Best Bank?

[Colsie]

20 hours ago, Sheriff2144 said:

Thankyou all for your answers,

Yes, my original question was best bank re the SRRV however, realising that the money in that account cannot be touched, the other replies have helped in regards to everyday banking, so all answers have been relevant. I like the 2 account suggestion for redundancy.

Thanks again :)

My experience was initially with China Bank and brought my USD deposit from overseas as per the SRRV rules. Unfortunately, China Bank wasn't getting enough out of the SRRV scheme and withdrew from it the following week. 

I was told by the PRA, it's OK, just transfer the money to another bank, in which case I transfered it to the bank of commerce simply because it was close to where I was staying and they had the best interest rate. 

As it happened, on the second year the PRA changed the rules and took a much bigger slice of the interest. So, not much point really, you'll not reap the benefit of higher returns in my opinion. 

[Nickleback99]

Don't know who you might bank with in Australia, or if even matters, but for those from US, I used to transfer funds directly from my W. Fargo account to my wife's account at BPI before she moved to the US, at no charge as WF had some business arrangement with BPI.  I'm sure I got skimmed money by WF on the margin (since they give me an ATM withdrawal rate around 1 php less than the going rate), but it was convenient and I could easily make the transfers with a phone call.  Funds usually showed up in her account in about 3 days.   I don't recall if there was a limit.   Now that we are back here in Philippines, we plan on exploring that option again while opening accounts here.