Sending money to the Philippines

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

We have been using PNB Rapid Remit via internet for a while with no troubles. See link below for fees, which are very low. My asawa had her father open a peso ATM account at a nearby PNB branch, so they grab what they need with their ATM card. We load up the account monthly from my checking account. The funds transfer takes about 4-5 days. Works good for us!!

M&M

http://www.pnbrcionline.com/docs/newrates.html

Anyone of you guys who tried Money Gram? I sent money to the Philippines yesterday. It was my first time to send through Money Gram. How long will it take to transfer the money? Just wondering.

[edp333 9]

Hey, bud, I thought your fiancee was abducted at the airport in Detroit.

So, you think sirdrexel and HappyHardcore are the same VJ member?

[pnrmbr975 1]

I opened up an account at Washington Mutual and got two debit cards. I kept one here and sent the other one tp the Philippines. I called the number on the back of the card and told them I do alot of business in the Phillipines and do not put a hold on the account if they see transactions from there. It works like a charm. When I want to send her money I just add it to the account and she goes to the bank machine overthere and withdrawls it. The bank charges $.10 (10 cents) for every $10. When she withdrew $100 us dollars in Pesos it cost. $1 with no other charges.

Thanks, we might do just that!

[Don José 2]

Hey, bud, I thought your fiancee was abducted at the airport in Detroit.

So, you think sirdrexel and HappyHardcore are the same VJ member?

So I reckon!

[swisskid 0]

I just started sending regular remittances to my girl in Pasay. There is a PNB remittance center very near my house in Virginia Beach. I went in there and told my story to the lady behind the window, that I would be sending regular remittances to my fiance in Manila and what was the best and least expensive way to do this? She said I should get my fiance to go to any PNB branch and get a Global Filipino Money Card. It is a prepaid debit card account that I can "load" money into with no minimum balance to maintain. My girl went to a PNB branch, purchased a card, and texted me her card number/account. Then I just go to my local PNB remittance center and it cost me $6 to send money to her ATM card. Funds are there as fast as 30 minutes but guaranteed within 24 hours. Not sure how many other cities have many local PNB remittance branches but there is a large local population of Filipinos here in the Norfolk, VA area so I have the luxury of having both PNB and LBC locations very near my house. Good luck.

[HappyHardcore 0]

So, you think sirdrexel and HappyHardcore are the same VJ member?

Sorry, I'm not sirdrexel. I just got home, been on the road for a few days, and just had the chance to read a few pages of replies.

Yes, I have a Wells Fargo account. I started it in Indiana, and the people working at the branch seem to not understand international remittance accounts too well. I had to go back to the branch at least twice with questions why stuff was not working like they said.

For a while I was able to see my checking, my credit card, and my remittance account all with one log in from the Wells Fargo account. I was able to 'transfer' from my checking to my remittance account, but after a while that remittance account disappeared. The guy at the branch never told me anything about a $9 fee for transfer from my checking into the remittance account, but I know there was about a $7 fee for a transfer from my remittance account to Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI). Before the transfer to BPI, our accounts were linked together and verified by name/address, etc. Then after the accounts are linked and verified, and the money was sitting in my remittance account, I would have to either call customer service or show up at the bank to tell them to push the money thru to BPI, at the $7 charge.

They never told me about the remittance debit card. I'll ask them about that, and wish I knew. Is $1k the most you can transfer at a time to the debit card for $9 fee? Or can I transfer $3k for $9 fee?

Since I already have Wells Fargo, the remittance debit card seems like a good idea.

Xoom seems to be working now. I tested with $300 and it worked. Now I tried with $900, and so far Im at payment verfied status, so now they will do the deposit for me to her BPI account hopefully within a day.

Thanks for all the replies. All the different ways, pros and cons, has been very helpful, and hoping even helped a few of you as much as it helped me too.

Good luck!