Originally Posted by Pulaski

You might find it "very strange" but that is how banks transfer money internationally - each bank only deals with other banks that it has an account with, exactly as they only provide services to people that have an account. The process is similar to long distance phone calls, everything has to be connected for you to be able to speak to someone at the other end, and the same is true for money to get transferred to the end account.

Therefore when money passes internationally it passes between several banks, typically with large US or European banks operating as the hub, transferring money between smaller banks around the world, so most international wires, especially those denominated in USD, are going to go through one of only a handful of US banks, notably Citibank, Bank of New York, JP Morgan, or Deutsche Bank. Ultimately if the funds cannot be "applied", which might happen for several reasons (with name or account number not recognized being probably the most common reasons), rather like a letter not being delivered by the Post Office and sent back, it gets "returned to sender". It sounds like your money might have not been applied and then stalled while passing back through Citibank in New York.
Yup, totally normal, with intermediary banks typically taking a $25 or $35 fee as the wire transfer passes through.

Originally Posted by Gazza-d

The problem is that you have no way of knowing how much will be received in the Philippines

Originally Posted by Philosophical 11

Maybe my BPI bank or my circumstances are different, but I had the occasion to send money to Switzerland from here and I was told the full cost prior to sending. I noted on the yards of printout I received (but didn't understand) that at some point the money was sent to an American bank (converted to USD) and converted to Swiss Francs. The money incidentally was for a friend and not funds squirrelled away for nefarious purposes.

Regards

Originally Posted by Frank2

Hi,ive still not had my money returned to me by the BDO,its been over 1 month now they dont even reply to my emails,any suggestions what else i can do,thanks Frank.

Originally Posted by Stokkevn

Apart from BPI is there any other reliable way of sending money to the Philippines.

I have just transferred £276 to my BPI account in London from my other UK bank that all funds going into BPI London come from. I have now received a demand requiring me to confirm fund origin to comply with money laundering regs, in original copies, signed, stamped etc. I am now looking to close BPI accounts and find some other way to transfer funds.

Any ideas??