Money transfer/banking

[Vickyb17uk]

Hi there

 

Currently living in the UK but moving out to the phillipines very soon. Currently have a uk nationwide bank account. Can anyone tell me the best/easiest way of managing/transferring money from the UK to the Philippines via a bank as I will need to transfer UK money over there?

 

Thanks

[robert k]

2 hours ago, Vickyb17uk said:

Hi there

 

Currently living in the UK but moving out to the phillipines very soon. Currently have a uk nationwide bank account. Can anyone tell me the best/easiest way of managing/transferring money from the UK to the Philippines via a bank as I will need to transfer UK money over there?

 

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.  I suggest you go to the main page and look under banking, search transfer money in general on this site, it's a discussion that comes up frequently. I personally carry in moderate sums of cash and send myself more. I think I probably will set up a foreign currency account and start depositing checks into it as many others do, or direct bank to bank transfers online. It seems like there are half as many ways as there are members here. Some people just use an ATM and just live with the charges for the convenience. 

[sonjack2847]

4 hours ago, Vickyb17uk said:

Hi there

 

Currently living in the UK but moving out to the phillipines very soon. Currently have a uk nationwide bank account. Can anyone tell me the best/easiest way of managing/transferring money from the UK to the Philippines via a bank as I will need to transfer UK money over there?

 

Thanks

Do you have a Philippines bank account and will they accept foreign transfers? I transfer money from Nat West to PNB at a cost of 22uk for 10k uk,it takes 3-4 days and is usually 1% below the online rate. This is the cheapest way I have found to do it in my circumstances. You can use a transfer to pick up cash for smaller amounts and pick it up at many outlets here.

[Huggybearman]

I have a Nationwide account. I transfer money monthly from it to my BDO account here in Phils using their SWIFT service. I do it through Nationwides online banking site, NOT their APP as the app doesn't support SWIFT transfers. Provided they receive the request by 1pm UK time it is always in my BDO account between midday and 5pm the following business day. 

Cost is £20 for any amount which is not too bad. Certainly an easy and reliable service. You do need your debit card and card reader to carry out the transaction, so if you are coming over here then I would suggest bringing a spare card reader or two just in case. 

Just a word of caution, I sent £10k over recently and it got hung up in the clearing bank in Manila. They wanted all sorts of info regarding the purpose of the money, even wanting a TIN number, (tax number) which I don't have. Eventually it was sorted, I just put it down to living expenses. Which they accepted. I have had no such hassle with amounts of £5k or less.

Ken

Edited August 28, 2019 by Huggybearman

[Snowy79]

Open an HSBC account in the UK then an HSBC in the Philippines.  You can then global link the two and then money transfers are instant and free.  The exchange rate is about .1 of a peso below the daily rate. 

[Huggybearman]

5 hours ago, robert k said:

Some people just use an ATM and just live with the charges for the convenience. 

I used to do that, initially. Using an ATM wasn't too bad when you could draw out 20k pesos in a single transaction, and the charge was 200php. Now every ATM here in CDO has a maximum limit of 10k per withdrawel and the charge is 250php. 

I also had my card swallowed by the ATM once and then the fun really began. It had to be returned to my UK bank who had to courier it out to me. All in all I was without it for nearly three weeks. 

Bank to bank transfer is way to go, IMHO.

Ken

[Eddie1]

8 hours ago, Vickyb17uk said:

Hi there

 

Currently living in the UK but moving out to the phillipines very soon. Currently have a uk nationwide bank account. Can anyone tell me the best/easiest way of managing/transferring money from the UK to the Philippines via a bank as I will need to transfer UK money over there?

 

Thanks

Sometimes you will encounter issues here opening a new bank account, you will most likely need to show an ACRi card in order to open an account and that will take several months to obtain.  You are allowed to bring in to the Phils $10,000 U.S.  that is just over £8,000 U.K., that is what I did almost 2 years ago, keep it safe and just go to a money-changing outlet when needed.   Talk to the staff in Nationwide and tell them you will be travelling in Asia including the Phils, choose the account which will give you the best deal when using an ATM machine, remember there are charges in both countries for doing this. As mentioned by others here, there are other options for sending money but this will be as easy as any whilst you are finding your feet here.  Don't forget to notify that you are using your card in the Phils and give them the dates.

[Snowy79]

You can also apply for a Halifax clarity card.  It's basically a travellers credit card that gives you the day rate for a fee of about 250 peso. 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Eddie1 said:

You are allowed to bring in to the Phils $10,000 U.S.  that is just over £8,000 U.K...

Actually, you can bring in as much as you like but anything over 10,000USD needs to be declared.

[hk blues]

I'd talk to the Nationwide and make sure you're set up for telebanking and online banking and have the necessary passwords and card reader to hand when you come here.  Also, due to new systems, Nationwide will also need an active mobile number for them to send activation codes to - if you use the card reader it's not needed but the card reader may not work so better to have a backup method.   I have a simple flex account and it works OK here, although fees are paid to use the ATM - I don't use it for that anyway but some do.  I wouldn't use it as a regular thing and instead set up electronic transfers as and when needed and transfer a fair amount less frequently to minimise fees.  

Once you have everything in place, it's simple enough to move money in.  As for moving money out - that's a different matter!