Singapore bank drafts for COC for non-Singapore residents

[JandEB 3]

I'm looking for information and experiences, especially recent, on obtaining acceptable bank drafts for the Singapore COC (police clearance). My Filipina fiancee had obtained a bank draft in Singapore dollars from her bank, PNB in the Philippines, but received an email from the COC office that the draft must be drawn on a Singapore-based bank, not just a bank with Singapore branches.

Does anyone have suggestion of how to go about this, particular without having a previous account at any Singapore-based bank? Is there anything I can do from the US through my own bank to get a draft on a Singapore-based bank?

[caly 48]

I don't have any personal experience with this, but a quick google search brought up this thread in which someone was able to get one through HSBC in March 2014.

Good luck!

[JL818 18]

Were you eventually able to get this taken care of? I sent them a sgd bank draft from bank of america and now I'm a bit concerned that they might reject my payment also.. this is ridiculous.. I'm so frustrated with this singapore COC process.

Also to respond to caly, hsbc is also not based in sg?

Edited November 24, 2015 by JL818

[JandEB 3]

Were you eventually able to get this taken care of? I sent them a sgd bank draft from bank of america and now I'm a bit concerned that they might reject my payment also.. this is ridiculous.. I'm so frustrated with this singapore COC process.

Also to respond to caly, hsbc is also not based in sg?

It's possible they may accept the American one; if they don't, they should contact the email address your fiancee put on her application for the COC, so keep an eye on that address.

In our case, we ended up finding a friend of my fiancee whose sister was still working in Singapore, and she went to the COC office using the case number that the police gave us, and paid the money in person. They gave her a receipt and the original bank draft. So we're now working to get that from the sister to us so we can get the money put back into my fiancee's PNB account.

The one thing I will say in their favor is that they at least communicated with us and provided the reference number that made it easy for the sister to go as proxy. But it was surprising to me that they required a Singapore-based bank rather than just one with branches in Singapore.

[JL818 18]

Glad to hear that it worked out for you and that at least the communication was good. I do have a few friends in Singapore that I might be able to get help from as a last resort if necessary.

I am not clear on what is meant by Singapore-based branch vs one with branches in Singapore. Are you talking about a bank that is headquartered in Singapore? I feel that Bank of America would be equivalent to PNB? I feel that it is strange that they would reject a bank draft in SGD whether or not it is based in Singapore, as there is very little risk (i.e., since it is a bank draft, it will not bounce, and the value is given in SGD).

Also, do you know whether they mail the COC back to your fiancee or if they send it directly to the US Embassy in Manila?

Thanks!

[JandEB 3]

Glad to hear that it worked out for you and that at least the communication was good. I do have a few friends in Singapore that I might be able to get help from as a last resort if necessary.

I am not clear on what is meant by Singapore-based branch vs one with branches in Singapore. Are you talking about a bank that is headquartered in Singapore? I feel that Bank of America would be equivalent to PNB? I feel that it is strange that they would reject a bank draft in SGD whether or not it is based in Singapore, as there is very little risk (i.e., since it is a bank draft, it will not bounce, and the value is given in SGD).

Also, do you know whether they mail the COC back to your fiancee or if they send it directly to the US Embassy in Manila?

Thanks!

My understanding from their email was that it had to be headquartered there, but that's confused by the fact that the one bank they mentioned when I asked if they knew which were common was I think a British bank. It may not be the headquarters but require a certain level of office to be there. BofA might possible get accepted since I believe they have a Singapore subdivision. You won't really know until they say.

Once it's processed, it will be mailed back to your fiancee with a tracking number. We're currently waiting on hers to arrive and hoping Philpost doesn't lose it.

[JL818 18]

Pretty ridiculous how hard they make this. They should just setup Paypal or credit card payment or something. It is 2015 and we're still sending documents via snail mail and writing checks.