Bank with Minimal Fees for International Wire Transfer

[pinaypilot 3]

Can someone recommend a bank or even a credit union (here in Florida) that charges the least for international wire transfer to a dollar savings account in the Philippines (so I'm sending $ to $ not the usual $ to Php)? Or nothing would beat Remitly's rates?

 

I tried Remitly last night and it shows that the fees are $6.99. Usually it's free for 1st time users up to $999 but it looks like they are charging me because the $ is not going to be converted into Peso, not sure about this theory so I'd appreciate if somebody could confirm. Not sure if there's a competitor who offers better rates as well, I've seen Xoom but it looks like they charge more.

 

Side Note: I finally found a job that pays enough for me to afford sending money regularly to my family and still help my husband pays bills here. Yay!

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

1 hour ago, fearlesspinay said:

Can someone recommend a bank or even a credit union (here in Florida) that charges the least for international wire transfer to a dollar savings account in the Philippines (so I'm sending $ to $ not the usual $ to Php)? Or nothing would beat Remitly's rates?

 

I tried Remitly last night and it shows that the fees are $6.99. Usually it's free for 1st time users up to $999 but it looks like they are charging me because the $ is not going to be converted into Peso, not sure about this theory so I'd appreciate if somebody could confirm. Not sure if there's a competitor who offers better rates as well, I've seen Xoom but it looks like they charge more.

 

Side Note: I finally found a job that pays enough for me to afford sending money regularly to my family and still help my husband pays bills here. Yay!

Who do you bank with? I know wells Fargo can send money to a bdo account.

[Greenbaum 12,260]

We use Wells Fargo. $5.00 and very competitive exchange rates. For me its the easiest way to send money. I am one who doesn't run around town or the internet to save a few cents. There are slew of companies that remit money so you just need to Google if you haven't done so already.

 

Here is a great website that list's more than 25 money transfer company's doing business in send your money to the Philippines. Check them out. Remember, your actual mileage will vary.

From http://blog.timedoctor.com/2015/03/13/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-send-money-to-the-philippines

[Jordan8768 107]

PayPal is usually good and fast. Only done British pounds to dollars though and the other way round. 

[Hank_ 9,174]

8 hours ago, fearlesspinay said:

Can someone recommend a bank or even a credit union (here in Florida) that charges the least for international wire transfer to a dollar savings account in the Philippines (so I'm sending $ to $ not the usual $ to Php)? Or nothing would beat Remitly's rates?

 

I tried Remitly last night and it shows that the fees are $6.99. Usually it's free for 1st time users up to $999 but it looks like they are charging me because the $ is not going to be converted into Peso, not sure about this theory so I'd appreciate if somebody could confirm. Not sure if there's a competitor who offers better rates as well, I've seen Xoom but it looks like they charge more.

 

Side Note: I finally found a job that pays enough for me to afford sending money regularly to my family and still help my husband pays bills here. Yay!

Don't know of any cheap way to wire transfer USD to a bank account in the Philippines.  Bank wire transfer ($45 + $5 fee in Phillippines), no amount limitation.  But from my calculations if sending USD to your account in the Phils you need to be sending $3000 minimum to come out ahead in the game.

 

REMITLY at $6.99 is a bargain.   Yes, XOOM is more expensive, which is why I started using REMITLY.

 

We have both a Peso account and USD account in the Philippines, for smaller amounts we use REMITLY.

 

 

6 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Who do you bank with? I know wells Fargo can send money to a bdo account.

Wells Fargo is spendy compared to REMITLY ... $5 + exchange rate difference THAT isn't a bargain.

 

REMITLY can be setup to deposit money into almost any bank account in the Philippines.  I have deposited money in BDO and in LandBank

[AKteacher 104]

it looks like they are charging me because the $ is not going to be converted into Peso, not sure about this theory so I'd appreciate if somebody could confirm.

 

Yes, they charge more because they don't make any money on the conversion from $ to Pesos. It's usually advantageous to send larger amounts of money in dollars despite the higher fees if the receiving party can use dollars or can get a better exchange rate than you can. Consider the following example of sending $2,000 (assuming a bank rate of $1 = 50PHP):

 

Sending pesos to dollars (assuming they take 1 PHP in conversion):

$2,000 x 49PHP = 98,000PHP then minus the fee of $5.00 (-250PHP) = 97,750PHP

 

Then consider the scenario where dollars are sent to dollars:

$2,000 x 50PHP = $2,000 (100,000PHP at the bank rate) minus the fee of perhaps $15.00 (-750PHP) = $1,985 (99,250PHP at the bank rate)

 

So far, under the above scenario, you've saved 1,500PHP by sending to dollars instead of pesos. Of course the dollars may need to be converted to pesos on the receiving end:

 

$1,985 x 49.5PHP = 98,257.50PHP which still saves you over 500PHP

 

If dollars can be used, you come out way ahead. If dollars must be converted to pesos at the other end, you still come out ahead under the above scenario. Of course it depends on exchange rates, which I have noticed are significantly better locally in Philippines than through money transfer services available from here in the US.

 

Just my 2 cents. If anybody has anything to add, I'm all ears.

[Hank_ 9,174]

^^^    Totally agree, part of why we opened a USD account here in the Phils, move dollars over as we can get a better rate, even with the fees it works.

[j N j 50]

18 hours ago, Greenbaum said:

We use Wells Fargo. $5.00 and very competitive exchange rates. For me its the easiest way to send money. I am one who doesn't run around town or the internet to save a few cents. There are slew of companies that remit money so you just need to Google if you haven't done so already.

 

Here is a great website that list's more than 25 money transfer company's doing business in send your money to the Philippines. Check them out. Remember, your actual mileage will vary.

From http://blog.timedoctor.com/2015/03/13/whats-the-cheapest-way-to-send-money-to-the-philippines

^^This^^  I use them for the same thing