Bank Fees For Direct Deposit of SS In Philippines

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, JJReyes said:

Although my research is several years old, my understanding is the Federal Bank of New York had negotiated direct foreign deposit of Social Security benefits with partner banks all over the world. The only two countries where they can't be sent is North Korea and Cuba. There are no service fees on the US side such as wire transfer. There are no fees by the overseas bank provided the amount is converted to local currency (Philippine pesos bank account) because this is how the local bank makes money. They can and will charge fees if you have a US Dollar account. 

That sounds about right.  I never asked if there were any fees if we used a peso account because I never considered using a peso account.  For my exchanges, BPI is very competitive on the rate but I'm not sure if that would work the same if the SS was exchanged into a peso account.  I prefer to retain control of my exchange rate so that is why I never considered it.

I did a quick calc and if BPI exchanged my child's anticipated amount into pesos, and gave us 27 centavos less than the mid_market rate (XE), that would be about break even with the $6.50 service charge on the dollar account.

[Queenie O.]

On 5/18/2018 at 1:49 PM, Happyhorn52 said:

It's my understanding that BDO makes it difficult to withdraw your money from any branch other than your home branch. I believe you have to get written approval from your home branch and pay a fee. 

I'm not sure if you need approval, but I think that any transaction in a BDO that is not your regular branch charges 200 pesos.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

32 minutes ago, Queenie O. said:

I'm not sure if you need approval, but I think that any transaction in a BDO that is not your regular branch charges 200 pesos.

Yeah, we had to pay a fee to use a branch that was not our "home" branch.  When our home branch closed - no one could tell us if we had a new one.  As orphaned accounts we would have to pay a fee any time we used the bank.  I got out of that mismanaged cheap franchise operation as quick as I could ha ha.  I now do all my banking online, using my US account.  It is much better, and more convenient.

I never heard of a deposit fee until I got to the PIs. The banks forget we are doing them a favor by giving them our money. I would never pay a deposit fee. I had accounts at BDO and BPI.  I like BPI much better, but I gave up on all their stupidity. I will stick with USAA.

Edited June 2, 2018 by Tukaram (Tim)

[intrepid]

4 hours ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

I never heard of a deposit fee until I got to the PIs. The banks forget we are doing them a favor by giving them our money. I would never pay a deposit fee. I had accounts at BDO and BPI.  I like BPI much better, but I gave up on all their stupidity. I will stick with USAA.

Tim, I agree 100% on the bank deposit fee.  Since you do not use a PI bank, and are using USAA, what method and fees do you have sending yourself money from the US?

[OnMyWay]

30 minutes ago, intrepid said:

Tim, I agree 100% on the bank deposit fee.  Since you do not use a PI bank, and are using USAA, what method and fees do you have sending yourself money from the US?

I wanted to open an account at USAA but they are strict about not opening accounts for foreign residents.  At least non-military foreign residents.  Tim has probably been with them for years and uses a U.S. address, if I remember correctly.

They make getting your money easy by refunding all foreign ATM fees, I think up to 10 per month.  My Fidelity does that as well but if Fidelity thinks I am living here they will close my accounts.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I use a mail forwarding service and use that address for the bank.  I opened it right before leaving the US, but they never had my real address.   To get money I just use the ATM.  BPI machines allow foreign cards to take p20k at a time, and USAA refunds ATM fees, up to $15 a month per account. I did call them and tell them I would be in the PIs and not to turn off my ATM or credit card.  When they asked how long... I said I had no plans on going back to the US.  They did not seem to care.

[earthdome]

2 hours ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

I use a mail forwarding service and use that address for the bank.  I opened it right before leaving the US, but they never had my real address.   To get money I just use the ATM.  BPI machines allow foreign cards to take p20k at a time, and USAA refunds ATM fees, up to $15 a month per account. I did call them and tell them I would be in the PIs and not to turn off my ATM or credit card.  When they asked how long... I said I had no plans on going back to the US.  They did not seem to care.

How is the FX rate?

[Tukaram (Tim)]

9 hours ago, earthdome said:

How is the FX rate?

Not bad. I hit the ATM 2 days a go and got 52.06 to the dollar. 

[robert k]

I expect I never will retire, my income is classed as investment/self employment so social security ponderings are looking like a mental exercise.

I decided I didn't want a bank account in the Philippines, I had one here before, saw how it was and expected more of the same. It would have made it easier for my new car purchase but I carried half the purchase price with me and sent myself the rest. I will just continue to send myself money, maybe open the Charles Schwab account next trip to the US.

Edited June 3, 2018 by robert k

[Roadhawg]

Is it best to have a dollar account or both dollar and Peso.