Sending Money To Philippines

[payxibka 10,044]

I use xoom and a few seconds after I authorize the transaction, I get a notification from BDO that a deposit was made.

[Adventine 3,187]

6 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

1-2 days? What a joke. Too slow. I use WorldRemit and it's in my fiancée's bank account within a few minutes. She also has the option of picking up cash or I can send her GCash and even load for the phone. 

Interesting, based on @payxibka 's feedback, Xoom is almost instantaneous too. The 1-2 days estimate is my own personal experience, because I don't bother to check until 1-2 days later. I'm usually not online when the US-based sender does the transfer. 

[NoMansLand2020 298]

6 minutes ago, Adventine said:

Interesting, based on @payxibka 's feedback, Xoom is almost instantaneous too. The 1-2 days estimate is my own personal experience, because I don't bother to check until 1-2 days later. I'm usually not online when the US-based sender does the transfer. 

My fiancée receives a text message as do I as soon as the funds are received. I typically do it on the same day each month and usually while we are on the phone. 

[Adventine 3,187]

1 minute ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

My fiancée receives a text message as do I as soon as the funds are received. I typically do it on the same day each month and usually while we are on the phone. 

I see. I'm not signed up for text alerts and the fund transfers aren't regular, so I usually just see a notification email 1-2 days after I talk with the US-based family member. Could very well be the transfer don't take that long, and I just never bothered to measure the exact amount of time.

[RO_AH 1,615]

12 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

1-2 days? What a joke. Too slow. I use WorldRemit and it's in my fiancée's bank account within a few minutes. She also has the option of picking up cash or I can send her GCash and even load for the phone. 

All companies I listed hae the option for instant transfer but you have to pay a fee. My goal was to give actual information to help others. Personally the balance in my wife's account is never so low that I need to send it instantly, so I don't place so much importance in the speed. However for the last 2 months all of my transactions have been in less than 24 hours and no fee. But for the sake of argument I did a side by side comparison with World Remit. I will stick with WU

[RO_AH 1,615]

6 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

My fiancée receives a text message as do I as soon as the funds are received. I typically do it on the same day each month and usually while we are on the phone. 

I don't know of a service that does not send a text notification.

[top_secret 2,061]

I have only rarely sent money but the times I have I just walked into a Walmart and did MoneyGram with US Dollar payout.  The fee may be slightly higher but not by much and since you pay it up front, the receiver gets exactly however many US Dollars you sent.  So there is complete transparency and no shenanigans with exchange rates.  IIRC it's $8 to send $1,000 and the receiver gets $1,000.  It's as easy just walking in a Walmart.

 

I one time tried to send Xoom and they kept asking me for more and more info to verify the account and after some ridiculous amounts of additional ID and financial information they still wouldn't open the account so I gave it up as more effort than I was willing to pursue to save $3 or $4.  Since they are still in business I assume I must just be a special case for some reason but they sure didn't want my business.

 

The only caveat with MoneyGram US Dollar payout is, it's no problem to find payout locations with Dollars in the big cities, but I imagine it's impossible to find someplace with Dollars in the province.  So that may be a good or a bad solution depending where the receiver is.

[dnavinnie 132]

On 1/17/2021 at 2:21 AM, RO_AH said:

I used Xoom in the past and will never use them again. Terrible customer service if there is a problem. How are Transferwise exchange rates and fees?

I use Transferwise...rates are better than WU. When I use my debit card and send $1000 the charge is around $16. The money is always in her account the next day.

[RO_AH 1,615]

10 hours ago, dnavinnie said:

$1000 the charge is around $16

Fee 😧ouch. I just checked their rate today 48.0350 And WU today is 47.4671 so the exchange rate is better however when you add in the fee it comes out to a loss using transferwise.

[Milmauka 80]

Just sent monthly unemployment insurance money to the Phils through WU.  Happy days are here again.  Transaction took a couple of hours!  Bank to bank, 47.54 exchange rate.

[Allovertheworld 355]

13 hours ago, Milmauka said:

Just sent monthly unemployment insurance money to the Phils through WU.  Happy days are here again.  Transaction took a couple of hours!  Bank to bank, 47.54 exchange rate.

Unemployment Inusrance Money? 

 

Please Explain

[Carpe Vinum 2,310]

I'm just lazy. We just use WU when we send something to the boss's parents.

[Milmauka 80]

8 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

Unemployment Inusrance Money? 

 

Please Explain

She lost her job due to pandemic and I have to assist her with living expenses.

[flicks1998 1,044]

When it comes to these money transfer places, I think alot just comes down to if your happy with the service, everything is timely, and if the fees and FX rate are competitive, why mess around with it.  Each of the companies have their own benefits depending on your location and who your sending money too.

 

Xoom - I used this company alot from around 2009-2012 or so.  Xoom was one of the few companies at that time that you could send money to yourself and the fees were quite cheap.  I could send in USD with a max send of $2500 or $5000 and all I had to do was show ID and pick up the money.  It was quick and easy at that time.

 

Western Union - depending where you are sending from, WU can be dirt cheap in transactions fees.  I would send via WU when I was working in Hong Kong and Singapore as the transaction fees were only $2-3 and the FX rate was good.  You will find WU to have extremely low fees in countries that have a large population of OFWs as well as other nationalities (Indians, Indonesians, etc).  This low fee does not apply to the US as most OFWs in the US are not helpers, drivers, etc, therefore have higher wages.

 

WorldRemit- for this past year when I was stuck in the US, I used them to send money for my son.  They were fast, reliable, good communication etc.  I dont think their FX rate is the best, but it did the job for me with zero hassle so I was happy.  Maybe I could have save $50-100 over the course of the year but the service was great.

 

Transferwise- Ive never used them but have heard good things from quite a few people. 

 

 

[dnavinnie 132]

On 1/20/2021 at 2:20 AM, RO_AH said:

Fee 😧ouch. I just checked their rate today 48.0350 And WU today is 47.4671 so the exchange rate is better however when you add in the fee it comes out to a loss using transferwise.

The last time I used WU I was charged $14 transfer fee for $1000. What is your rate?