# Anyone ever used Xoom to send money?



## dezzirae (Jul 28, 2012)

Has anyone ever used Xoom or Remit Home to send money from the US to the Philippines? 

I opened up a savings account at BPI and the personal banker I talked to said that a lot of overseas Filipino workers use it to send money to the Philippines. 

I checked out the site. Apparently, it's only $4.99 for any amount under $3,000 and supposedly, it gets there in a matter of hours, and the recipient can get it deposited directly into their bank account, or pick it up at certain locations or have it delivered to their door. 

If it's that quick and cheap, I'd rather that my commission checks get sent that way instead of bank-to-bank.

However, I did see some mixed reviews on it (some say it took weeks instead of hours for the money to arrive), so I wanted to see what anyone else's personal experience has been with it. 

Thoughts?


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## raconnor (Oct 30, 2012)

dezzirae said:


> Has anyone ever used Xoom or Remit Home to send money from the US to the Philippines?
> 
> I opened up a savings account at BPI and the personal banker I talked to said that a lot of overseas Filipino workers use it to send money to the Philippines.
> 
> ...


I tried it once and my transfer never made it through... after about a week I just had to cancel the transfer and they still never gave me my money back. Had to do a charge back on my credit card. 

If you want to use that type of 3rd party remit service, Western Union has special discounts for sending to the Philippines. You can check it out at:
Send money to the Philippines


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

raconnor said:


> I tried it once and my transfer never made it through... after about a week I just had to cancel the transfer and they still never gave me my money back. Had to do a charge back on my credit card.
> 
> If you want to use that type of 3rd party remit service, Western Union has special discounts for sending to the Philippines. You can check it out at:
> Send money to the Philippines


On the flip-flop, I had a friend from the states that moved here several years ago. He used Xoom to send cash to himself while here somehow and had good luck with it and refused to use any other service. Makes ya wonder but if it were me, I'd stick to the reliable services of Western Union also..


Gene


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

I have Remit Home setup to transfer from my bank account to a BPI account and except for occasional weekends and US/PI holidays in the mix the money was available in a day. It has to be a BPI Direct Savings Bank account, BPI has many different "bank" names each with their own saving and checking accts.


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## BillyV (Mar 25, 2009)

*Always use XOOM*

I used Xoom to send money here for a long time now. I now have been here over two years and I send my monthly check to my bank account in America and then send money for me to live via XOOM each month all these two years and more. I know I have had some problems when I tried to pick the money up at a bank, but since then I always have used M. LHULLIER and Cebuano LHUILLIER and never had a problem. In fact my wife once told me that it was easier to pick up the money via xoom for when I sent money to her. Western Union is too much, You can find PNB Remittance and others in America but they all cost more. I just say give it a try and see for your self. Try like I did, I sent the minimum of $50 first and when it got through, I continued on. Good luck, I do recommend it. Also, I have entered my order via the internet here in the visayas (my accounts are all set up in America) and by time I got to M. LHULLIER the money was there in a matter of minutes.


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## BillyV (Mar 25, 2009)

I read through the replies again. I only send a remitt for me to pick up. I only tried to send to a bank once. It worked but I didn't like that I had no control over the money. Also, if you want to send more then $3,000 you can have Xoom contact you and get more information to up your sending total to $6,000. I use my checking account since it is cheaper and chase gives me a good control over it. I don't have to wait for credits or debits like with my debit or credit card. Good luck.


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## BillyV (Mar 25, 2009)

I quit sending Western Union when I found out that Western Union took money out of what was to be given to the one picking up the money. My son sent me money via WU about a year ago, since he wasn't in America, and they charged me a percentage to receive the money. I only use Western Union if I want USD. Otherwise, I try not to use them.





raconnor said:


> I tried it once and my transfer never made it through... after about a week I just had to cancel the transfer and they still never gave me my money back. Had to do a charge back on my credit card.
> 
> If you want to use that type of 3rd party remit service, Western Union has special discounts for sending to the Philippines. You can check it out at:
> Send money to the Philippines


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

BillyV said:


> I quit sending Western Union when I found out that Western Union took money out of what was to be given to the one picking up the money. My son sent me money via WU about a year ago, since he wasn't in America, and they charged me a percentage to receive the money. I only use Western Union if I want USD. Otherwise, I try not to use them.


Billy, so many things and businesses here are corrupt. I think you got taken to the cleaners with that $$$ transfer. We have cash transferred in on occasion and not once has there ever been a deduction for the service. That is paid on the senders end only.


