deep9400

I live in Mindanao and have been for a few years now. At the moment I am back in the UK getting some health issues fixed. I retire in September. I have a BDO dollar account and my wife has a peso account. I want to have my three pensions put into these accounts. My wife has been to the BDO and they have given her the swift code for the accounts and said that they regard any payments as remittances and I should use a company that they recognise. NO!! Does anyone know if they use BACS as I am worried about getting my money. How do other members get over this. Maybe it's just BDO. Help

tropicofcancer

Not really sure what your problem is.
So far I have had no problems with bank to bank transfers from UK.

I have my money paid to a UK account, then I transfer it from there to BDO, or ABC by "wire" no problem so far.

Are you worried about losing the ID as a pension payment for tax purposes? If so: you can easily prove the source of payments.

If you use a UK card and ATM here, most UK banks charge you 2.95% of the exchange as a fee. They used to reduce the exchange rate by that amount. Which was very clearly laid out, but now they show it separately. You also pay 1.5% for not using their ATM.
My bank charges
twenty pounds for any transaction under five-grand sterling. When the Philippine Bank converts to Pesos, they seem to give 1% under the International rate, or thereabouts.
Transactions online are charged at ten pounds sterling.

tropicofcancer

Just to add. In the case of UK banks, most of them forward the transaction to another bank that has dealings with the country: Westminster or HSBC being the usual ones.

HSBC claim that they charge no fees for transfers online between accounts with them. No matter which country they are in.

deep9400

Thanks for the info. I agree I need to get an HSBC or Westminster account. It seems the best way.

tropicofcancer

Sad to say, you can only open the UK account whilst in the UK. Because of some naughty people, everyone is treated as a potential money launderer. If say you bank with Lloyds they will do the transaction, through Westminster Bank. As they have the necessary agreements with the banks in the Philippines.
If say you have your pensions sent direct, it is unlikely that it will be done without you paying any charges incurred.
Where money is concerned it is always wise to stay with the big players. Just in case things do go wrong.
The average branch of any bank in UK, hasn't a clue about foreign remittances. They look it up in their book, or seek advice. Quicker and easier to contact their office that deals with it yourself. It saves frustration and time on the telephone.
Others will be reading this, so be careful of UK normal banking hours. As outside those hours it can cost more. Higher fees being charged.
HSBC seem to be the best, but the inconvenience is in their lack of branches here.
BDO is very popular, because they have branches in SM. Open seven days a week. With the caveat: Normal Branch banking only, on holidays and weekends. No foreign etc transactions. They are open till late as well. Wire transfers, tend to go through, late afternoon the following day. If a normal banking day.
BDO have agreements with SM whereby you earn bonus points etc.
Banks like Allied Banking Corporation, have offices in London. They have branches all over the Philippines.

quiltman

Hi deep9400.

Here's how we do it.
Before we left UK we set up a sterling account with BPIEurope - based in Earls Court,London, but we did it all online except for having to sign some papers they sent us. BPIEurope then set up peso accounts for us here in Cebu.
Registered for BPIonline. Now all we do is go online to our UK bank, Nationwide, transfer funds to BPIEurope- takes up to a day but is free - then go to BPIExpressonline where we can see both the UK and Philippine account, transfer what we want and literally in seconds it shows in the peso account.
Exchange rate is quite good - yesterday I got 73.60 to the pound - and transfer fee is 5 pounds sterling for up to 25,000pounds. OK, I could probably get a slightly better rate using a specialised FX trader but as I only transfer about 1000pounds per month it's neither here nor there plus the charges are higher.

We did have to go to our local BPI branch to collect our peso account ATM cards but thats understandable.Once enrolled online you can make an appointment online to save waiting about. Keep away from the big four as they charge ridiculous amounts and it takes a few days.

Here's the links;
www.bpieuropeplc.com www.bpiexpressonline.com

Takes about 30seconds once a month, especially if you set up a standing order to transfer from your UK bank to BPIEurope.

BPI ATMs are all over except SM malls as SM own BDO bank ! Mind you Ayala own BPI so no BDO ATMs there! It only costs me 20 pesos to withdraw from non BPI ATMs.

