jeffbrad

Hi Peter.

I am off to Alabang in a short while to open a HSBC 'Advance' account, which needs to have 1.500GBP deposited into it within 1 month of opening. I have a HSBC account already set up in the UK and can transfer electronically between them. They are a major international bank so that gives comfort and they have plenty of branches. As mentioned previously, they only need a Passport and Driver's licence to open it and no ACRi, which saves me time as I do not have an ACRi yet.

Citibank have two in Alabang also, and the rest are in and around Manila.

Regards

Jeff

sunnydays

Hi Jeff,
When we opened our power vantage with HSBC I gave them a cheque for 40k pounds sterling. It arrived in the account a months later as expected but I had to justify the origins of the cheque before they would credit my account.
I asked for an internet terminal in the bank (empty office) and the girl allowed me to log on to my Barclays UK account where my cheque could be seen as being withdrawn. They were happy with this (told them it was from a house sale). After logging off the account I deleted the "history" of my Barclays account just for safety. Don;t think you can beat HSBC as a starter and there rate of exchange is not bad.

jeffbrad

It was a little frustrating today, as we got delayed in getting to the bank and they had closed 10 minutes before we arrived. Anyway, I managed to get a pack of application forms from one of the girls who was packing up, but she couldn't actually do anything further because their terminals had been locked down. Anyway, She took photocopies of my documents and I have to go back on Monday to finalise the account. They will give me an ATM card and cheque book on Monday too. I can electronically transfer from one account in the UK to the new account in the Philippines for 17GBP and it will be almost instant, no clearing necessary. What I have to decide before Monday is whether I want to open it as a Peso or a dollar account. If I choose dollar then surely my UK pounds will be converted to dollars during the electronic transfer, and then again from dollars to pesos every time i withdraw cash from an ATM. That seems messy to me and fraught with losses due to currency fluctuations. If I just have the peso account then I can choose when the transfer is done to hopefully pick up when the rate is good and from that point onwards it is straight peso transactions.

Any thoughts on this?

Jeff

sunnydays

Hi Jeff,

We cannot open a peso account unless our Filipino wives have it in their name. ........be careful on this one!

Suggest a sterling account, when you draw pesos from it the teller will tell you the rate on the transaction, ...rest up to you but we don't have a better option than this 'cos we need the local money .

If or when you live in the Philippines and obtain one of the visa choices then the bank will open a peso account in your name.

When you go back to HSBC you will be offered telephone banking services and most certainly an online account so have a user name and password for that, one that you can remember !!!! (aunt Mauds birthday or something?) Think that you can share the password with your wife if you go down that road.

when Mila and I did this we got 2 sets of everything, lots of paperwork etc and of course 2 dongles. We stored one set in a safety box in a BPI Bank.

jeffbrad

Hi.

It all went smoothly enough today. I opened he Advance account and they automatically gave me a peso and a US Dollar account. The USD account will close automatically if I do not use it within 1 month. I have to credit it with 100,000 pesos within a month, which can only be done from foreign cuyrrency. i.e. I couldn't walk in to the branch and pay in over the counter in pesos, even if I wanted to. They gave me the Debit/ATM card and a cheque book at the branch and I was able to set up the on-line banking at the branch and change my password on the ATM card at the branch. They will supply me with a personalised ATM/Debit card in 4 days time. I have only opened it in my name at present. All very easy so far.

I only ever do on-line banking from my own laptop so don't use a dongle. They didn't even offer it to me, so not sure how important that is.

The next fun bit is to transfer some cash from the UK into the new Philippines account. Fingers crossed!



Jeff

sunnydays

Hi Jeff,
You sound happy with what you have and a peso account as well in your own name, wow. When we were going through the SRRV system we had to transfer dollars into a Philippine bank for the "time deposit bond" that was a requirement. We had to arrange the transfer of money to come direct into the branch from abroad. It could not be paid over the counter. Took some phone calls but managed it in the end.
Shame about not getting a dongle, it gives you lots of peace if mind. Without that input to your on-line account no one can get access, ....even with giving your user-name and password.
A UK neighbor of ours used an internet cafe to transfer money from his Isle of Man bank. One day they rang him to confirm large transaction and it turned our to be from an attacker who'd got his details off the computer. There are programmes available to copy website pages and also "Keystrokes". You must delete "History" when logging off to avoid simple attacks, but the special software will store the details never the less. A "one time" security code machine input to your account will be very secure and the bank allow more actions for the account owner to do on-line. Ie Barclays offer Pin security using a small electronic device that you use with your connect card to log on to their accounts. More transactions on line can be done using this system. For you and you laptop, keep your firewall and virus protection up to date. You might consider a Bios password to protect you if the PC gets stolen.

