Us 100 Dollar Bills - Exchange In The Philippines

[JJReyes]

The US Treasury is releasing another new $100 note with a different design to make it more difficult to copy. I was in Manila after the release of the light brown color notes. A group of college backpackers were encountering difficulties because the bank wouldn't accept them. They hadn't gotten the "memo" that the new design was okay. I took pity on the group and offered my more familiar green notes in exchange for their brown ones. They asked me for an explanation. I just smiled and answered, "Don't ask." So watch out if you have a brand new design release. 

 

Another possible explanation why banks and money changers won't accept the 100s with a small head is because most countries have a different monetary policy. When new designs are issued, the old designs have to be exchanged within a certain time period. This is one way to flush out the money hidden "under the mattress" and bank deposit boxes. The United States, since the Bretton Woods Agreement, never demonetizes its paper currency. Banks and money changers don't understand this. It is safer for them to reject the older looking bills.    

[jpbago]

ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu.

That's ING Canada, right? The ING checking acct I opened in the US is an internet bank and is not connected with any bank in the Philippines (to my knowledge). They were just bought by Capital One. 

Sorry, my mistake about ING. ING is gone. Recently, ING Canada was taken over by Scotiabank, ING USA by Capital One and ING PI by BPI. Maybe Citi Bank is still alive. If there are same banks in your country and in the PI, you should be able to deposit in your country (or online transfer), then withdraw by same ATM in PI with no fees.

[Call me bubba]

Small head?  Big head? could someone explain?           

( i have not had a "new" series US bill in along time)

Edited February 13, 2013 by Pittman apartments Sgn

[Bruce]

When the US Treasury introduced the 'new' money designs a few years ago, there were obvious and not so obvious design changes to make counterfiting more difficult.

 

One was the dead president's head was enlarged and off center of the bill, And there were colors and shading added. So the US has now 3 main designs for money. The old and obsolete, but still valid pre 1934 LARGE size bills, the post 1934 standard size green and grey color bills and then the new colored and larger dead president head style bills.  

[i am bob]

Bruce: As a tourist, you can open a PI bank account. I did with my passport and ACR card.

 

Bob: I am not able to wire money from Canada while in PI. Some countries can (Norway), I am told. I opened a PI bank peso account with a common ATM, first, while in PI, then while in Canada, I wire money to that account with a one time fee depending on how much you send. If I need more, I online transfer money from my chequing account to my Visa account, then withdraw cash (daily limit is 49,000P) from that Visa account  and deposit it into my PI account with no interest charges from Visa but a $5.00 bank transaction fee. ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu. It's all about money.

 

Who were you trying to transfer your money from in Canada?  

 

RBC (Royal Bank) has told me that I can have money wired from my account to a bank account in the Philippines.  All I need to do is go on-line to complete the transaction through my account.

 

WorldRemit has told me the same thing but I can have my money sent from Canada to any of their pay-our options (bank, delivery or pick-up).  I would be using my Interact card to complete the transaction on-line through my bank. - same as I would do here in Canada.

[i am bob]

ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu.

That's ING Canada, right? The ING checking acct I opened in the US is an internet bank and is not connected with any bank in the Philippines (to my knowledge). They were just bought by Capital One. 

ING Direct (Canada) was bought last fall by ScotiaBank (Bank of Nova Scotia).

[i am bob]

 

ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu.

That's ING Canada, right? The ING checking acct I opened in the US is an internet bank and is not connected with any bank in the Philippines (to my knowledge). They were just bought by Capital One. 

Sorry, my mistake about ING. ING is gone. Recently, ING Canada was taken over by Scotiabank, ING USA by Capital One and ING PI by BPI. Maybe Citi Bank is still alive. If there are same banks in your country and in the PI, you should be able to deposit in your country (or online transfer), then withdraw by same ATM in PI with no fees.

Ah, I missed that you had already said about Scotiabank and ING.

 

I'm not so sure about Citi being around for a long time.  Even after they sold off Primerica and (can't think of their name - another insurance / investment company), and then bailed on a bunch more of their companies, their financials are still not considered as very prime by many of the standards groups - at least, not the last time I checked.  They were doing some wheeling and dealing and splitting and melding and all other fun financial manoeuvres a year or so back just to get their payments made but I haven't looked to see where they ended up after.

[jpbago]

Bruce: As a tourist, you can open a PI bank account. I did with my passport and ACR card.

 

Bob: I am not able to wire money from Canada while in PI. Some countries can (Norway), I am told. I opened a PI bank peso account with a common ATM, first, while in PI, then while in Canada, I wire money to that account with a one time fee depending on how much you send. If I need more, I online transfer money from my chequing account to my Visa account, then withdraw cash (daily limit is 49,000P) from that Visa account  and deposit it into my PI account with no interest charges from Visa but a $5.00 bank transaction fee. ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu. It's all about money.

 

Who were you trying to transfer your money from in Canada?  

 

RBC (Royal Bank) has told me that I can have money wired from my account to a bank account in the Philippines.  All I need to do is go on-line to complete the transaction through my account.

