Moving Cash for home purchase

[davewe]

So now that we're a month away from the big move I get to do lots of the nuts and bolts stuff in preparation. Went to our bank, credit union and Fidelity (retirement account) yesterday to ask about any gotchas about living in the Philippines. Most of the stuff they said I already knew.

However I told them that eventually I would probably be buying a home in PI and asked can I wire or bank transfer a larger sum for such a purchase. Bank of America told me that no, $10k/month was my max online or via phone. My only option would be to come into the branch to arrange a larger wire.

The Credit union doesn't wire to a foreign bank at all. Fidelity wasn't sure if there was any strategy available.

Now we do intend to return to the US annually and so I could make it happen when I am "home". But I wondered if anyone has a better strategy. I never intended to have a large amount in a Philippines bank for an extended period of time, so always assumed that when it came time to buy a property I'd do it then.

Edited June 25, 2017 by davewe

[bigpearl]

5 hours ago, davewe said:

So now that we're a month away from the big move I get to do lots of the nuts and bolts stuff in preparation. Went to our bank, credit union and Fidelity (retirement account) yesterday to ask about any gotchas about living in the Philippines. Most of the stuff they said I already knew.

However I told them that eventually I would probably be buying a home in PI and asked can I wire or bank transfer a larger sum for such a purchase. Bank of America told me that no, $10k/month was my max online or via phone. My only option would be to come into the branch to arrange a larger wire.

The Credit union doesn't wire to a foreign bank at all. Fidelity wasn't sure if there was any strategy available.

Now we do intend to return to the US annually and so I could make it happen when I am "home". But I wondered if anyone has a better strategy. I never intended to have a large amount in a Philippines bank for an extended period of time, so always assumed that when it came time to buy a property I'd do it then.

Hi Dave, we did this recently (large sum) to pay for property. I contacted my bank, telephone banking (Westpac Australia) and upped my daily transfer limit to 200K per day, a month prior to this after research I set up an account with Worldremit as their rates were good. I never went to the bank branch, telephone banking once, several calls to the broker and then electronic transfer on my laptop.

Once we received confirmation that titles etc were secure and statement of account I transferred the money in AUD to the broker on a Tuesday afternoon, they sent it in Pesos to the realestate agents trust account on Thursday, amazingly they received it Friday afternoon and issued a cheque to the vendor on Monday morning. 

This was something I worried over for quite some time needlessly, it was pretty easy and went smoothly. In saying all this what I did have to do with Worldremit was supply the address and lot numbers of the 2 properties being purchased as part of the paperwork, money laundering? Drugs etc.

There were no charges from my bank and because it was a large amount, no fee from the broker and only point 4% under the bank interchange rate, my bank wanted nearly 2 percent. Hope this helps.

Cheers, Steve.

Edited June 25, 2017 by bigpearl

[jpbago]

6 hours ago, davewe said:

My only option would be to come into the branch to arrange a larger wire.

I do that once or twice each year, bank to bank in pesos. 

[mogo51]

7 hours ago, davewe said:

So now that we're a month away from the big move I get to do lots of the nuts and bolts stuff in preparation. Went to our bank, credit union and Fidelity (retirement account) yesterday to ask about any gotchas about living in the Philippines. Most of the stuff they said I already knew.

However I told them that eventually I would probably be buying a home in PI and asked can I wire or bank transfer a larger sum for such a purchase. Bank of America told me that no, $10k/month was my max online or via phone. My only option would be to come into the branch to arrange a larger wire.

The Credit union doesn't wire to a foreign bank at all. Fidelity wasn't sure if there was any strategy available.

Now we do intend to return to the US annually and so I could make it happen when I am "home". But I wondered if anyone has a better strategy. I never intended to have a large amount in a Philippines bank for an extended period of time, so always assumed that when it came time to buy a property I'd do it then.

That is what I did here in Thailand Dave, just contacted the bank and advised them in advance that I was needing to withdraw the funds.  It did take awhile at the time, but manageable.  Did you ask if you can 'temporarily' increase the maximum, as I did?

[davewe]

15 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

That is what I did here in Thailand Dave, just contacted the bank and advised them in advance that I was needing to withdraw the funds.  It did take awhile at the time, but manageable.  Did you ask if you can 'temporarily' increase the maximum, as I did?

I just have to wonder if it's a US regulatory thing. They did say that there was a process but in all likelihood I would find it too horrible to even attempt.

Interestingly, all 3 institutions told me not to tell them that I reside in the Philippines. That telling them that bit of info guaranteed I would have more problems and account restrictions. So mums the word!

Edited June 25, 2017 by davewe

[mogo51]

20 minutes ago, davewe said:

I just have to wonder if it's a US regulatory thing. They did say that there was a process but in all likelihood I would find it too horrible to even attempt.

Interestingly, all 3 institutions told me not to tell them that I reside in the Philippines. That telling them that bit of info guaranteed I would have more problems and account restrictions. So mums the word!

Sounds like a plan Dave.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, davewe said:

Interestingly, all 3 institutions told me not to tell them that I reside in the Philippines. That telling them that bit of info guaranteed I would have more problems and account restrictions. So mums the word!

I have posted about Fidelity almost locking my accounts due to a Philippines address.

When I bought my house I transferred money from my Fidelity account to my Chase account, then did wire transfers.  I never attempted it from Fidelity because of the foreign residence issue.

I thought I could do one large wire transfer from Chase, but I was limited to $25k per day.  So I had to do that 3 times.  BPI charged a small amount on the receiving end.  If you search I have a post about this.

[JJReyes]

Find out if you bank offers private banking services. This is usually a service for their affluent customers.  All major banks have them. 

They might issue you a security token (or fobs). This could be virtual or physical, but you have to get it in person prior to your departure. It is like a unique "token" in your possession that confirms you identity for the bank. When you need money -- for example, $200,000 -- a token is used when communicating with you bank. A second token is needed if you need an additional $50,000. Only you and the private banker assigned to your account are privy. So when overseas, they know it is you communicating.

Philippines now has a bad reputation after the Central Bank of Bangladesh (or was it Sri Lanka) incident so your private banker might not do it.

 

[Clermont]

I'm pleased to hear World remit will except the $200 k transfer, Is the process just notify your bank of a large amount being withdrawn and getting a one off increase on your debit card? We have used World remit for years, 200 k peso at a time, no worries. My wife is a Filipino and she has an account in Land Bank, no worries to date with that bank, no charges,Peso in account same day, electronically monitored from Australia. I stand corrected, but i believe you have to be a Filipino to open an account.

[bigpearl]

13 hours ago, Clermont said:

I'm pleased to hear World remit will except the $200 k transfer, Is the process just notify your bank of a large amount being withdrawn and getting a one off increase on your debit card? We have used World remit for years, 200 k peso at a time, no worries. My wife is a Filipino and she has an account in Land Bank, no worries to date with that bank, no charges,Peso in account same day, electronically monitored from Australia. I stand corrected, but i believe you have to be a Filipino to open an account.

My apologies. It was "World First" that we used not World remit,,,,,,,,, blonde moment.

Cheers, Steve.