Hope this is of interest but PM me if you have any other queries.

quiltman

Oh, forgot to add that if you are worried about the pension proof, when we applied for our SRRV the PRA accepted our notarised annual letter from Dept of Pensions, plus copy of bank statement showing the regular pension credits.

tropicofcancer

BPI were always an efficient Bank, and always the best bet to change travellers cheques in the old days. Always good with the exchange rate too. No big deal here, but BPI would be a non clearing bank in UK, just like ABC (now amalgamated with PNB), UCCP etc. so any funds going to the UK account take a little longer. We are talking a handful of hours here, but those few hours could prove significant, if a holiday intervenes. Not a major concern I know, but one to watch out for, when expecting money to arrive in your account. That is if you hold account with the UK branch, and use them for remittance purposes.

I have heard a lot of good things about Nationwide. My sister used them when she was resident in Spain. Certainly they are good, as far as fees and costs go. My sister only had problems with the receiving bank in Spain.

I worked in International banking in the sixties. Wire transfers were faster then, using the teletext machines. Than they are now. Unless you are using the same bank both ends.

Five pounds is extremely reasonable, and it seems also that you were given the International rate in full. Without "deduction. " That is except for the variance in buying and selling rates.

quiltman

Yes, you are correct about the possible delay. we have learnt that its best to transfer to BPI Europe early in the week. If we transfer on Saturday or Sunday you are correct, it may be Monday morning -UK time- before it appears.

I don't even think about it now as it's habit to transfer the Monday following my state pensions credit on the Friday - done by standing order every 4 weeks. Usually when I check my BPI account Monday morning -Cebu time- its already in. If the Monday is a UK bank holiday then it'll be Tuesday.

Oh, by the way, I transferred way over 25000 pounds recently to buy a property here and they still only charged 5 pounds!

I found the UK office to be superb. Every time I sent them an email they called to make sure they understood the question ,then called to see if I had received the answer and was it what I wanted. They also set up the appointment at the Pacific Mall branch here to collect our ATM cards before we left UK. I have only had a couple of branch dealings here - to buy a car -and again I can not fault them.

deep9400

Hey quiltman and tropicofcancer. I looked at BPI Europe and it sound just the ticket for the longterm. I will not be back to Mindanao until later in the year. But intend to get the accounts up and running before that. I have an e account which allows standing orders but no direct debit but am opening a Natwest Basic at the moment. So thanks for your help and I will OK

tropicofcancer

IN SM Cebu North Reclamation Area, just outside there are several ATM's for all the different banks. Most banks belong to Bancnet anyway. Opposite SM NRA is a BPI Branch.

There is a BPI ATM outside Fooda, Consolacion, just as you enter the car park area.

There is a BPI ATM at Mactan airport. Just outside the Arrival exit from the International Terminal.


The above is mainly aimed at visitors who read these pages prior to travelling to a new destination. As Easter is a popular tourist time, it is worthy to note: That from Maundy Thursday through to Easter Sunday it will be difficult to get money from an ATM. With big queues on the previous Wednesday, and following Monday.
Your only real hope over the Holidays are the ATMs in the big stores. Such as BDO ATMs in the SMs. When the store is open.

quiltman

If you go to BPIexpress online you can get a list of ATMs , in your case deep9400, those in Mindinao.
I use the one at Fooda in consolacion and compared to the BDO one on the opposite side, the queues are rarely more than half a dozen people. The BDO one often has queues disappearing into the car park! Same with the BDO one in SM consolacion. There I use Bank of China if I need cash.

Oh, just as an aside, the BPI Europe account has no cards or check books. It's purely a deposit account to make moving money easier. you can move money back out of it to another UK account once you've enrolled for online banking. Mind you I have never had a need to do this! It has worked well for us for the last two years.

jonnijon

My state pension is paid by DWP to Citibank who inturn pay to my BPI account here in the Philippines. My December payment was issued by DWP on the 12th to Citibank. The money arrived in my account on the 2nd January!!!!!! Spoke to DWP, they are not really interested, they try to blame BPI and its not their fault. BPI always credit my account on the day they recive payment. This months pension was issued by DWP on the 7th and im still waiting.

tropicofcancer

Sorry to read that Jonnijon, I gather that you do not have a UK bank account, that you could use. That being the best way.

The longer banks hang on to other peoples' money. The more money they make.

tropicofcancer

I do not know how it works nowadays, with all the scares of money laundering, but maybe, just maybe. BPI could set up a holding account in UK for you, with their agents there.
The way it works, money is credited. Debited immediately, and sent on to your overseas account. It leaves a paper trail.