# Getting money from the USA to use



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

I just always have more and more questions.

So, how does one get money from Social Security or a US bank account to the Philippines on a monthly basis ?

I assume you deposit a check in a Philippines bank ?
Or wire money from a US bank to a Philippines bank ?
I assume the Philippines bank converts the USD to pesos ?

Do not reveal anything personal, just in general how is it done ?


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

I just have my SS & Pension deposited in US banks where I already had accounts, then use debit cards here to withdraw funds as needed (ATMs are most everywhere). All banking business is done online on their websites. A small fee is charged with each ATM use, I just consider that as a bit lowering of the exchange rate at the moment. Also keep a credit card active for emergency use. Open a Dollar account at BPI bank here and keep a balance of 5 to 10,000 as another avenue of accessing funds as at times the ATMs are offline or without electricity to dispense cash. Keep the balance on any local bank accounts less than 10,000 so reports are not triggered. From a Dollar account, you can withdraw either Pesos or Dollars. Use a mail forwarder in the states as your permanent address and to forward new/replacement cards as necessary. I have things sent by FedEx to me from the forwarder, usually about a week delivery time

Just my method, others will chime in on how they handle things.

Fred


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

While I'm not from the US, (Australia) we have very similar banking practices,,,,,, except it seems the OP's bank from a previous post, I found that interesting that the OP's bank can't or won't send money over the internet,,,,, think I mentioned to change banks, regardless most banks do international transactions either electronically or phone banking.

As mentioned before generally a Filipino bank won't open an account without an ACR1 card,,,,,,,,, that's rubbish, depends on the bank, the manager and protocols as most banks here seem to be franchised.
I went to open a bank account when we lived in Manila some 10/11 years ago, secured my ACR card from immi after 4 months, went to the bank (BDO) and was refused, next bank, took my ACR card and the documentation for a 12 month lease on our then condo,,,,,, (BDO again, different branch), refused. Tried the bank next door (BPI from memory) and refused yet again....... Angry? Yes. Fourth attempt again another BDO branch some 8 kilometres from our Condo SM Manila if memory serves and asked the teller if we could chat to the manager,,,,,,, no sir you need to make an appointment but I can help you,,,,,,,,, same paperwork and ACR card and I was refused to open an account. I then stood up and demanded to see the manager. Manager eventually comes out and says sorry but the staff follow our protocols., looks at my papers, Yes sir that's all in order but please don't deposit more than 10K US in any transaction,,,,,, TY mam and done,,,,,,,, Only took a week. Go figure as I can open and have done, a new account with a different bank in Australia online to deposit and withdraw and all accomplished online from the Philippines some years ago.

To the OP. once you own an account here, all I do is wait for the Aussie dollar to rise,,,, as we do, go online and transfer AU 20 to 30K to PHP, that money is wired directly to my account here and is generally 0.12 to 0.14% lower than the benchmark world exchange rate plus an AU 5 buck fee. Then withdraw the cash at PHP 2 to 300K to put in the safe,,,,,,,, The bank teller always asks "what's that money for sir?" now I look at them and say Tsismis?
Remember also here Howard that the bank/government insurance on bank accounts is only PHP 500K per person or a joint account x 2.

I don't use my debit card here, I don't use my amex here and keep it active with an Automatic debit from Netflix.
Here seems to be a cash driven (old school) which works well, the only thing I use here is Gcash and I can deposit PHP 8K per month and no fees,,,,,,, not sure what happens at the other end but I use that to load my phone, internet etc. Can be difficult to navigate until you get to know their arcade system. aaahhhhh reminiscent of most things here but I love the challenges.

Basically to the OP. Time to change your bank to the digital age but only my opinion and your choice.

Sorry for the long winded rant but hope this gives you a little more insight to how things don't work here.

Cheers, Steve.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

As I'm married to a filipina opening banks accounts is no problem. We have joint accounts plus my own account. For money transfer I use Wise (Transferwise) to online send from my UK bank to our Philippines bank our monthly expenses. Using foreign atm cards gets expensive.


