For Aussies- $5 bank transfer

[Jollygoodfellow]

Westpac Banking Corp (WBC), Australia's No.3 lender, will launch a new money transfer service in June, according to a letter seen by Reuters, more than a year after it forced several remitters out of business by closing their bank accounts.

Westpac became the last lender to stop banking with money transfer operators, or remitters, in 2015 citing growing compliance costs and concerns the money could be used for laundering or terrorism financing.

Aside from competing with money wiring giants such as Western Union and Moneygram , Westpac is now positioning itself to rival digital money transfer companies including PayPal Holdings that are rushing to grab a share of Australia's $35 billion remittance market.

In an email sent to customers, Westpac said it was introducing a new service for international payments called LitePay International, allowing payments of under A$3,000 ($2,239) from transaction and savings accounts to some eligible countries within two banking days.

The service will initially be available to the Philippines with a A$5 payment fee and additional countries will be available in "due course," according to the email.

The fee is much lower than usual bank fees of up to A$30. Even so, digital remitters able to transfer money in real-time will still have an edge.

A Westpac spokeswoman declined to comment. There are 236,400 Filipinos living in Australia - one of the largest migrant populations in the country, according to government data. One in four Australians was born overseas.

The major banks' decision to close remittance agencies' accounts - affecting the majority of Australia's roughly 500 money-transfer operators - raised fears the business would drift underground.

In September last year, MP Craig Kelly told the parliament the move by banks was a way to thwart competition so they could get the business left by remitters that were forced shut.

http://hotcopper.com.au/resources/westpac-targets-transfer-business-after-closing-remitter-accounts.7385/#.Vy1JkYR96Ul

[Sander Martin]

Their "fee" might be 5aud per transfer, but the big question is on what will their exchange rates be like. Australian banks at the moment give very crappy exchange rates. All of the money transfer companies that have a fixed rate fee have really sh&t exchange rates. They make their profit on the exchange rate.

In an another topic here somebody recommend Worldremit. I did the math and their "cheap fixed fee transfer" ended up giving the person doing the transfer 1000pesos less per 1000GBP compared to Transferwise.

Allways check the exchange rate and dont fall for the "cheap fee scam".

Edited May 7, 2016 by Sander Martin

[RBM]

Very little difference between transferwise and orbitremit, the latter give a wonderful service and I have zero complaints.

[robert k]

I'm sending USD so I exchange it myself as seems prudent so sending the maximum I can for the lowest fee works well for me. Low fee isn't a scam if you have a way of getting an acceptable rate of exchange.

Several times while I was at the exchange people have wanted to exchange piso for USD-CDN-AUS because they had to pay for something in currency other than piso at an embassy or they were leaving the country.

[Sander Martin]

3 hours ago, robert k said:

I'm sending USD so I exchange it myself as seems prudent so sending the maximum I can for the lowest fee works well for me. Low fee isn't a scam if you have a way of getting an acceptable rate of exchange.

Several times while I was at the exchange people have wanted to exchange piso for USD-CDN-AUS because they had to pay for something in currency other than piso at an embassy or they were leaving the country.

For USD it might work, but i dont think any banks/western union let you transfer Aud/cad/euro/gbp into here and give it to you in foreign cash. I have yet to find a bank that exchanges anything else than USD here - tried looking in Cebu and Iloilo - all i got was "usd only sir". They will automatically exchange it into peso and most of their rates suck.

If you have some1 to exchange your USD into pesos then you will probably get the best rate. If you just plan to exchange it in the bank/currency exchange, then im sure that Transferwise (or any other money transfer company that will use mid market rates) will give you a better deal.

[Sander Martin]

4 hours ago, RBM said:

Very little difference between transferwise and orbitremit, the latter give a wonderful service and I have zero complaints.

Ill look into them with my next transfer. Just checked their website and they offered 0.30pesos over mid market rate and 8aud per transfer... Sounds to good to be true..

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 hours ago, Sander Martin said:

 

Their "fee" might be 5aud per transfer, but the big question is on what will their exchange rates be like. Australian banks at the moment give very crappy exchange rates.

 

Yes but they are starting a remittance service so maybe the rates will be different than before? 

[Sander Martin]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Yes but they are starting a remittance service so maybe the rates will be different than before? 

Hopefully. Only time will tell. Companies like Transferwise have changed the currency transfer business alot in the last few years and we as the customers are on the winning side with faster and cheaper transfers + much better rates (used to be only the banks/major remittance firms crappy rates).

The more money i get, the happier i am. I look at different companys rates everytime i do a transfer and do the math (good thing is that most websites give you a direct quote right awey). I allways try to maximise the money i get. I go with the one that gives me best peso per aud (thats why i plan on looking at orbitremit as their rate seems better then TW today - hopefully its the same in a month or so when i need more pesos). Spending an hour or two looking around to get 500-1000pesos more per thousand AUD is well worth it if you living on savings or fixed income pension. I transfer a few thousand at a time, so it adds up. Last transfer of 5000aud got me about 5000 pesos more than the money exchangers in Iloilo would have given me for cash or how much i would have got if i took it out of the ATM with my Commonwealth ATM card. 5000 extra pesos is alot of San Migs and massages :D.

Alot of companies have to rethink their strategys or risk losing alot of business.