Lowest cost options for sending $1-2K USD to the Philippines

[earthdome]

The wife and I rarely send any money to the Philippines and when we have it is usually in the $100-$200 USD range. Some huge medical costs are now impacting my wife's family and we likely will be sending $1,000 to $2,000 at a time to help with the medical expenses.

Our new nephew was born with a heart defect and just had open heart surgery at the Philippine Heart Center in Manila. He is only 3 weeks old. His chances are good if he makes it through the next 24 hours after surgery. They detected the problem before he was born and originally were going to do a c-section and immediate surgery. But he couldn't wait. His mother went into labor early and he was born almost a week before the scheduled date. This complicated things but he was able to hold on until they could get him into surgery even though he was starting to show signs of oxygen deprivation. He was born with transposed heart veins. My wife's middle brother is the father. I have mentioned him here before. He serves with the PNP in Manila and we helped sponsor the marksmanship team he is on.

My wife's parents have already sent more than 100K pesos. I would like to keep the fee's as low as possible so that the max possible amount that we send can go to help the family.

[OnMyWay]

So sorry to hear this news, but praying for a positive outcome!

I have not sent money in a long time but if you look back at my old posts, I had done some comparisons.  They would have all changed now and the lowest cost will depend on the send and delivery methods, e.g. bank to bank, pickup, etc.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Worldremit

Used for years and fees etc getting lower

[Clermont]

Worldremit: used them for over six years, direct to bank, just follow their starting procedure and set for life, 5 star.

[GeoffH]

World Remit is also my goto option.

 

NB They're busier than normal at the moment.

Edited August 24, 2021 by GeoffH

[earthdome]

On 8/23/2021 at 10:47 AM, OnMyWay said:

So sorry to hear this news, but praying for a positive outcome!

I have not sent money in a long time but if you look back at my old posts, I had done some comparisons.  They would have all changed now and the lowest cost will depend on the send and delivery methods, e.g. bank to bank, pickup, etc.

Will try to find that.

Thanks

[OnMyWay]

41 minutes ago, earthdome said:

Will try to find that.

Thanks

Check your PM.  I sent you an Excel file.

[Balisidar]

I usually use transfer wise or wise as they're known now.

Never had any problems with that amount using them.  Low fees and also getting lower.

[earthdome]

I was going to use World Remit but I couldn't get my debit card to work. World Remit said the card was refused my credit union said they debit was never requested. After wasting a good part of the morning I gave up. The rate was very good and they had a code for 3 free transfers.

Then I went to Transferwise. I had forgotten that I already had an account. They ended up with a rate a few USD lower than World Remit on a $2000 remittance. I wasn't able to connect my credit union account using the online Plaid system but was able to connect an older bank account I have. Then it was just a matter of transferring cash from the credit union to the bank so my Transferwise could be funded and go through. All done. My BIL will get the funds Tuesday.

Regarding my new nephew. He has been out of surgery for 3 days now and is making progress. No news yet on when he will be able to go home. The bills even with Phil Health already total more than 1M pesos. This will be a huge drain on family resources which will impact them for years.

 

[earthdome]

Oh, thanks for all the suggestions for remittance.