Bank Deposit Fee

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, bigpearl said:

10K question has never been asked.

That is an internal BPI policy.

[earthdome]

6 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

That is an internal BPI policy.

That may only be for USD deposits of 10k or more due to all the US financial reporting requirements.

[intrepid]

5 hours ago, earthdome said:

That may only be for USD deposits of 10k or more due to all the US financial reporting requirements.

I'm not sure about that.  However, the policy for the fee states "for depositing of foreign checks".  No mention of any country.

[OnMyWay]

12 minutes ago, intrepid said:

I'm not sure about that.  However, the policy for the fee states "for depositing of foreign checks".  No mention of any country.

Earthdome was referring to a separate policy I mentioned about checks over $10,000 needing regional approval.  I have talked to the manager about that and I think it is not due to the U.S. regulations; it is just internal policy.

[jpbago]

13 hours ago, bigpearl said:

If you can establish a bank account in this country and get your BDO or another banks debit card there are no fees, with BDO that is our experience.

As long as you do your business in the same branch as your account and debit card. If you go down the street to a different BDO bank, they sometimes charge 100p fee for a withdrawal at the cashier. Just sometimes. When they do, I ask for a receipt.

[bigpearl]

19 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

This topic was started because BDO charged a member $5.00 to deposit a foreign currency (USD) check.  Today I confirmed that BPI is doing the same to me.  I would assume that they are doing that for other currencies like AUD.

Writing a check and waiting for it to clear (20-30 days) has been the only absolutely fee free way to transfer dollars, until these recent fees came in.  Keep in mind that we are transferring dollars to dollars, with no exchange rate applied.  We can later choose when to exchange at a favorable rate or take the dollars to an outside money changer.

You may not be getting charged a "fee", but somebody is getting paid.  Usually it is on the exchange rate where they will give you a rate that is 1 or more pesos less than the market rate.

If you can explain in detail how to make a completely free currency transfer to the Philippines, we would all love to hear it!

Yes that's true OMW, I suppose people writing cheques have to weigh up the pro's and cons and work out if that's still the best way to go given this new fee.

"You may not be getting charged a "fee", but somebody is getting paid.  Usually it is on the exchange rate where they will give you a rate that is 1 or more pesos less than the market rate."

I cannot exchange foreign currency without paying a percentage, who can? Whether bank, broker, money changer they all want their chop. If you look at live interbank exchange rates you get an idea what the true value is but you won't get that. Our bank in Oz is about 2 pesos to the dollar under and our broker is about 50 centavos to the dollar under. Our bank charges 5 bucks for the privilege, our broker charges nothing providing we move 10 K or more in any transaction, the broker is our choice obviously these days. All deposits made to our 2 BDO accounts and also an annual deposit to the outlaws PNB account over the last 5 years have never incurred any fees, perhaps because it is Pesos? Electronic? Your thoughts? At the end of the day it's what works for the individual and their comfort level achieving it.

These are only our experiences and I am sure there are many horror stories.

Cheers, Steve.

Edited July 20, 2017 by bigpearl

[bigpearl]

7 hours ago, jpbago said:

As long as you do your business in the same branch as your account and debit card. If you go down the street to a different BDO bank, they sometimes charge 100p fee for a withdrawal at the cashier. Just sometimes. When they do, I ask for a receipt.

That may be true JP but we so far have only ever used the BDO hole in the wall ATM's, anywhere in PH, no charges. When living in Manila years ago we would go to HSBC (prior to setting up BDO accounts) and draw PHP40K at a cost of 200 pesos. Now no charges to our BDO accounts. Teller assisted I have no idea.

Cheers, Steve.

[Dave Hounddriver]

15 minutes ago, bigpearl said:

I suppose people writing cheques have to weigh up the pro's and cons

Hear ya go.  Figure out what it costs you to write and deposit your check.  Figure out how long it will take the money to clear.  Take a guess what you will get as an exchange rate by the time the money clears, then compare it to what you would get INSTANTANEOUSLY by using this method:

  Now decide for yourself which is the best option or provide another comparison

(This is the rate on Transferswise right NOW as I write this post on July 20, 2017 at about 4 PM.  By the time you deposit your check and wait for it to clear that rate may have gone way down.  It may go up but there is not a lot of room for it to go up so for me, I like a sure thing.)

[robert k]

That looks like an excellent rate, right now Dave. Would certainly save the hassle of exchanging at a money changer. 

[jpbago]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

so for me, I like a sure thing.

Now I know your reason for getting engaged.