HI, BESIDES WESTERN UNION, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO SEND MONEY OVERSEAS AND THE MONEY GO DIRECTLY INTO MY FIANCEE'S BANK ACCOUNT.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

have actually only used WU but call your bank and see if they can do a direct wire

A wire transfer from your bank to her bank should do the trick. Expect to pay a fee at your bank, the correspondent bank (middle man) and the bank of your fiancee! You will likely have to go to your bank in person as most no longer will accept wire transfer orders over the phone. You will also need the full name and address of your fiancee, her bank account number, her bank's routing (or ABA) number and SWIFT code. This will take a few days to get to her - international wires tend to take at minimum 3 business days for processing - so if you are looking to get something to her quickly, Western Union is the way to go!

Is there any reason that western union won't work the best? Sometimes there are harder circumstances where they cannot get it that way. A bank transfer is a lot more-unfortuneately

Actually the best way is to open an account for her here and give her access to an ATM card.

Ithink this is also the best way. Only one mailing, the card. Wetern union is not cheap. i had to wire some money for an apartmen i was renting. Thnk it cost me 46 bucks

She doesn't happen to bank with PNB does she? If so you can send money to her account online.

http://www.pnbrci.com/

It takes 3 or 4 days and costs $10. They also have an option to send the money to the recipient in person.

I use remithome.com
https://www.remithome.com/

It works well when there is an account established in the Philippines to transfer the funds to. You link an account, I use a dedicated saving account and then transfer the funds all from the internet. It costs a $10.00 flat fee all the way up to the max, currently $1000.00 and the exchange rate is decent. Depending on the destination bank, takes between 2-5 business days to become available.

Marilyn and Peter.

hi,

after 27 receipts of western union, we decided to use xoom..a friend of mine has recommended it..it's 24 hours if u use EXPRESS sending and takes 2-5 days for economy the charge is half of western union.the charge varies depending on the amount sent... it could be picked up by receiver or direct to her account..mine is to my account and just use atm to check or withdraw. u will have a notice via ur email if u have it and u can track the process ...

visit www.xoom.com

why not open an ATM account under her name and you could just wire transfer your money anytime. It is like you depositing some amount of money in her account.

Moneygram. I used to us WU but it was way too expensive. The economy transfer takes a few days but only 10 bucks.

I also just gave my Wife-2-B an ATM card to my bank account. Never have to use WU or anything else...works great!

I opened up a savings account linked to my main account at my credit union and requested an ATM card. When I visited Claudeth I gave her the card. It sure made things a lot easier. Her parents now have the card. The BPI bank charges us 50 cents to use the ATM and my credit union charges a dollar to use an ATM outside their network. This is tons cheaper than Western Union and the conversion rate is also much better.

Western Union is expensive to transfer money and then also makes money on the conversion rate. I used them a few times and they charged me about 30 bucks to send 300 and then gave a conversion rate of about a peso per dollar less than the going rate. See my other post, that has worked out the best for me.

I once heard that if you both have paypal accounts you can send money that way real cheap but I am not sure exactly how it works. It may be worth looking into.

Try XOOM.com they have good rates and the cheapest way to wire money over seas. I used it many time to send my wife money to her bank while she was still over in the Philippines.

George,

Use Xoom.com...they are the cheapest - the rate is $3.50 to send up to $40.00 to her and she can pick up the money at any Equitable PCI Bank with the proper ID.


Sending her an ATM card for an account you keep open here in the states would be the best way to go in the long run, but if you need to get money to her immediately, use Xoom instead of Western Union and save yourself a lot of money.

I forget what the rates were because i havent used xoom.com for a long time now lol.

After frustration mounted with Moneygam and WU, we went the atm card route. Convenient, simple, cheap and easy.

After frustration mounted with Moneygam and WU, we went the atm card route. Convenient, simple, cheap and easy.

I would also suggest Paypal if it's an option...I *believe* if you both have a Paypal account it can be done anywhere in the world, but I'm *not* sure on that. Craig's Nan and uncle just sent us some Christmas money that way. It does cost the sender some, but not a lot...although I'm not sure how much the fee would go up if the amount was substantial. ? Anyway, you could look into it. Even if she(I think she...sorry, read quickly) doesn't have a Paypal account, they're free, and it doesn't take long to set one up...she would make an account and enter a bank account to get verified (only necessary the first time) and to withdraw money (or put it into her banking account) it takes 3-4 days. Guess this would only work if she didn't need the money *immediately* but could wait that long. Something you could check out anyway...whatever you do, hope you found a good answer for you! M.

Citibank is the way....


I have had my citicard(citi account) for 8 years. No fees at all!!!!!! Instant transfer!!!


open an account at citibank. and send your citicard(citibank atm card for your account) to your fiance/wife. She can pull money from any atm in the world with that card. The fee varies on what the atm charges for each transaction usually 1-2 dollars. Some banks dont even charge you anything and there are citibank atms in most countries.

