Cash withdrawal fees.

[Matthias1288]

Hey all ,-)) So i just got here like a week ago, i thought i could just take easely money in any ATM, am from EU. Now the problem is i could so far either not take cash out, or at some atm's 5000PHP max,. and pay a 250 fee. That's quite high, as i end up taking at times 3-4 times money lets say 20k php, and pay 1k php on it.

Is there any better way, to either take more in 1 time, and pay the fee,.. or what to best do, as i cant open a banc. acc. yet, as i need to get extensions and ARC i believe first. As now i am really spending more on fees then on food as i figure of speech ,-)))

TX

[jrlee183]

HSBC, Citibank, and some BPI ATMs allow you to withdraw up to 20k at a time i believe.  Also, HSBC dont charge either

You could always use a remittance service like world remit to transfer the cash to yourself and pick up from a local agent. that would be much cheaper

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I have never seen a p5,000 max machine. That would be rough.  I use BPI because it lets me take p20,000 in one transaction, which happens to be about all my US bank will let me take in a day anyway.  They do charge a p250 fee, but my bank refunds it to me. 

[Matthias1288]

Tx for the comments this helps a lot.

Yeh it's weird, i live at Mundaluyong near a Robinson mall, there they got like 4 atm's, at 2 i simply couldn't do anything, the other 2 only display max withdrawal savings or checking 10k PHP, but never managed to take more then 5k at a time. Guess it's time to go look for a HSBC, Citi, or BPI banc now ,-)))

[Jollygoodfellow]

6 minutes ago, Matthias1288 said:

Tx for the comments this helps a lot.

Yeh it's weird, i live at Mundaluyong near a Robinson mall, there they got like 4 atm's, at 2 i simply couldn't do anything, the other 2 only display max withdrawal savings or checking 10k PHP, but never managed to take more then 5k at a time. Guess it's time to go look for a HSBC, Citi, or BPI banc now ,-)))

Do you have a visa or mastercard logo on your card? Look at the machines. Some local ones wont work for you but the big banks will. 

[GeoffH]

World Remit has already been mentioned (and I use it quite a bit) but there is also Western Union.

 

You can send money to yourself using either the logon details for an overseas bank account (called POLI) or you can use a Visa or Mastercard Debit card and pay for the transfer using that.  NB if you use a credit card (and you can) then it will be treated as a cash advance.

[Matthias1288]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Do you have a visa or mastercard logo on your card? Look at the machines. Some local ones wont work for you but the big banks will. 

Actually maestro it says on my card Bancontact KBC debit, in my country they set this up for international cash withdrawals, and so far in many other one's i've been i've not had these issues.

[Old55]

52 minutes ago, Matthias1288 said:

Actually maestro it says on my card Bancontact KBC debit, in my country they set this up for international cash withdrawals, and so far in many other one's i've been i've not had these issues.

You may want to contact your bank and inform them you are in the Philippines even though its an lnternational withdrawal card.

[Snowy79]

I draw up to 50k with my HSBC card at most banks with no fee. Overseas cards do tend to charge 250 peso at most atms though. 

[bows00]

I don't know if it is available in the EU, but in the US, I use the Charles Schwab debit card that allows unlimited withdrawals and redeems all transaction fees at the end of the month.  At 10,000 peso a crack, it works for me.