Opening Philippine Bank Account Either in America (Hawaii) or Online

[Stevephoto 230]

Mabuhay my Philippines gurus! A search here and google did not yield any satisfactory results. Do you know a way to open a bank account in a Philippine bank either here in America (amazingly there appear to be no options in Hawaii that I could find) or safely online? The exchange rate is high now and it seems like a good time to invest in Philippine peso for our next trip.

 

Salamat po!

[mrsphillips 3]

Find the nearest PNB in your area. Just be ready for the processing fee.

[Hank_ 9,174]

6 hours ago, Stevephoto said:

Mabuhay my Philippines gurus! A search here and google did not yield any satisfactory results. Do you know a way to open a bank account in a Philippine bank either here in America (amazingly there appear to be no options in Hawaii that I could find) or safely online? The exchange rate is high now and it seems like a good time to invest in Philippine peso for our next trip.

 

Salamat po!

Majority of the banks will require a personal appearance, I know with BDO there wasn't an option to signup online.

 

Joan may have to make a "road trip!"

Edited September 17, 2017 by Hank_

[Stevephoto 230]

21 minutes ago, mrsphillips said:

Find the nearest PNB in your area. Just be ready for the processing fee.

I think we have one in town. Will check it out.  Salamat.

7 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

Majority of the banks will require a personal appearance, I know with BDO there wasn't an option to signup online.

That's what we figured/were afraid of. We'll see about the PNB here.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Just now, Stevephoto said:

I think we have one in town. Will check it out.  Salamat.

You have a PNB!!???  There!?  WoW!!  Well that makes sense the majority of the population is Filipino.

 

PNB is a very good bank, it is on my asawa's top 3 list.

 

Say Hi to Joan!

 

[Stevephoto 230]

4 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

You have a PNB!!???  There!?  WoW!!  Well that makes sense the majority of the population is Filipino.

 

PNB is a very good bank, it is on my asawa's top 3 list.

 

Say Hi to Joan!

 

Yeah, I remembered seeing one now that mrsphilips mentioned it. I am actually surprised that there are not more here, but glad to here that it is a good bank. We will definitely check it out.

 

Joan says hi! Regards to your lovely asawa as well!

[Hank_ 9,174]

1 minute ago, Stevephoto said:

Yeah, I remembered seeing one now that mrsphilips mentioned it. I am actually surprised that there are not more here, but glad to here that it is a good bank. We will definitely check it out.

 

Joan says hi! Regards to your lovely asawa as well!

The Philippine National Bank is one of the largest banks in the Philippines. It was established by the Philippine government on July 22, 1916, during the American Occupation.

[Stevephoto 230]

1 minute ago, Hank_ said:

The Philippine National Bank is one of the largest banks in the Philippines. It was established by the Philippine government on July 22, 1916, during the American Occupation.

 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

4 hours ago, Stevephoto said:

Yeah, I remembered seeing one now that mrsphilips mentioned it. I am actually surprised that there are not more here, but glad to here that it is a good bank. We will definitely check it out.

 

Joan says hi! Regards to your lovely asawa as well!

Believe it or not but PNB actually is able to process my transactions while in the Philippines with my Wellsfargo card. The retailers want to try and use BDO if at all possible but it keeps coming up declined, so then they have to switch to PNB and that never fails. 

[coa24 69]

For me, as a foreigner, I have to hsve an alien number before I can open one. Plus most banks require 1 year residency for non-citizens. 

[RO_AH 1,659]

On 9/16/2017 at 8:54 AM, Stevephoto said:

Mabuhay my Philippines gurus! A search here and google did not yield any satisfactory results. Do you know a way to open a bank account in a Philippine bank either here in America (amazingly there appear to be no options in Hawaii that I could find) or safely online? The exchange rate is high now and it seems like a good time to invest in Philippine peso for our next trip.

 

Salamat po!

I am in Hawaii too. I have seen PNB locations but when I went inside they only did remittance. If you are able to do it it would be good to know so pleased update. My wife is still in Philippines and opened a BDO account when we first started seeing eachother and I just send funds to her account. I also send in advance for my trip whenever I see exchange rate over 50.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

7 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

I am in Hawaii too. I have seen PNB locations but when I went inside they only did remittance. If you are able to do it it would be good to know so pleased update. My wife is still in Philippines and opened a BDO account when we first started seeing eachother and I just send funds to her account. I also send in advance for my trip whenever I see exchange rate over 50.

What is the exchange rate na there? Because the official exchange rate is over 51.

[RO_AH 1,659]

29 minutes ago, cyberfx1024 said:

What is the exchange rate na there? Because the official exchange rate is over 51.

When I left it was at 51 at the local money changers, but I use remitly and they are lower (<50) :(.

Edited October 9, 2017 by RO_AH

[Hank_ 9,174]

4 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

What is the exchange rate na there? Because the official exchange rate is over 51.

The Prime rate is for when buying dollars, not when buying pesos, cost more to buy the dollars.    

 

Exchange rate in the Phils right now is a little under P51, normally SM or BDO (where we bank) has about a 25-30 centavo spread between prime and peso exchange rates.

 

We have a USD account also at BDO just because of the wack that the regular exchange companies take (Remitly, Xoom and such) so we can send USD and exchange when the rate is appealing. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by Hank_

[RO_AH 1,659]

14 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

 

We have a USD account also at BDO just because of the wack that the regular exchange companies take (Remitly, Xoom and such) so we can send USD and exchange when the rate is appealing. 

Very smart!