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## amcan13 (Sep 28, 2021)

There will be many different answers since everyone seems to do it differently. 
I agree with other threads saying have many different ways to get money since there is always some sort of outage that causes your primary method to fail.
I would have funds deposited into a US bank, safer, insured and does not require social security proof of life every year. I then would sit on it for three months then send a larger chunk to a Philippines Dollar account. I find a bank to bank wire is cheaper for say anything over $2,000. You can send any amount and the cost is fixed. The other money services that take dollars and deposit to a peso account are too expensive once you reach the transfer threshold. They don't charge a fee but the exchange rate is so bad you lose 2 or more pesos per dollar. 
It is easy to move dollars to peso ATM accounts in a bank. The banks publish the exchange rates so you know when best to move the money. You can send money to Gcash from the ATM accounts online. 
US credit cards for big purchases or a hospital stay are convenient. The credit cards offer great exchange rates and so you always charge in pesos. get cards with no foreign use fees.
My US Bank ATM is not free to use here so I only use my local ATM card. 
I find that the money transfer services can decide at any time to limit a transfer or determine you have too many for the time frame. A bank wire is safe and I have pulled back money twice for a fixed fee. 
In another thread a guy had a problem doing transfers online. Make sure you have your method working before you leave the USA forever. I have noted that MFA, multifactor authentication is going to have to work for online remote transactions. Get that worked out too before you leave the USA. 
Multiple Philippines banks, dollar account, local ATM peso accounts, Gcash, credit cards and plain cash in pocket make a great multilayered approach.
Yes, I understand that this approach is not for everyone and like I said everyone does it different.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

I find a remitter gives me a few extra pesos in the bank compared to my free bank to bank. Where I loose is on sterling to peso by about 0.6 pesos to the pound. So I need to pick the crossover between the small fee plus better exchange rate and free plus slightly worse exchange rate. For my usual $1000 the remitter is a couple hundred pesos ahead


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## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

So far, this is what I have come up with:

1. My Costco Visa card will have no foreign transaction fees. Will not use it for Cash advance which costs 5%.

2. My old TDBank savings account will have no ATM fees charged by TDBank. However other banks' ATMs might have their own fees. I will get a TDBank ATM card without VISA logo for this purpose. I had to go visit TDBank and find what options will work for this.

Does ATM machines in Philippines dispense both USD and PHP currency ?
Where to go for the best USD to PHP exchange rate ?

H


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Howard_Z said:


> So far, this is what I have come up with:
> 
> 1. My Costco Visa card will have no foreign transaction fees. Will not use it for Cash advance which costs 5%.
> 
> ...


Any foreign card will attract a charge, 200-250 pesos and usually a 10,000 peso limit. Local cards attract a small charge 15-18 pesos and the same 10k limit. ATMs only dispense pesos, why do you need dollars, what do you think you are going to do with them?


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Howard_Z said:


> So far, this is what I have come up with:
> 
> 1. My Costco Visa card will have no foreign transaction fees. Will not use it for Cash advance which costs 5%.
> 
> ...


The machines won't dispense US dollars it'll be in pesos and if you bring dollars you can exchange them at the airport on your way out or later on you can exchange US dollars into pesos from a money changer in the city only because the smaller Municipalities don't do this.

Keep some US dollars because the Philippine banks require a $500 USD deposit along with I think another $40 when opening a US dollar account.

These ATM machines are sort of from another decade and at times no money is in them or a poor internet connection, get ready for some fun.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

If you have a php account here you can use Wise.com(used to be Transferwise) to send pesos. They use the mid-market rate for exchange updated all the time. Just looked and could send $5K worth of pesos for a fee less than I could send the same amount in USD with Bank of America.

Chuck


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Gary D said:


> Any foreign card will attract a charge, 200-250 pesos and usually a 10,000 peso limit. Local cards attract a small charge 15-18 pesos and the same 10k limit. ATMs only dispense pesos, why do you need dollars, what do you think you are going to do with them?


HSBC ATMs I get 40K at BPI: and BDO WE GET 20K.

Chuck


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

bidrod said:


> HSBC ATMs I get 40K at BPI: and BDO WE GET 20K.
> 
> Chuck


I have an HSBC account and the nearest ATM is 2-3 hours away in Manila, I doubt there is more than 10 in the whole country. Most ATM will only let you have 10k at a time so to get more takes multiple entries each with a fee. We can get 50k from our own PNB but only 10k a go from any other PNB


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Gary D said:


> I have an HSBC account and the nearest ATM is 2-3 hours away in Manila, I doubt there is more than 10 in the whole country. Most ATM will only let you have 10k at a time so to get more takes multiple entries each with a fee. We can get 50k from our own PNB but only 10k a go from any other PNB


HSBC are less than hour drive foe me, used to get $1500 worth of pesos at a time, my daily US debit card limit. Now use Wise for quick transfers or write a check if just backing up accounts.

