Bealinehx

P 11

This link may be of interest. I have used their services trouble free for six years.
http://www.ukforex.co.uk/

Chris in Makati

I agree that BPI are getting expensive now with this doubling of the minimum fee to £10. The good thing about them is the exchange rate they use is the most competitive of all the remittance companies.

Other companies I have used are:

OrbitRemit

Remitly

WorldRemit

Sorry, I tried to include the URLs for the websites of those companies but the board wont let me post links as I don't have enough posts yet so you'll just have to Google them.

All have worked well, and all of them can do transfers to almost any bank in the Philippines, as well as provide cash for pickup for those without bank accounts. That's also a limitation with BPI Europe as they will only transfer to BPI accounts.

You have to compare the exchange rates from the various companies and take into account their fees to see which one is the best value. Sometimes it's better to pay a higher fee and get a better exchange rate if you're sending a lot of money. For smaller amounts a lower fee and poorer exchange rate is cheaper.

LPR

I use TransferWise as I find their rates are good and the fees are low. You can also setup a Peso account to purchase Peso's when the rate is good ready to transfer when you need them.

quiltman

P11, where did you get this info from? The BPI Europe site shows the standard fee of £5 for up to £1000 transfer and there is no indication on their website of any proposed fee increase? i have emailed my contact in Earls court for clarification.https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/p/1...e-service-fees

mikemike

Sad to say it's true and I have had to top up the number two account to maintain a minimum balance of 50£, No big deal, was part of the advisory I received with our last bank statements.

Philosophical 11

mikemike:

Never saw anything about a minimum balance of £50. I currently keep £5 as a minimum deposit. What are the ramifications of keeping less than the minimum?

Regards

mikemike

I did not check the ramifications of not keeping £50 minimum balance. In effect they are in line with the practice of keeping 3000pesos on a domestic BPI account. I too kept about 1£ on our UK joint account, the rest was in the wife's name in case I pop my clogs without giving the required notice. Same arrangement here as well, as do not want probate issues getting in her way so the kids are looked after. usually if you do not keep the minimum balance a fee is charged and if the fee is greater than the balance they may close the account.

As for the fee I will now transfer bi monthly and pay 10£ instead of old fee of 5£ per month. Her in charge is going to have to be yet more skilled on budgeting two months at a time instead of one. As I explained to her it just means having to halve the money I give you which is twice as much as before

quiltman

Got reply from Jeremy at BPI Europe. Here are the new fees https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/p/1/2175/client-update Notice the new £10 fee covers up to £5000 though.
there is no £50 minimum balance requirement.

mikemike

Yes the fee schedule matches the one received in the post

Did Jeremy confirm in writing that there is no 50£ fee as I would not have mentioned it if I had not read it.!

mikemike

I have had confirmation that there is NOT a maintaining balance of 50£ I apologise for suggesting such.

quiltman

Sorry for delay in responding Mikemike. Yes, in his email copy attached. "Thank you for your email. As per your query, we are confirming of the news you've mentioned on your email below (except the £50 minimum maintaining balance on your BPI Europe account. That is not true. We have not set a rule of such). As for the changes to our remittance charges, that is completely correct. For full details kindly visit our website www.bpieuropeplc.com and click the 'Clients Update' link from the menu on the left."
So there we are. Oh, my letters from BPI Europe re the increase arrived at end of last week!!!

mikemike

As some of us have discovered BPI are increasing costs for money transfers and now want to charge for hard copy bank statements.

They have advised I can print a bank statement as it is EOL. That a statement does not identify the name of the account holder, address, let alone with BPI header and footer for AMLC purposes does seem beyond them. Bank statements are often a source of confirmation of address and ID. Anyone looking to accumulate such data is going to have to pay for the hard copy from the branch and they only retain account data for 2 months!! So if you are in the process of opening an account here that connects to an offshore branch for example in London. You may wish to ask about costs of statements and if on line statements do cover all details needed to be treated as a valid document.

I was at one time looking at other Philippine based banks that have a London Branch. I got distracted and there was not an urgent need.

Looks like that need has now arisen. Anyone with the BDO or PNB Uk branch have similar issues or is it all good. one last one in case anyone has an instant answer so I do not have to wear my stumps down any further. Metrobank are they associated or linked to the UK metro bank?