 

WorldRemit has told me the same thing but I can have my money sent from Canada to any of their pay-our options (bank, delivery or pick-up).  I would be using my Interact card to complete the transaction on-line through my bank. - same as I would do here in Canada.

   I tried to wire money thru TD Waterhouse online but can only do it within Canada. I have wired money in branch with TD to my account in PI with no problems. I looked at Remit but I think the fee was too high and they asked too many questions. I think that you need to have an account at any bank that you want to wire from so I never tried the others.

   I looked at HSBC too as they have banks in 85 counties including Canada and  PI with ATMs in Cebu and Manila but none where I am. The city that I live in here in PI has 2 banks with 3 ATMs total for a population of more than 200,000. And there is no line up. With HSBC, you may be able to use your debit card in Cebu to get cash from your HSBC account in Canada with no fee. But only 10,000 daily. If you want to buy a house or a car, you will have to go to the ATM many times.

   Always have more than one credit card and debit card in case one gets blocked or not returned. With my credit card, I can get 49,000P daily in 5 minutes or 200,000P daily with a phone call that sometimes is not easy to make. Be sure to inform your bank before you leave of where you will be using your cards. Using a credit card gets a better exchange rate than you will get at money changers. It is roughly 40p to the dollar now but they say that it used to be 52.

[Bruce]

 

Bruce: As a tourist, you can open a PI bank account. I did with my passport and ACR card.

 

Bob: I am not able to wire money from Canada while in PI. Some countries can (Norway), I am told. I opened a PI bank peso account with a common ATM, first, while in PI, then while in Canada, I wire money to that account with a one time fee depending on how much you send. If I need more, I online transfer money from my chequing account to my Visa account, then withdraw cash (daily limit is 49,000P) from that Visa account  and deposit it into my PI account with no interest charges from Visa but a $5.00 bank transaction fee. ING and CITI banks have branches both in Cebu and Canada so that may be the way to go if you will be in Cebu. It's all about money.

 

Who were you trying to transfer your money from in Canada?  

 

RBC (Royal Bank) has told me that I can have money wired from my account to a bank account in the Philippines.  All I need to do is go on-line to complete the transaction through my account.

 

WorldRemit has told me the same thing but I can have my money sent from Canada to any of their pay-our options (bank, delivery or pick-up).  I would be using my Interact card to complete the transaction on-line through my bank. - same as I would do here in Canada.

   I tried to wire money thru TD Waterhouse online but can only do it within Canada. I have wired money in branch with TD to my account in PI with no problems. I looked at Remit but I think the fee was too high and they asked too many questions. I think that you need to have an account at any bank that you want to wire from so I never tried the others.

   I looked at HSBC too as they have banks in 85 counties including Canada and  PI with ATMs in Cebu and Manila but none where I am. The city that I live in here in PI has 2 banks with 3 ATMs total for a population of more than 200,000. And there is no line up. With HSBC, you may be able to use your debit card in Cebu to get cash from your HSBC account in Canada with no fee. But only 10,000 daily. If you want to buy a house or a car, you will have to go to the ATM many times.

   Always have more than one credit card and debit card in case one gets blocked or not returned. With my credit card, I can get 49,000P daily in 5 minutes or 200,000P daily with a phone call that sometimes is not easy to make. Be sure to inform your bank before you leave of where you will be using your cards. Using a credit card gets a better exchange rate than you will get at money changers. It is roughly 40p to the dollar now but they say that it used to be 52.

 

200,000p a day? Hey buddy can I get a loan? I am good for it. Jake will tell ya! Sure.....

 

I would revamp your plan a bit to back it down in case you are kidnapped or tied up by your new family....

 

I can take out 25,000p a day as that is the limit I set. There is nothing I can not do in Phils that would require me to change that. If any issues, I can make trips to the bank if I must or keep in resverve some cash. But if the card is lost / stolen or some other issue, the most I can loose in a day is 25,000p and then gives me another day to correct the issue.

[i am bob]

   I tried to wire money thru TD Waterhouse online but can only do it within Canada. I have wired money in branch with TD to my account in PI with no problems. I looked at Remit but I think the fee was too high and they asked too many questions. I think that you need to have an account at any bank that you want to wire from so I never tried the others.

 

I called my bank again to confirm (RBC) and they told me that the only thing I would need to do different is to let them know that I would be in the Philippines - just so that the IP address from accessing my account on-line would not cause anybody to panic.  Other than that, I can go on-line, pay any bills I want, etc and, if I want to transfer money to the Philippines, I just have to make sure that there is a bank account to send it to.  That would be myself or my Special Someone until I could get an account...  If I was to use RBC that is until I could get a bank account.

 

WorldRemit would be my choice to start with for sending cash overseas.  It varies on the service charge but it is still always much lower than what my bank charges (RBC was $17 last time I looked where with WR I have paid $5.99, $10.99 and a recent special is on for $3.99 CDN) and the exchange rate is usually negligible between WR and RBC.  And, with WorldRemit, you can either send the money to a bank, delivered door to door or have a specified person pick it up at any of the MLHUILLIER or Cebuana locations.  They will also send a message to the person when the money is available - if you use their pick-up service, it is almost instantly available!  And you get a message / email that the money you sent was picked up.   I do really like the service I have had here.