Chuck


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## amcan13 (Sep 28, 2021)

I have started using Wise to do the wire transfer for large sums in dollars and for smaller peso direct transfers. wise has low fees and uses good exchange rates. I transfer from US to Philippines. 
I know that many people don't like leaving money in Philippine banks but I have been very happy with my dollar account and peso ATM account. I like the dollar account because it is really not online accessable and safer than an ATM account. I use the ATM account for cash withdrawals and to load Gcash account. Gcash is really becoming the major way to move money in the Philippines.


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## louiedepalma (9 mo ago)

Fidelity and a couple more banks i cant think of charge a 1% foreign currency fee. 
Maybe Etrade. They reimburse the rest of the atm charges. You can have multiple accounts with these places which allows you to have several debit cards, and if you need to withdrawal more than the atm limit on a single card that day.

Money changers will swap dollars to pesos or pesos to dollars usually at the best rate. If you do a big swap they will meet you inside the bank just ask.

I think schwab or jp morgan chase reimburses 100%, but they do require a high credit score to open an account.

There are some local banks i have found that will also reimburse 100%. But they have limited hours if you have a problem or your card gets locked.

Keep a contact such as a relative or good friend who can forward you a debit card. Many banks will not send a card there.

The free option is to write a check from your foreign bank, and deposit it in your philippine bank account then wait a month for it to clear.


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## louiedepalma (9 mo ago)

amcan13 said:


> I would have funds deposited into a US bank, safer, insured and does not require social security proof of life every year.


You would also lose medicare prescription drug coverage and/or medicare advantage plan doing this since you report a change of address where those plans are not serviced.

You can always keep the part A though and just reinroll in the other stuff if you decided to return to the US.


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## amcan13 (Sep 28, 2021)

Some of the non-bank companies don't have FDIC insurance. I do what no one likes I keep money in a Philippine bank. I just don't want to be stuck hoping a international transaction will work the one day I need it. My goal would be to have a few million peso's in a bank or two if possible, especially for any medical emergencies. 
I am never going back to USA so don't need any of the Medicare stuff, if you don't pay starting at 65 the penality for starting later is 10% per year not enrolled. In ten years you are paying double the monthly rate. 
I do agree that you need a mailing address and a Cel phone in the USA to keep credit cards, Social Security and bank accounts happy. 
I don't know why the USA is so hard on citizens living abroad, retirement income and Medicare are not easy for expats. 
A multilayer financial safety net is best for living abroad.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Amcan13 SS can be direct deposited to a Philippine bank.

Chuck


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## amcan13 (Sep 28, 2021)

Yes, but then that leads to complication of proving you are alive all the time. Paying to US Bank is much easier.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

amcan13 said:


> Yes, but then that leads to complication of proving you are alive all the time. Paying to US Bank is much easier.


And, the Philippine bank will charge a fee for each deposit. BPI charges $6.50 per deposit. My two daughters both have SS deposited at BPI so we get charged $13.00 a month. We only did it that way for them because the Manila Embassy SS staff said it had to go to a PH bank. I have since found out that is wrong.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

hey Steve,

I agree with you. I opened a bank account at BDO in Tagum city when I lived there. I didn't have my ACR card yet. The bank manager appoved the opening of the account. I was able to transfer money from my USA account into my Philippine account. the only draw back was the time it took to do the transfer. If anybody going to do this type of transaction, they should allow a couple weeks or more for the money to get into the Philippines account. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THEY NEED THE MONEY!!!!

art


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## louiedepalma (9 mo ago)

DonAndAbby said:


> And, the Philippine bank will charge a fee for each deposit. BPI charges $6.50 per deposit. My two daughters both have SS deposited at BPI so we get charged $13.00 a month. We only did it that way for them because the Manila Embassy SS staff said it had to go to a PH bank. I have since found out that is wrong.


Interesting to know this. I wonder why they charge a fee. It isn't much but still.

