Sending money to Philippines

[Hank_ 9,174]

2 hours ago, Kathy and Jesse said:

Ok so what did they need or you needed to send money? My friend told me I would need a swift code. Will it be picked with PHP currency?

For a wire transfer .. they need a  bank account and then you need the swift code for that bank, and their acct number.

[Hank_ 9,174]

3 hours ago, Kathy and Jesse said:

I thought about remitly but might be heard for them to pick up a large amount of money.

Yes any of the money pickup locations may ask them to return a 2nd day as they won't have adequate funds on hand.

 

I do wire transfers now a days .. but we have an acct in the Phils.

[flicks1998 1,044]

It’s not just the fee charged when sending. Its also the fee charged at pickup, if any, but more importantly the FX rate.  BDO tends to have very bad FX rates.  Also you could look at USD to USD transfer and then take to a better exchange rate place. The best rate in MNL is usually Sanrys in Glorietta.

 

As others have said, Its also easier to send $9999 then $10000. The paperwork does increase substantially and the transfer could take a day or so longer.  I have accounts at BDO and BPI. I would never use BDO for transfers. 
 

Plus the point made by @Hank_ is right. Many of these money transfers places will not have that cash on hand and you’ll have to wait a few days to pick up. I ran into this issue multiple times. Even BDO may not even have the cash if your picking up in USD. They will need a day or two.  That’s why it’s best to look at the receiving end FX rate so you can just collect in pesos. And as stated, BDO will have a bad rate. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by flicks1998

[StrawberryKiss 170]

2 hours ago, Joe Kano said:

I am doing the math what am I missing.

 

I sent 20K USD couple years ago through Bank Of America,  Wise is saying it $63 so double that your looking at $126 for $18K.  Bank of America charges  $35 since I sent the money in Philipines peso.  I am sure they had to pay a small amount in Philippines or incoming fee say around $15 USD. 

 

So I can go to my Bank and and send $20K USD and it gonna cost $40 USD, versus having to use Wire and do two different transactions since they only allow $9,000 + USD per transfer, I will be paying at least $126 going thru wire.

 

$40 vs $126 means Wire is 3x more expensive, and if you sending larger amounts then it really stupid expensive

Different situation. I sent money from Germany to the US. Can’t compare to Bank of America because I used Deutsche Bank at that time. Sorry I made you do the math 😄 I guess it depends on which bank you’re using because each one has different transfer fees. 

[Joe Kano 327]

4 hours ago, StrawberryKiss said:

Different situation. I sent money from Germany to the US. Can’t compare to Bank of America because I used Deutsche Bank at that time. Sorry I made you do the math 😄 I guess it depends on which bank you’re using because each one has different transfer fees. 

The OP asked about sending money from USA to Philippines.

 

Even doing the math sending 20K to the USA from Germany your looking at $82 fee from Wise still about double what it would cost to a international wire transfer from Germany to USA.  Again your math doesn't add up

 

Wise, Formerly TransferWise: Online Money Transfers | International Banking Features

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Joe Kano

[StrawberryKiss 170]

7 hours ago, Joe Kano said:

The OP asked about sending money from USA to Philippines.

 

Even doing the math sending 20K to the USA from Germany your looking at $82 fee from Wise still about double what it would cost to a international wire transfer from Germany to USA.  Again your math doesn't add up

 

Wise, Formerly TransferWise: Online Money Transfers | International Banking Features

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok. Thanks for doing the math again I guess 😄

[Kathy and Jesse 16]

Thanks for the headups about BDO. Unfortunately that might be the option we are left with. My brother has an account with BDO, he’ll be asking about the fee, exchange rate, swift code, etc. looks like we will just have to do wire transfer. They seller of the land is asking for maneger’s check which I believe like a cashier’s check in the US.  

[Hank_ 9,174]

2 hours ago, Kathy and Jesse said:

Thanks for the headups about BDO. Unfortunately that might be the option we are left with. My brother has an account with BDO, he’ll be asking about the fee, exchange rate, swift code, etc. looks like we will just have to do wire transfer. They seller of the land is asking for maneger’s check which I believe like a cashier’s check in the US.  

We have BDO, exchange rate have always been better than what we can find at any of the exchange businesses.  And for sure the rate is better than what REMITLY or any of the others give.

 

When you do a wire transfer there, BDO will nick you for another $5 fee.      Wire transfers always show up in our acct quickly.

 

I would expect that a manager's check is like a cashier's check also.   Never done that one so can't say.

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Hank_

[Adventine 3,196]

If the need for the money is that urgent and you don't have the time to shop around for other options, the BDO wire transfer seems like your best bet.

[rodeo 11]

On 8/29/2021 at 5:12 AM, Kathy and Jesse said:

Hello again! I need an advice. For those who have sent money back home, what method did you use to send over $10,000? Can the funds be available immediately on their bank?

Citibank USA to Citibank Philippines, both USD savings or checking Accounts,  overnight Global Money Transfer, no charge, not even a dime.  Only problem is Citibank Philippines checking or savings account requires a high maintaining average daily balance.  But as I said when you transfer USD 10,000 from your Citibank USA account, you will receive the USD 10,000 in the Citibank Philippines bank account.  And you transfer the money online by yourself...

[flicks1998 1,044]

17 minutes ago, rodeo said:

Citibank USA to Citibank Philippines, both USD savings or checking Accounts,  overnight Global Money Transfer, no charge, not even a dime.  Only problem is Citibank Philippines checking or savings account requires a high maintaining average daily balance.  But as I said when you transfer USD 10,000 from your Citibank USA account, you will receive the USD 10,000 in the Citibank Philippines bank account.  And you transfer the money online by yourself...

Does Citibank still have any retail banking locations open in the PI?  In April this year they released a statement saying they were exiting the Philippines and 13 Asia Pacific countries.  They will maintain their corporate banking.  Before this announcement, unless you were located in Clark, Manila or Cebu, it was difficult to use Citibank due to lack of locations.  

[rodeo 11]

1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

Does Citibank still have any retail banking locations open in the PI?  In April this year they released a statement saying they were exiting the Philippines and 13 Asia Pacific countries.  They will maintain their corporate banking.  Before this announcement, unless you were located in Clark, Manila or Cebu, it was difficult to use Citibank due to lack of locations.  

yes, they still have...  makati branch...  as far as I know there is another one in Greenhills, Ortigas.  That's the only problem, not so many branches in the Phils.  I think even the one in Pampanga branch is no longer open....