate the fees for SWIFT transfers made from your bank if you paid ALL (but who does that?), however, if you RECEIVE money from abroad, make sure to have the Sender paid ALL charges. The "Rest fees" at your bank are negotiable, but there still are some. (usually 1 $)
If you expect money from abroad, convince the Sender to use one of the alternative Transfer methods instead of Bank Transfer OR make sure he pays ALL fees, (then most likely he will use an alternative)

Most important (again) don't yell at Tellers or other staff in your Bank, they are all bound to regulations, workwise or systemwise and can not change it, but they can try to HELP you, (if they want) and refer you to the Bank Manager, who got the power to click some buttons in the system.
If you already screwed up with your bank, apologize (works miracles) or change the bank.

Anecdote- I know a guy who had so much trouble due to his choleric behavior, that he eventually went to one of those "TOP" banks (HSBC etc.) and is now more or less happy.
Stupid is, that he now has to spend over 300,- Php for Taxi every time he goes to the bank,which he does a lot, because he does not like plasticcards and wants his cash over the counter(??!!).
Instead of the walking distance to his local Metrobank, which is by the way, a perfectly fine Bank also for International matters.(in my own humble experience)

lol
I could spend about 2 or 300 but I live here and live the local economy. Tell him to forget about AC in the taxi and get some fresh air in the jeepney. Probably cost him 30 peso at the most. Honestly, I am constantly shaking my head at what I see here from locals AND foreigners.

It is difficult to build up a friendly relationship with anybody here, if you are nice and kind to them eventually they will hit you for money, a kind foreigner is an easy mark.A bank manager is only a bank manager during the day after work he is just a filipino.

Aussie Dave wrote:

Can somebody help me here please?
I want to transfer money from Australia, to the Philippines, and would appreciate advice on how to do this with out using my Australian AMT card.
I have been transferring in 20,000 peso`s lots, and so far it has cost me a fortune in bank fees.
Is there another way that I can do it so as to reduce the fees?
Thanks in advance.

My answer would depend on how much you want to transfer at a time, or in total.

An ATM transfer would be about 31-32 to the $ ?  plus 200 pesos charge ? So A$500 would get about 15,500 pesos ?
You are losing about 10% in total with fees and FX rate profits by the banks, when compared to larger transactions.

Larger transactions can be done at a better rate, closer to 35, and with just one charge of 200 pesos by the receiving bank.  But sometimes a $7 fee if the transaction isn't large enough to avoid that fee.

I do much larger transactions every few months, but this is for convenience as well as saving in fees.  Each $500 of my (larger) transaction would get me just over 17,000 pesos at todays rates.

PM me if you want to discuss figures privately.

ABCDiamond wrote:

strvger wrote:

i'm confused.  one post said $50 US, plus the 500ph.  another post said $500 US plus the 500 ph.  which is correct?  i'll be moving there permanently in 2 months from the US.

It is only US$50 + 500 pesos.  The 500$ one was just a typo, easy to make.

Copy and paste from BoI: 
How to apply?
ACR I-Card application must be submitted together with the application for visa.
How much does it cost?
USD 50.00
Plus Php 500.00

That bit explains one of my own questions: " ACR I-Card application must be submitted together with the application for visa"



*Fees are updated as of 06 March 2014 and may change without prior notice.

thanks, i was hoping that was what happened.

gmcne4 wrote:

Hi everyone
I have been following this thread and i believe some of the posts have been well intentional but confusing.
Setting up a bank account here is easy on tourist visa. I did without acr however would probably be easier with one.
When you come here you can get a visa extension for 6 months but I just extend every 2 months because I don't know when I need to go home(Oz) again due to family situation. After you have extended your 1 mth tourist visa by an extra month you need to extend again for 2 months at a time. Your next extension requires the ACR. At my immigration branch( Cebu-Island Mall) it is P7000+ for the extension incl ACR.
Regarding money transfer I use OzForex (http://www.ozforex.com.au/) and have been for a while. Rates are far better than any of the banks and service is A1. Very competitive with the money changers here also. You track your money and they deliver to any bank here. Yes easy to bring money into the Phils but not so easy to take out...but hey, that is just the way it is here for many things. PM me and i can say more.
Hope I have not muddied the water further.

That does just about sum it up correctly.  
I use something similar to ozforex, but transfer enough to avoid the $12 fee.
These companies even have slightly different rates to each other. Mine would give 343,976 pesos right now for A$10,000, while Ozforex is giving 338,441 (12:36pm 23/6/15)

If you use a foreign card to get money from an ATM, you lose up to about 10% on the FX rate, plus you pay a 200 peos withdrawal fee.

If you do have a bank account here,
The cost to withdrawal from an ATM is normally:
-  Free if you use your own banks ATM
- 7.5 pesos if you use a bank linked to your bank (eg: PSBank + Metrobank)
- 10 pesos if you use any other banks ATM

Aussie Dave wrote:

I meant my ATM card...I hit the wrong keys.

