Dollar Acct Question.

[russellmania]

When you guys write a check for lets say $2000 and wait 30 days for the check to clear,when you withdraw does the bank give you nice clean $100 notes to take to moneychanger?

[earthdome]

4 minutes ago, russellmania said:

When you guys write a check for lets say $2000 and wait 30 days for the check to clear,when you withdraw does the bank give you nice clean $100 notes to take to moneychanger?

I normally only had to wait 21 days for my check to be available to spend. Yes you can get crisp $100 bills but if you need too many you might want to give the bank a few days notice. With BPI having a very competitive fx rate within centavo's of what you get from a money changer I would just do my FX from my dollar account to my peso account using online banking where I had my accounts with BPI.

[scott h]

1 hour ago, russellmania said:

does the bank give you nice clean $100 notes to take to moneychanger?

Yes, as Earth said we give our bank 24 hours notice and have never had a problem.

[mogo51]

Same in Oz.

[russellmania]

I went on BPI website and I didn see a U.S Dollar Checking Acct in any catagories they had,which one to choose to open a U.S $ acct?

Express Dollar Savings	$ 500	$ 500	$ 500	0.250%
Dollar Savings with Passbook	$ 500	$ 500	$ 500	0.250%
Maxi-Saver Savings with Passbook (USD)	$ 2,500	$ 2,500	$ 2,500	Less than $ 2,500	N.A
				2,500 <10,000	0.500%
				10,000 < 20,000	0.625%
				20,000 and above	0.750%
				With 0.500% BONUS p.a. if no withdrawal in a month
Pamana Saving Account with Life Insurance (USD) w/ Passbook

[scott h]

Interesting question that has never been asked to my knowledge. We bank at BPI also. We have a dollar savings account and a peso checking account. Never asked about a dollar "checking" account. We have option 3 with passbook.

For myself I do not see the need for a dollar checking account. Where would a person use it inside the Philippines?

[russellmania]

Oh ok I get it now. As long as its a US dollar acct it really does not matter which of the dollar accts a person opens. I dont know where I got the "checking" part from.

[OnMyWay]

56 minutes ago, russellmania said:

Oh ok I get it now. As long as its a US dollar acct it really does not matter which of the dollar accts a person opens. I dont know where I got the "checking" part from.

It does matter which dollar account you select.  Personally I would never want a "passbook" account where you carry around your little passbook everywhere.  I see a lot of Filipinos with them I guess because that is how they keep track of their money.  I last had a passbook account when I was a little boy in the 60's.

I have the dollar account that comes with an ATM card (the first one I guess) and I keep track of everything online and on my computer.

Regarding exchanging, BPI always gives me a good rate and I am not going to carry a lot of cash to a moneychanger to get an extra 5 or 10 centavos on the exchange.  If there were a really large exchange to do where that much might make a difference, arrange it in advance a bit and ask the moneychanger to meet you at the bank.  I have never done this but I know others do.

[Dave Hounddriver]

40 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Personally I would never want a "passbook" account

You may change your mind if your chosen bank fails and you go to the PDIC to get your money back.  A passbook shows exactly how much money you have in the bank.  Filipinos learned long ago not to trust most banks.  But you should be OK if you have a small balance in a bank that is unlikely to fail, I'm just explaining why many like those passbooks.

[OnMyWay]

5 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

You may change your mind if your chosen bank fails and you go to the PDIC to get your money back.  A passbook shows exactly how much money you have in the bank.  Filipinos learned long ago not to trust most banks.  But you should be OK if you have a small balance in a bank that is unlikely to fail, I'm just explaining why many like those passbooks.

Never thought of that.  BPI is solid and I keep a soft copy of all my statements, so I'm not too worried.  I can see that concern at small banks though.