I deposit money to my account and at the same time my wife can pull the money from any atm in the US. there is no citibank in massachusetts but she uses soverign banks atms and those dont charge anything. completely free instant transaction.

when i was studying in the US , my mom used it to send me money from Turkey. We had a joint account at Citibank Turkey. She could deposit money with her card in turkey and i could withdraw it in the US with my card at any ATM. You can withdraw upto 1450 dollars a day(600 each transaction)

if you want direct deposit to bank accounts.....citibank charges 8 dollars to citibank to citibank account transfer(international)........and 15.75 for citibank to anyother bank(international. these are flat rates whatever the amount is.

but I strongly suggest , call citibank and open an account. mail your citicard to your fiance /wife. she can use that card in her country to pull money from your account.

The cheapest way I did this was through my online bank account straight to his bankaccount.

Cost me $13 to transfer and him $13 to recieve.
And takes about 3 to 5 days

we used paypal...worked like a charm!

We used iKobo. Very decent rates. Wish we knew about it before we spent a fortune with Western Union.

For sending money to the Philippines, "Xoom.com" is much cheaper and way better than Western Union. And it provides you much more choices. U can have money directly deposit into your Fiancée’s bank account, or you can even request cash to be delivered at your Fiancée’s Door, or even have your Fiancée pick it up in Dollars at participating bank. It is really convenient, you don't need to go anywhere but just click any of these options through Internet. Just check to see if her bank is listed on the participating banks for direct deposit. I’m pretty sure most of the well-known banks in P.I. are. You can even deposit in dollars if ur Fiancée’s account is a Dollar-account. I was soo happy to find out about this cuz it saved both me & my wife lots of time. She doesn't need to leave the house any more but just wait for the money to be deposited. Check this out," https://www.xoom.com/"


Hope this will help.
Good luck

J. Wang

I've been using remithome for over a year now. Service is good with decent forex rate. They charge $8 per recurring transfer. I had it set up to automatically debit my bank account each month. However I'm looking into just sending an ATM card. We have an account with USAA (military only) and they don't charge fees for withdrawals anywhere in the world for up to 15 transactions per month.

I've heard good things about OxForex (www.oxforex.com). I can't remember their basic charge (maybe 10-15 American dollars), but they say they offer the best exchange rates.

-Mary

Paypay and Citibank are both good options. If you are not in a rush to send money Paypal is good.

If you are sending a large amount of money say over $100 then WU's 'Money in Minutes' available on their website only is cheaper than a normal WU wire transfer. I have sent up to $300 to Nepal for a flat fee of $10 and the transfer is almost instant. If you have a credit or debit card you have $$ withdrawn from your account online and then you will receive a confirmation email with a transaction ID number which you can forward to the recipient's email account, then they can go to any WU location with the number and their ID to pick up the money.

I also recommend Paypal - have never sent $$ to my Maya that way but have bought too much stuff on eBay from sellers in Nepal, India, UK, Australia, etc. and paid for all using Paypal. When you open an account you can get a debit card to use with the account. You do need to have a current checking account to open a Paypal account though, I believe.

I have sent money thru my bank to jordan. It took a month to get there.
I have sent thru western union and it cost an arm and leg.
I have given him an atm card and it costs 1.50


Wendy

I wired money from my credit union directly into my fiancee's bank account in the Philippines. You will need to know:
Fiancee's Bank name; Fiancee's bank account number; Forex number from her bank, (some banks don't have a Forex number) and the fiancee's name and address. It only took 3 days for the money from my acccount to get put into hers. We opened a joint account. I would also suggest you open a dollar account in the same bank. Sometimes it is hard or nearly impossible to exchange pesos back into dollars. I have a substantial amount of pesos in her savings account, but they won't transfer the money back to my credit union and they won't change the pesos back into dollars to give to me. Don't use western Union if transfering money from the Philippines back to the US. They will charge you for the conversion of pesos to dollars and then charge you a large fee for the transfer. They will not give the money directly to you. They will send it to a Western Union near where you live. When you get back to the states, if the money isn't in your nearest Western Union Office, you will then have to deal with the Philippine Western Union AND the Western Union it was supposedly sent to in the US.
Some malls in the philippines will exchange dollars into pesos but won't change the pesos back into dollars
Also, if you open an ATM in the philippines for Us dollars, be prepared to pay a large fee for every withdrawl.
There are also Money Changers in the Philippines, but they charge a hefty fee also.

Other Western Union and money orders,
If you have a bank account, there are several ways to transfer money overseas through the banking system. Not all banks operate in the same way. Check with your local bank for details.

Sending a Check Abroad

• Check clearing can take from 4 - 6 weeks.
• Even though it's easy to issue a check, it may not be easy for the recipient to cash the check.
• The recipient will be charged a fee of about $50 for check processing.
• Some countries have less streamlined banking systems than others and may not honor foreign-drawn checks.