With an ATM card, there appears to be no real options. 

You pay the automatic FX rate of the day, plus the 200 peso overseas ATM fee.

Responding taking cash over over.  Looking to open account as well. Interim for last year there are 3 bank absorbing atm transaction fees. I use all three never any problem getting cash.  Fidelity Investments bank, State Farm Bank, USAA. All online banks with no store fronts.
Just interum. Good luck on bank. If you have SRRV no problems getting ban account.

Transfer money. I used the many transfer sources costing what I feel is high fees.
Crazy but true. Checking out at wallmart will waking out there was a transfer desk offering 7usd rated per 1000usd.
Tried and the darn thing worked. Conversion rate good for the day.
Any others have comments on this?

Friendusa wrote:

transfer desk offering 7usd rated per 1000usd.

I think you may have a typo there, not sure what you meant though..

US$22 per 1,000 peso  would be about the normal rate

Ccchapo wrote:

It is difficult to build up a friendly relationship with anybody here, if you are nice and kind to them eventually they will hit you for money, a kind foreigner is an easy mark.A bank manager is only a bank manager during the day after work he is just a filipino.

I meant relationship in a "business way", that does not involve any private activities or visits to his house etc.
Same applies to all other dealings with authorities, companies etc. Being friendly is an absolute must in the Philippines (as well as it is advisable in rest of the world) and gets one further along the way.
Grumpy, disrespectful and unfriendly people get always second hand treatment or experience bad things.

Sorry to hear that Filipinos try to abuse you, unfortunately this happens not only to foreigners but Filipino alike.
(If not more, there still is a widespread "patronage system" in effect, in very poor rural areas almost harboring on Feudalism)

Off Topic, but maybe helpful to others also - As a General guideline when asked for credit or borrowing money, the best answer is to say " I'll think about it, right now it is not possible though, maybe next month", then repeat this a few months and it will stop.
An outright " no" will make the person which asked loose his face, which is a very ugly and bad thing for him. And most likely one has a new enemy then. (That does not apply to employees asking for cash advance, which is an entire different story!)

You joke sir, when asked by a filipino for money the only answer is no, if you give them hope they will not leave you alone, if you give to them once they will soon be back for more and it must be more every time if not you are a bad foreigner, you are mistaken, I am never abused by filipinos, I have been married to one for a very long time and one with a large extended family, I enjoy their company but when they ask the answer is always no, unless for sick children then the answer is always yes.

Hi everybody,

Can we please stick to the initial subject of this topic ?

We are here to exchange information on Deposit Funds in Philippine Banks only.

Thanks all

Priscilla 

Hi Dave
I am a married retiree expat living in Angeles I also have been here for three years when you said credit card i shuddered as i bank with the BDO bank on the base and i only use my credit card inside the bank as they ran out of money once and they told me to ts the machine outside the bank !!
Well the result was that my card was scammed for 15 thousand dollars by the Korean criminals and there are thousands on them her in Angeles they own bars fancy cars and a lot of girls
I was fortunate i advised MasterCard in Australia they credited me the 15k but now i only use the card inside the bank it is too dangerous to do otherwise as there are plenty of criminals her in Angeles just waiting to pounce of foreigners using credit cards and they are everywhere in the Philippines be careful
Bob Wheeler

Iamthewheels wrote:

Hi Dave
I am a married retiree expat living in Angeles I also have been here for three years when you said credit card i shuddered as i bank with the BDO bank on the base and i only use my credit card inside the bank as they ran out of money once and they told me to ts the machine outside the bank !!
Well the result was that my card was scammed for 15 thousand dollars by the Korean criminals and there are thousands on them her in Angeles they own bars fancy cars and a lot of girls
I was fortunate i advised MasterCard in Australia they credited me the 15k but now i only use the card inside the bank it is too dangerous to do otherwise as there are plenty of criminals her in Angeles just waiting to pounce of foreigners using credit cards and they are everywhere in the Philippines be careful
Bob Wheeler

There was a report on this at http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/ … s-scammers in 2013.

BDO Unibank and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co (Metrobank) are stepping up efforts to protect its customers and secure its automated teller machines (ATM), after an international syndicate has reportedly been withdrawing money from ATM accounts of bank customers using card skimming devices.

They don't mention any specific nationality, but do say "International".

BDO said customers should take the following precautionary actions:

Transactors at any ATM should make it a habit to cover their hand when entering their ATM PIN.
Regular habit of changing the PIN
Avoiding the use of ATMs in high-risk areas

However, that does not help when a skimming machine is used.

Philippine bank depositors lost P220 million ($5.5m) to ATM fraud in 2013.
In 2013, some Philippine banks were willing to refund a customers losses from ATM fraud.

Not sure what the situation is like in 2015.