Good bank for an expat in the Philippines?

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, Shady said:

I'd love to use the peso account, the problem is all the funds are in the PH USD account, and I get an error when attempting to move money on the website from that account to the PH Peso account. Is that even possible to do?

 

 

 

 

If with the HSBC you can't move the money yourself from the Dollar to the Peso, you have to use the secure messenger service to do it.  I just fire off a secure message requesting them to transfer as much as I need.  Sometimes it's done within a few hours at other times up to two working days.

[dephekt]

I wanted to mention that on a tourist visa I was able to open an account with Security Bank after providing my ACR I-card, my passport and proof of income/employment. I move money to it from my American bank account (US Bank) using TransferWise and it generally only takes 30-60 minutes for the funds to be available as long as it's not a large amount ($1000+).

It's helpful because now I can easily do online bill pay for my PLDT and VECO bills. It's been a life saver during COVID particularly when taxis were unavailable in Cebu City.

I used the Uptown Osmeña branch (154 Osmeña Blvd.). It took about a week, because they had to fax all of my paperwork to their head office in Manila, they said, then called me the week after to tell me it was approved. I then had to go back in and fill out more paperwork but it was not difficult and they did a lot of the work for me.

I had a Filipina with me who helped a lot, it may not be as easy for someone that doesn't speak Tagalog. The person we dealt with spoke some English but not at a high level, so having my fiancé there to jump in was invaluable.

[OnMyWay]

A couple of you seem to have a lot of HSBC experience, so here goes....

1.  From here in the Philippines, do you think I can open a U.S. HSBC account, remotely.  If so, can a Philippines address be used?

2.  Same question, but can my wife and I open a joint account.  My wife has an ITIN for U.S. tax purposes.

3.  Same question, but do you think my U.S. citizen kids, with my wife as custodian, can open accounts?  In their case, it is for deposit of their Social Security checks.  I checked, and U.S. HSBC does take SS direct deposits.

[Dave Hounddriver]

5 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

can my wife and I open a joint account.

I strongly suggest the answer is yes and here is why.

When applying for a Visa to Canada, my lady and I were asked why we do not have a joint bank account if we were living as man and wife.  I said that the bank manager told us we cannot do that in the Philippines. Then we were asked to forward a letter from the bank manager stating this was the case.

Once he was put on the spot, the manager wrote that he often discourages people from joint accounts because of the problems it can cause but the bank CANNOT stop us from opening a joint account if we insist.

Your mileage may vary.

[Shady]

8 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

A couple of you seem to have a lot of HSBC experience, so here goes....

1.  From here in the Philippines, do you think I can open a U.S. HSBC account, remotely.  If so, can a Philippines address be used?

Look into their brand new "Global Account" - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201123005903/en/HSBC-Bank-Launches-Single-Global-Account-and-Real-Time-Payments-Platform-HSBC-Global-Money-Account

[OnMyWay]

5 hours ago, Shady said:

Look into their brand new "Global Account" - https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201123005903/en/HSBC-Bank-Launches-Single-Global-Account-and-Real-Time-Payments-Platform-HSBC-Global-Money-Account

That would probably be a good option but they don't include the Philippines yet.  If they included Philippines, that would be a good way to maintain some pesos for gifts, etc.  I will keep my eye on this to see if they add the Philippines.

Edit:  For added context, this is all based on the fact that we plan to move to the U.S. in 2022.

Edited December 7, 2020 by OnMyWay