Why does Philippines want a person to declare bringing in more than 50,000 in Philippines Currency

[hunny&me 274]

2 hours ago, Palawan said:

Trash cuz it's worthless in the Philippines, they can't convert it, always tip in Pesos.

It is not worthless.  A dollar can buy you a good meal.    And it is convertible.  Some exchange places may require minimum, fellow Filipinos needing small change for their int'l travel will exchange them as well.  Again, for a tip, depending on situation, 1 dollar maybe too small or enough. (Am apologetic if I did not have enough to cover a tip for a good service ).    A lot of us Filipinos will be happy with your trash dollars .    

Edited August 17, 2022 by hunny&me

[Palawan 131]

52 minutes ago, MarJhi said:

Wrong, please stop spreading misinformation.

 

Both my fiance' and her sister work in a day spa, and they occasionally get tips in US dollars (and sometimes other currencies) and they are more than happy to get it. They have no problems exchanging the dollars for pesos as there is no shortage of places to make those transactions. If you ever want someone to take those "paper trash" US dollars off of your hands I can direct you to 110,000,000 or so Filipinos who will gladly help you out. 

Incorrect

 

Can't do much with a US dollar bill

 

Where would you exchange? Money changer won't take them

[Palawan 131]

3 minutes ago, hunny&me said:

It is not worthless.  A dollar can buy you a good meal.    And it is convertible.  Some exchange places may require minimum, fellow Filipinos needing small change for their int'l travel will exchange them as well.  Again, for a tip, depending on situation, 1 dollar maybe too small or enough. (Am apologetic if I did not have enough to cover a tip for a good service ).    A lot of us Filipinos will be happy with your trash dollars .    

I have never seen a money changer will take a US Dollar bill, Most places want either 50 or 100 and if it less than 100 you get a worse exchange rate.

[hunny&me 274]

2 minutes ago, Palawan said:

I have never seen a money changer will take a US Dollar bill, Most places want either 50 or 100 and if it less than 100 you get a worse exchange rate.

Banks take them as they need them as well for their clients. 

Yes, there might be different exchange rate (on some places) on smaller bills.  But with our experience, it was the same.  Granted we had to exchange more than $200 those times but combination of bills ($1,$5,$10,$20,$50,$100).  I have not tried with coins, didn't have to at any times (yet!).  

[MarJhi 950]

13 minutes ago, Palawan said:

Incorrect

 

Can't do much with a US dollar bill

 

Where would you exchange? Money changer won't take them

Yup, you are correct about you being incorrect. I changed my money at SM Hypermarket at the Mall of Asia in Pasay with no issues. The only thing that was required was that you had to write down the serial numbers of $100 bills, smaller denominations was not required to do so. I exchanged everything I had on the first day there, including singles, it was not a problem. You can continue to say it can't be done, but I know firsthand that it can because I have done it.

[MarJhi 950]

19 minutes ago, Palawan said:

I have never seen a money changer will take a US Dollar bill, Most places want either 50 or 100 and if it less than 100 you get a worse exchange rate.

Just because you have never seen it done with your own eyes doesn't mean it isn't done 😁

[Bob in Boston 697]

6 hours ago, Palawan said:

Where would you exchange? Money changer won't take them

Well I convert mine at western union......

[flicks1998 1,044]

On 8/17/2022 at 8:01 AM, Palawan said:

I left a few weeks ago, I exited with about 300K of Philippines Pesos.  When I entered it was like 50 to 1 exchanged rate, stayed there a little over 2 months and exchange rate was 56 to 1 when I was leaving, figured just hold it and use it when I returned, plus I am sure when you convert peso to US Dollars they find some more fees to incur on you.  You can leave with any amount of Philippines peso, it is never questioned, it's only when you enter the form say something about having more than 50K Philippines Peso, the form you give to Immigration as you enter at the airport

 

Who tips in dollars in the Philippines? Currency is Pesos, a dollar is the same thing as piece of paper trash over there. 

 

It's been many years since they changed the currency over there, I got stuck with a couple hundred bucks of useless paper currency as well, but that currency switch seemed to be about 5 years ago from what I remember.

 

The 50K amount applies to bringing in and taking out of the country and applies to per person of the traveling party.  All of this information is available at the Central Bank website.  During the 16 years I worked in Manila, about 6 of those years required me to fly in and out of the Philippines each weekend as my office location was in Singapore/Hong Kong.  On one of those trips when the limit was 10K in/out of the country, I was unable to meet up with my landlord and pay the next months rent before my departure and had to go directly to the airport in which I "only" had about 40K pesos.  Through security, something alerted them to need to check my carry-on bag.  The search of my bag was for something else, but during that search they found 40K+ pesos.  I told them my story and in short, I gave the 2 guys 1000p each in the bathroom in Terminal 2.  If I had waited or argued etc (and I was in the wrong based on the rules) more people would have become involved and it would have cost me more, and quite possibly the entire amount.  