Foreign Drafts

• Depending on which city or town you live in, this can take from a few days to a week for the bank to prepare the draft.
• You mail the draft to the recipient.
• The money comes out of your account when the draft is prepared, not when the recipient gets it.
• There is a fee for this service of about $25.
• Since the draft is drawn on your bank to another (corresponding) bank, the recipient must have access to the corresponding bank.

Wire Transfers

• You don't have to be a customer of the bank to wire funds, but you have to pay cash.
• This is quicker than a Foreign Draft, since it is done almost immediately.
• The fee is about $65 for non-customers and about $40 for bank customers.
• The recipient must have access to the corresponding bank.

Or you can open a seperate checking account, ask for debit cards ...send one to your SO and keep one for yourself...add money to the account. Fees do apply here still.

Express Padala if she has an Equitable/PCI bank account
http://www.pcib.com/affiliates2003/express_padala/ep.htm

They can be found in most Filipino markets and elsewhere throughout the U.S. - $5 "only" service charge.

I checked out http://www.oxforex.com/ and this website seems to be dead.

Great thread, thanks, everyone! I have been mulling over alternatives to Western union. Not sure which of these options will actually work for Russia but I'll look into the Paypal idea or getting an extra debit card.

Try ikobo

OPEN ANOTHER
*CHECK CARD OR
* DEBIT CARD OR
*ATM CARD
IN YOUR EXISTING CREDIT UNION OR BANK.
THEN MAIL THE CARD THRU
*UPS OR
*DHL OR
* FEDEX.
THERE WILL BE NO FEE FOR WIRING A MONEY. NO HASSLE NO WORRIES.

THIS CARD SOULD WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES AS LONG AS YOU SEE A
*VISA OR
*CIRRUS OR
*PLUS OR
*STAR LOGO ON IT

XOOM/ LBC PADALA/ WU IS OK BUT WHY WOULD YOU PAY FOR WIRING A MONEY IF YOU DONT REALLY HAVE TO. YOU CAN DO THIS THRU YOUR BANK OR CREDIT UNION. THEY'D BE GLAD TO ASSIST YOU OPEN ONE.GO FOR IT, SOME DONT EVEN HAVE A MAINTAINING BALANCE.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS IT'S FREE TO WIRE THE MONEY.THAT'S IT.

http://www.xoom.com

deposit into an account, decent exchange rates, decent fees, deposits quickly to account (email takes a while, but if you log into the account you see the money there right away)

pickup .. your SO can pick up the money in person from an associated bank with 2 forms of ID and a secret word (I think) .. very fast

EDIT: plus it is nice to have receipts that you are actually supporting your SO in their country when it comes to interview time .. can't get that with an ATM card

I use XOOM... http://www.xoom.com

It's a great way to send money. It's fast, secure and reliable. You can pay with credit card, PayPal, or using your checking account.

So far I've used it 4 times, and it's worked great every time. After you send the money it's usually ready to be picked up in about 30 minutes or less.

Good luck!

I've been using this site for about a year works great: https://www.pnbrcionline.com/exec/pnb/wr.net.tss

Wire transfer from one account to another. It's MUCH cheaper than Western Union and it takes only a few hours (it may take longer, depends on a bank).

XOOM.COM excellent never any problems, very satisfied low fees

One Option i think people might have mentioned it already. Look for a Bank that both of you can have access to. Open an account, so whenever you withdraw funds from those 2 countries there are no fees involved. Citibank has an option for Global Transfer for NRI you don't pay any fees so i am not sure for other countries, this is in case you want to move funds from one account here to another account overseas, but if it's the same account, no fees involved to free widrawal..

Western Union costs a lot. Read their fine print. Besides taking their normal percentage, they also make and take money when the money is converted to the country's currency.

reach449

We tried XOOM, Western Union, and Moneygram. Then we got smart and I opened a new account at my bank (USAA) and sent him the ATM card for it. Not only was he able to instantly get money from the account any time he wanted, but it was only a dollar or two per transaction, and he could just get small amounts frequently instead of carrying around a bunch of cash. I also did paperwork (it took a little time) to get him added to the account while he was still in Morocco. That joint account was one more thing to show at his visa interview as proof of our relationship. Plus, it was one less thing to do once he got here. USAA is used to dealing with situations like this - they cater to people in the military, who are often in other parts of the world AND many times meet their future spouses in those other countries. I'm sure other banks would work, too, but you might have to check around a little.

Mirlana

Hi I have people I pay in Germany for a variety of errands, and I paypal them. I think I dont even pay a fee.

We use Wells Fargo Remittance, but it has limited country... check it out https://www.wellsfargo.com/per/intl_remittance/philippines
Money in an instant for a minimal fee of $5 and has a decent exchange rate.

My husband said it'll be hard to open an account for me as the bank needs my SSN. And because we are still working on our K3, we end up using WU ever since last year. Is it true that you really need an SSN for a joint account? i mean i am not doubting my husband. However, reading this thread, i've seen some were able to open a joint account. How do you guys do that? Is it under your spouses name? is it like an extension card of his ongoing savings account with his name on it?