jeffbrad

Hi. You are totally right about the security issues. I have just come back from 7 months travelling around Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India. Without my laptop I would have been stuck with Internet banking as there is no way I would trust a majority of net cafes. As I am new to HSBC and their options I will contact them about getting a dongle. I have to go back within the next week or so to collect my personalised card anyway, so should be able to collect the dingle at the same time.

I have one little niggle to resolve right now, but hopefully that will be fixed later today. I have no 'Global View' when I log on. I get the message that I have to log in and probably contact them during office hours in the UK to set it up.

Off to attack more things on my 'To-Do' list now....

Bye for now
Jeff

58rocker

Hi all,

just joined this forum and would like to give out a tip for keeping your banking or other financial details secure.

If you are using your laptop/cellphone/iphone at a paid or free public wi-fi, please try to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

They can be had for free but be careful of the Malware and loads of annoying ads that come with the free ones. The best I have found is from witopia.net and costs from US$40 to $70 a Year. No ads, no hassle and great security, I do banking and share dealing almost daily and although installing a VPN is a minor headache, the company help a user to install and get it set up to work well.

On to banking and transfers from the UK to Philippines, I tend to transfer money from Citibank UK to Citibank Philippines every 3 to 6 months using a FREE Global Transfer facility but using US Dollars as the currency.

I have both Sterling and US Dollar accounts in London and then have Peso and US Dollar accounts in Cebu. To get the best rate I use major currency exchange firms like Hargreaves Lansdown (FTSE350 Comapany) or Excel Currencies who also transfer from Sterling to Pesos if you want it easy with a decent rate. Most currency brokers will improve on the exchange rates they offer if you push them. Mostly I transfer Sterling to US Dollars with HL and then send the US Dollars to Cebu with Citibank (instant transfer). I leave the US Dollars in the Citibank account in Cebu until the rate for transferring into Pesos is looking good. Just don't leave it till last minute to arrange large transfers and then you can improve on the exchange rates.

golftees

I posted this on another thread.

It's very simple to set up.I would advise you to open an account with H.S.B.C. Jersey UK.(where your pension can be sent)Then open a sterling a/c with H.S.B.C here in the Philippines..You can transfer funds on-line from UK to the Philippines with no charge.. in seconds.

You then can get a A.T.M. card (P.I. one) and withdraw funds any where in the P.I.through 'Banknet'.(exchange rate very good and no charge)

Remember... International bank card withdrawals are subject to a charge of up to 250p in the P.I...and as you know max withdrawals at a.t.m's are 10.000P per withdrawal.

JulianWard

I am not sure if this has been covered, it probably has but I guess it is useful for some to mention it again.

If you are leaving the UK make sure you set up any bank accounts which you may want/need before you leave, as you may not (I have not been able to do so) open an account after you leave. However, if you already have an account (I have several with Nationwide) you can keep them.

Paul B

I opened a Peso bank account at BDO in Angeles about six months ago without any problems. I'm just on a tourist visa as I come and go so often.

sunnydays

Surprise Surprise, ...and the peso account is in your own name or a Filipinos?

jackthehat

I did the same with BDO in Mega Mall Manila. All I needed was the ACR, and PHP 5,000! Peso Savings Account in my own name, with Internet Banking, and it pays a nominal rate of interest. I just used the address of a Philippino friend who I was staying with. The account comes with an Visa ATM Card which can be used Internationally. It's 'Basic' but it works! - Try doing that in the UK in less than an hour!

sunnydays

The ACR is connected to a visa of sorts though isn't it, we had no probs after obtaining our SRRV.
I'm surprised that just a tourist visa worked with BDO.
You have to a bit wary of opening a bank account with false information (address) because at some point you may need to prove the address to gain access.
Could be

Claudia1

Very sound advice sunnydays i.e. wearing my legal hat !

Claudia