Perhaps the bank gets charged a fee somewhere as that deposit makes it way through all kinds of places.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

louiedepalma said:


> Interesting to know this. I wonder why they charge a fee. It isn't much but still.
> 
> Perhaps the bank gets charged a fee somewhere as that deposit makes it way through all kinds of places.


It's because the Philippines doesn't enjoy free banking like we are used to in the west.


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## amcan13 (Sep 28, 2021)

Banks charge fees because they can, in US too. Typically if you have lots of money or get special direct deposit account in US they drop some fees. The Philippines Banks charge where they can. You notice transactions to Gcash or other banks is 20 pesos, and wires or transfers international are more. If the transfer service you use has local leg the fees can be much less. 
I have zero fee for peso into my peso ATM account but 8 to 12 dollars for transfer into dollar account. 
You leave more money in you can get better rates. 
In the end the bank, the account type and the transfer method determines the fed, shop around.


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## Ekspat (5 mo ago)

Howard_Z said:


> in general how is it done ?


Many ways, but this is by far the fastest, and it's free if you have a local and foreign HSBC account



> Move up to $200,000 USD a day between your linked accounts
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Ekspat said:


> Many ways, but this is by far the fastest, and it's free if you have a local and foreign HSBC account


Yes HSBC works very fast and it's free between same currency accounts. Their rate to pesos is not so great, usually around 0.6 pesos. I do use my HSBC for my own use, gas etc. but will use Wise into our PNB account for monthly expenses.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

HSBC is good for many but the problem is not many branches, seems like Manila has 6 branches, Cebu 1 and Davao 1.
I liked HSBC when I lived in Manila 10 years ago but now I live 6 hours drive away so BDO.

Cheers, Steve.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

I write checks on two different accounts I have at different banks in the states and deposit them into my Dollar account at BPI with no extra charges from BPI.

Fred


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

I do it electronically so no need to go to the bank to deposit a cheque, only to draw the cash a couple of days later. But that's my bank in Oz to here and not sure the process American citizens need to follow.
Lol and always the tsismis,,,,, why do you need to draw so much money sir when I go to the bank. 

Cheers, Steve.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

bigpearl said:


> HSBC is good for many but the problem is not many branches, seems like Manila has 6 branches, Cebu 1 and Davao 1.
> I liked HSBC when I lived in Manila 10 years ago but now I live 6 hours drive away so BDO.
> 
> Cheers, Steve.


I've only been to my branch in Makati twice, once to open the account and the second time a week later to pick up my card. Not been into a UK branch for a good 20 years.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

I kept most of my money in a USA account. there we are covered for people fraudulenty getting into the account. I was told at BDO bank in Tagum City if someone steals your money they are not responsible for it. I kept very little money in the BDO account. I use 2 services to get money here when I needed it. I had to pay fees to get the money. It did get a little expensive paying all those fees.

I don't know if things have changed or not since being there.

Art


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Time to come back and try?

Cheers, Steve.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

steve

try what???????????????? How to lose my money if someone gets into my account.

art


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

art1946 said:


> steve
> 
> try what???????????????? How to lose my money if someone gets into my account.
> 
> art


Often an inside job. I heard, don't know how true but it doesn't require authorisation to wire money so they wire the money from your account to one of their own.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

I transfer 1.2 to 1.5 M pesos every 3 to 6 months to pay the workers and day to day stuff, depends what's happening here but always only leave 4 to 500K in the account and the rest is in the safe for wages, purchases and week to week expenses. I am sure that BDO will never fold and I, though at times get frustrated with log ins appreciate the security measures that BDO and most banks require no matter the country.
Getting into your account? If you have the right protocole then you are safe. 

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

art1946 said:


> steve
> 
> try what???????????????? How to lose my money if someone gets into my account.
> 
> art


Why would someone get into your account? Yes it’s happened in the past but it’s not a regular occurrence in the Philippines. 
Had a Metrobank account for 35 years and other accounts at BDO etc for at least 20 years and there have never been any dodgy withdrawals. Anyway each account is insured for 500,000 by the PDIC, so no worries unless you have large amounts in each account.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

gary D

I heard that also being an inside job from an employee. I guess I am a little skeptical keeping all my money in the same bank. 

art


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

magsasaja said:


> Why would someone get into your account? Yes it’s happened in the past but it’s not a regular occurrence in the Philippines.
> Had a Metrobank account for 35 years and other accounts at BDO etc for at least 20 years and there have never been any dodgy withdrawals. Anyway each account is insured for 500,000 by the PDIC, so no worries unless you have large amounts in each account.