 

https://www.bsp.gov.ph/SitePages/Regulations/GuideToFx.aspx?TabId=3

 

Also, and just something to be aware of, but the Philippines is again in the process of changing its money where eventually old money may (although not declared) become obsolete and unexchangeable.  In either 2012 or 2013, the Philippines started to issue new 20p, 50p, 100p, 200p, 500p and 1000p notes.  There was a long phase in period (maybe about 5 years or so) but the old currency eventually became obsolete.  However before the period of becoming obsolete and worthless, money changers and merchants stopped accepting the old currency as they did not want to have to go exchange it for the new currency.

 

The Philippines is currently in the transition phase of issuing new money (polymer for the 1000p note) and the government has said (for now) they will not make the old currency obsolete, however that does not mean they wont do so in the future.  Since you are married to a Philippine spouse, ideally putting it in a bank account in the Philippines would have been best.  I still have BPI and BDO accounts for this purpose.

 

As for bringing in more than $10K USD in the US, US customs does not care how much you bring in as long as a person declares anything over $10K.  I have had friends bring in $300-$400K, declared it and customs never asks any more questions.  There is a line on the form to declare the source of income.  Other times (and very rarely), someone may be asked to provide further proof of funds, but once they do that, the money is released.  The chances of something like that happening increase exponentially for business owners.  I also had a friend enter the US with about $60K, not declare it, and lost all of the money.  In my discussions with US customs, they do not care at all what you bring in as long as its declared.  These officers get bored as each officer will have hundreds of passengers filling out these forms on each shift.  Its a never ending process for them.  Also, since some members on this board may connect through Canada, if you exit immigration and customs, Canada's declaration amount is 10,000 CAD and not 10,000 USD.

 

 

[MarJhi 950]

2 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

The Philippines is currently in the transition phase of issuing new money (polymer for the 1000p note) and the government has said (for now) they will not make the old currency obsolete, however that does not mean they wont do so in the future. 

Have you seen the new 1000p bill? My fiance was showing one to me in a video call, apparently you are not allowed to fold them, they have to be kept flat because they are fairly fragile. 

[flicks1998 1,044]

48 minutes ago, MarJhi said:

Have you seen the new 1000p bill? My fiance was showing one to me in a video call, apparently you are not allowed to fold them, they have to be kept flat because they are fairly fragile. 

They are polymer so they can be folded, its impossible to tear them though.  Quite a few countries use polymer bank notes.  Since most people get their information from Facebook, there are always misunderstandings.  I believe when the new notes came out that there were a few merchants that declined them, but the Central Bank has already said they can be accepted folded.  It wouldnt make any sense anyway.  Its not new technology.  Australia started with them in 1988.  Its only "new" to the Philippines. 

[Palawan 131]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:06 PM, hunny&me said:

Banks take them as they need them as well for their clients. 

Yes, there might be different exchange rate (on some places) on smaller bills.  But with our experience, it was the same.  Granted we had to exchange more than $200 those times but combination of bills ($1,$5,$10,$20,$50,$100).  I have not tried with coins, didn't have to at any times (yet!).  

Who in the world is gonna go to bank to exhange a few US Dollar bills, nobody.  Banks are too long to wait also

[Palawan 131]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:51 AM, flicks1998 said:

 

The 50K amount applies to bringing in and taking out of the country and applies to per person of the traveling party.  All of this information is available at the Central Bank website.  During the 16 years I worked in Manila, about 6 of those years required me to fly in and out of the Philippines each weekend as my office location was in Singapore/Hong Kong.  On one of those trips when the limit was 10K in/out of the country, I was unable to meet up with my landlord and pay the next months rent before my departure and had to go directly to the airport in which I "only" had about 40K pesos.  Through security, something alerted them to need to check my carry-on bag.  The search of my bag was for something else, but during that search they found 40K+ pesos.  I told them my story and in short, I gave the 2 guys 1000p each in the bathroom in Terminal 2.  If I had waited or argued etc (and I was in the wrong based on the rules) more people would have become involved and it would have cost me more, and quite possibly the entire amount.  

 

https://www.bsp.gov.ph/SitePages/Regulations/GuideToFx.aspx?TabId=3

 

Also, and just something to be aware of, but the Philippines is again in the process of changing its money where eventually old money may (although not declared) become obsolete and unexchangeable.  In either 2012 or 2013, the Philippines started to issue new 20p, 50p, 100p, 200p, 500p and 1000p notes.  There was a long phase in period (maybe about 5 years or so) but the old currency eventually became obsolete.  However before the period of becoming obsolete and worthless, money changers and merchants stopped accepting the old currency as they did not want to have to go exchange it for the new currency.