Gene


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## BillyV (Mar 25, 2009)

*Rephrase it...*



Gene and Viol said:


> Billy, so many things and businesses here are corrupt. I think you got taken to the cleaners with that $$$ transfer. We have cash transferred in on occasion and not once has there ever been a deduction for the service. That is paid on the senders end only.
> 
> 
> Gene


ok let me rephrase it. When I used Western Union n some other remitt companies I would pay a big fee n then pay say P20,000 to send to my fiancee. I would think they got P20,000. No, there were fees taken out at the Western Union office n deducted from the amount both in Manila n even here in Visayas. When my son sent me money they said I had to pay government fees n a fee for WU. When u use XOOM they tell you what amount the recipient will recieve after all fees r paid. When it says the recipient gets P20,000 they do an nothing else is taken out. I wrote to Western Union and they said it depends on the country you are sending to, each is different. So when I had to send P20,000 I never knew how much they would get. The fees were higher when you send USD. XOOM charges $4.99 but gives you P0.50 or P1 less then the exchange rate n tell u up front. They give exactly what will be received by recipient. I hope u see what Im saying. I stay with XOOM because of low rate n no hidden fees. That's my opinion.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

BillyV said:


> ok let me rephrase it. When I used Western Union n some other remitt companies I would pay a big fee n then pay say P20,000 to send to my fiancee. I would think they got P20,000. No, there were fees taken out at the Western Union office n deducted from the amount both in Manila n even here in Visayas. When my son sent me money they said I had to pay government fees n a fee for WU. When u use XOOM they tell you what amount the recipient will recieve after all fees r paid. When it says the recipient gets P20,000 they do an nothing else is taken out. I wrote to Western Union and they said it depends on the country you are sending to, each is different. So when I had to send P20,000 I never knew how much they would get. The fees were higher when you send USD. XOOM charges $4.99 but gives you P0.50 or P1 less then the exchange rate n tell u up front. They give exactly what will be received by recipient. I hope u see what Im saying. I stay with XOOM because of low rate n no hidden fees. That's my opinion.


Yea, I understand what you're saying but am still surprised at the fees. We are just outside of Angeles and have not paid a fee for collecting at Western Union. Amount sent has always been the amount received. Maybe just the individual places set up a charge or something. Really makes ya wonder doesn't it?


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## BillyV (Mar 25, 2009)

*Go figure*

Yes unbelievable. From '97 to '04 I dealt with Western Union in Makati. The last 4 years I dealt with Western Union in Ormoc n Maasin in Leyte. All were da same. That's why I jumped with XOOM.


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## raconnor (Oct 30, 2012)

Gene and Viol said:


> Yea, I understand what you're saying but am still surprised at the fees. We are just outside of Angeles and have not paid a fee for collecting at Western Union. Amount sent has always been the amount received. Maybe just the individual places set up a charge or something. Really makes ya wonder doesn't it?


I've never had to pay a fee to pick up my money either. If I send $500 from my US card via Western Union, I go down to the Western Union office and pick up $500... no fees to pick it up.

Who knows.. some of these places might be tacking on their own fees to pocket a little extra cash, even though Western Union doesn't know about it. It is the Philippines after all.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

Maybe it is a service charge the individual place charges as my relatives have paid a couple times also in Visayas. Was only 50p so didn't really question it, go to a different branch and no fee. Anyway I only use Moneygram or Remit Home now.


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## funne (Apr 29, 2013)

if you got the full amount, it's cause the sender paid the fee on his end. you really think that people do things for nothing. Zoom messed me over once, and I am not stupid enough to give them another chance to do so.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

I have used Xoom several times in the past, without any issues. I always sent from my US bank, Chase, directly to a BPI account, and it was always in the account in less than 24 hours, during the week. If a weekend is involved I think you will have a few extra days.

I sent the max amount ($2,999) in order to keep the overall % of fees down to the lowest level. I did a comparison of several services (Xoom, Remit Home, WU and maybe one other), and Xoom was the lowest % cost, when you consider the service fee and exchange rate. Xoom total fees are the service fee (now $4.99 for bank account) and about 1 peso on the exchange rate. E.G., if the market exchange rate (I use XE.com for this) is 41 pesos per dollar, Xoom will give you about 40.

I just found my little Excel file with the comparison of Xoom and Remit Home. I don't think I included WU because their costs were not in the ballpark.

At the time (March,2012), I think Remit Home had a max of $1000 per transfer. Including all fees and exchange rates, for a $3000 transfer, Xoom was a 2.82% fee and Remit Home was 4.32%.

Now that I live in the Philippines, I would only use Xoom for an emergency. I use check deposits that I am sure you can find described in other threads, if you need to.