Isn't that 500k against the bank folding, not account fraud.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

Gary D said:


> Isn't that 500k against the bank folding, not account fraud.


Yes.
Plenty of account fraud in the US, UK etc and people also don’t get their money back.
All I’m saying is I never had a problem and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of the big banks here in the Philippines.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

art1946 said:


> gary D
> 
> I heard that also being an inside job from an employee. I guess I am a little skeptical keeping all my money in the same bank.
> 
> art


Why would you put all your money in a Philippines bank? Fools rush in etc.

Cheers, Steve.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

steve

I didn't keep all my funds in a Philippine bank.I had my USA accounts also. I guess i worry to much. I got locked out of my USA account once while in the Philippines and it was a nightmare calling the USA and getting back into my account. Someone tried to access the account in the USA and the fraud department stop them and locked my account. Since the funds are fully guaranteed in the USA they watch for suspicious activity. 

art


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

art1946 said:


> steve
> 
> I didn't keep all my funds in a Philippine bank.I had my USA accounts also. I guess i worry to much. I got locked out of my USA account once while in the Philippines and it was a nightmare calling the USA and getting back into my account. Someone tried to access the account in the USA and the fraud department stop them and locked my account. Since the funds are fully guaranteed in the USA they watch for suspicious activity.
> 
> art


Nothing wrong with worrying but too much is unhealthy Art. I doubt funds are 100% guaranteed against fraud in any country....Bernie Madoff. 
They also watch for suspicious activity in the Philippines as well. My Philippine credit card will send a message to my phone the minute it is used. If i do online banking again password to my phone. 
When we go overseas we always inform the bank, as they also freeze our accounts if we haven't pre warned about our trip.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

art1946 said:


> gary D
> 
> I heard that also being an inside job from an employee. I guess I am a little skeptical keeping all my money in the same bank.
> 
> art


Art, I haven't heard or run across this issue that you're worried about, actually just the opposite, one time I dropped a one thousand peso bill while counting, I was holding my grandson and didn't catch it but on my next visit they returned my 1000 peso bill.


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

hey Mark

My girlfriend's sister worked at a PNB bank in Bogo, Philippines. She told how most money stealing was from inside jobs from employees working at the bank. She said it goes a lot throughout the country. She said it happened at her bank in Bogo. This city is at the nothern tip of Cebu Island. So you haven't had this happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen there. 

art


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

art1946 said:


> hey Mark
> 
> My girlfriend's sister worked at a PNB bank in Bogo, Philippines. She told how most money stealing was from inside jobs from employees working at the bank. She said it goes a lot throughout the country. She said it happened at her bank in Bogo. This city is at the nothern tip of Cebu Island. So you haven't had this happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen there.
> 
> art


Like any job here, eventually, the worker gets caught and they lose their job and probably get Black listed for life. The staff at our PNB bank have acted as nothing but professionals but I did notice after a robbery about 5 years ago, (it made the news and there's a video of this), that one of the guards and a two of the bank staff were replaced and that was around the time I also noticed the Bank Manager retiring.

How can you lose money when you have a bank book showing the balance and official receipts after every transaction? I did notice that a small portion of the customers didn't seem to know how to read or write or? and had a helper fill out the documents and accompany them with the banking so maybe that's a gray area where a thief would take advantage.

If you really have that much money then open up several banking accounts and keep the balance at the insured rate, that's how you get around losing money to robbery.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Look after your pennies and the dollars will look after themselves. Finger on the pulse etc.

Cheers, Steve.


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

M.C.A. said:


> If you really have that much money then open up several banking accounts and keep the balance at the insured rate, that's how you get around losing money to robbery.


 Yes. Beside own, wife and a joint acount max 500 000pesos EACH is max bank guarantee per bank though. (Excxept plus if have own for business which isnt SoleP so its counted as separate juridical from private.)
If they havent changed it since I checked some years ago.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

US citizens with more than $10.000 cumulative in all accounts have additional tax filings.

Chuck


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## art1946 (Nov 30, 2017)

I agree with having more then 1 account. As they say don't put your eggs all in one basket. I think it is good to have your money in different accounts. 

art


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