 

The Philippines is currently in the transition phase of issuing new money (polymer for the 1000p note) and the government has said (for now) they will not make the old currency obsolete, however that does not mean they wont do so in the future.  Since you are married to a Philippine spouse, ideally putting it in a bank account in the Philippines would have been best.  I still have BPI and BDO accounts for this purpose.

 

As for bringing in more than $10K USD in the US, US customs does not care how much you bring in as long as a person declares anything over $10K.  I have had friends bring in $300-$400K, declared it and customs never asks any more questions.  There is a line on the form to declare the source of income.  Other times (and very rarely), someone may be asked to provide further proof of funds, but once they do that, the money is released.  The chances of something like that happening increase exponentially for business owners.  I also had a friend enter the US with about $60K, not declare it, and lost all of the money.  In my discussions with US customs, they do not care at all what you bring in as long as its declared.  These officers get bored as each officer will have hundreds of passengers filling out these forms on each shift.  Its a never ending process for them.  Also, since some members on this board may connect through Canada, if you exit immigration and customs, Canada's declaration amount is 10,000 CAD and not 10,000 USD.

 

 

I entered PI alone, and was there for few months, My wife came and joined me for month or so.  When we left we had about 6K in Philippines pesos, and almost 5k in US Dollars.  I researched online and it says when entering the USA it is the household income since you only fill out one form for the household flying.  We gave some cash to my wife sister to hold for us since I wasn't comfortable declaring 10K USD coming back to USA, I just don't want anyone to know my business.

[Palawan 131]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:13 PM, MarJhi said:

Yup, you are correct about you being incorrect. I changed my money at SM Hypermarket at the Mall of Asia in Pasay with no issues. The only thing that was required was that you had to write down the serial numbers of $100 bills, smaller denominations was not required to do so. I exchanged everything I had on the first day there, including singles, it was not a problem. You can continue to say it can't be done, but I know firsthand that it can because I have done it.

I have never heard of anyone requiring a person to write down the serial # of 100 bills, that is really wierd

 

Why would you go to a place like that?

 

You going up a Money Exchanger with a fist full of US Currency and exchaning is a lot different then a Filipino walking up to a money exchanger with a couple one dollar bills trying to exchange, they would tell them to get lost.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Palawan

[MarJhi 950]

3 hours ago, Palawan said:

I have never heard of anyone requiring a person to write down the serial # of 100 bills, that is really wierd

 

Why would you go to a place like that?

 

You going up a Money Exchanger with a fist full of US Currency and exchaning is a lot different then a Filipino walking up to a money exchanger with a couple one dollar bills trying to exchange, they would tell them to get lost.

Well, you not hearing of it doesn't mean it isn't done. What is the big deal about writing down a few serial numbers? It was in SM Hypermarket at MOA, tons of security around, seems harmless to me. Relax, you seem very stressed about this.

 

Also, my fiance, her sister and her coworkers at the day spa in the mall occasionally get tipped in foreign currencies, even US $1 bills, and she says it is silly to think they can't get that exchanged, so I'll take her word for it. And by the way, she doesn't change one bill at a time, she waits until she has a certain amount collected  and then exchanges it all at once. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by MarJhi

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 minute ago, MarJhi said:

Well, you not hearing of it doesn't mean it isn't done. What is the big deal about writing down a few serial numbers? It was in SM Hypermarket at MOA, tons of security around, seems harmless to me. Relax, you seem very stressed about this.

 

Also, my fiance, her sister and her coworkers at the day spa in the mall occasionally get tipped in foreign currencies, even US $1 bills, and she says it is silly to think they can't get that exchanged, so I'll take her word for it. And by the way, she doesn't change one bill at a time, she waits until she has a certain amount collected it and then exchanges it all at once. 

Many times when USD is deposited into a bank account (either USD or PHP account), all of the serial numbers are written down.  I have been in a bank branch an entire day at times to just make a deposit.  Its frustrating, but there is no way around it.  The good thing is, someone at the branch is the one doing the writing.  Normally money changers do not require all of the serial numbers to be written down, however the money changer at SM Hypermart is run by BDO, so they generally want all of the numbers written down to exchange money.  This isnt always the case, but most times.  Normally, if I have to write the numbers down at BDO in Hyper, I just make some numbers up or write really fast, and sloppy.

 

As for using USD, it can be done but isnt too common.  Im actually in some groups where we are all trying to get to all 193 UN countries and we share travel stories.  We have had a few members do all 193 countries multiple times, a few of them doing it using only USD and not using any local currency.  They successfully did it, so when push comes to shove, using USD in every country can be done, although I wouldnt always advise it.  Poor exchange rates, slowed down transactions, etc can be some of the problems.