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## renewedfaith2day (May 14, 2013)

We used them a few years ago and didn't really have any problems.
I think they actually had couriers who delivered the money. 
Now though, we just go to Western Union and text the MTCN number to her mom.

Keith


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## Nickleback99 (Aug 6, 2011)

dezzirae said:


> Has anyone ever used Xoom or Remit Home to send money from the US to the Philippines?
> 
> I opened up a savings account at BPI and the personal banker I talked to said that a lot of overseas Filipino workers use it to send money to the Philippines.
> 
> ...


We use it all the time. W.U. in WA was costing $10 every time then dropped to $8 I think but by then I switched to Wells Fargo global remittance (requires a PI bank acct for transfers and we used BPI too) before that long ago, which cost bout same as Xoom, but the Xoom is faster. Also, for while, we were able get special no cost deals or $1 deals via Xoom. ...my wife handles all that, so I have no idea how, and like most Pinays is always looking for bargains in Anything she does or buys. Also I think we are only paying $3.99 per transaction.


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## SublationUSAF (May 29, 2014)

I use xoom all of the time and never had a problem getting my money. If you use a debit card it is instant. If you draft your checking account it takes 3 to 5 business days. 

It depends on your bank. Wells Fargo clears it in less than 48 hours business days. 

Xoom has one of the cheapest rates. 8 bucks for debit, 6 dollars for checking draft. 

There are drawbacks

1. Xoom security checks are strict. Sometimes they hold your transfer and require you to verify security checks. Even if your sending money to yourself. The call takes about 15 min. 

2. Xoom has the lowest rate but their exchange rate can be 1+ pesos LESS than everyone else. 

3. Xoom states in the fine print that they round pesos off in their favor. So they are double dipping. 

All in all I would still recommend xoom. Their Android app works well. And they offer free text messaging updates both sender and receiver.


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## Nickleback99 (Aug 6, 2011)

SublationUSAF said:


> I use xoom all of the time and never had a problem getting my money. If you use a debit card it is instant. If you draft your checking account it takes 3 to 5 business days.
> It depends on your bank. Wells Fargo clears it in less than 48 hours business days.
> 
> Xoom has one of the cheapest rates. 8 bucks for debit, 6 dollars for checking draft.
> ...


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## galactic (Dec 2, 2014)

I use Xoom all the time.
I also used Western Union for about 2 years until Xoom came out.
When you use Xoom, specify a Dollar Pay Out.
Don't use door to door since this will incur additional charges.
I use pick up. Money is available within 15 minutes.
Usual Pay Out location for Dollar is at selected Cebuana Lhuiller locations or better yet at Banco De Oro banks.
The pay out locations are strict in ID's. 
The more money I sent the harder it is for the receiver to get eg; $3000 requires 2 major government ID's.
I used to send a maximum of $9000 but AMLA laws changed all that.


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## MJB5293 (Feb 26, 2009)

I use it every month and goes right through never had a problem


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

I've been using Xoom for 5 or 6 years and have never had any problem. The 4.99 rate is a little deceptive, though. The use a lower exchange rate than Remit Home or Wells Fargo so it ends up costing you more that way. Remit Home is more expensive ($10 for $1000). Wells Fargo is only $4.00 per transfer, their limits are much higher, and their exchange rate is usually about 1/2 peso better than Xoom. All have been reliable in my experience.


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## lkarlovsky (Jan 4, 2013)

ragbone13 said:


> I've been using Xoom for 5 or 6 years and have never had any problem. The 4.99 rate is a little deceptive, though. The use a lower exchange rate than Remit Home or Wells Fargo so it ends up costing you more that way. Remit Home is more expensive ($10 for $1000). Wells Fargo is only $4.00 per transfer, their limits are much higher, and their exchange rate is usually about 1/2 peso better than Xoom. All have been reliable in my experience.


Used Xoom for almost a year and a half before actually moving to Phil and opening accounts here. Never a problem.


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## Fred98TJ (Apr 4, 2015)

o how do you send money to your phil accounts now ?

Fred




lkarlovsky said:


> Used Xoom for almost a year and a half before actually moving to Phil and opening accounts here. Never a problem.


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

Fred98TJ said:


> o how do you send money to your phil accounts now ?
> 
> Fred


It's easy. As long as you have accounts in both countries, you just go online, set up the transfer into your Phils account from your USA (or whatever) account, and send the money. You can send it as pesos or as dollars (dollars costs a little more to send).

For BDO, the deposit is usually complete within 5 - 10 minutes. I can't speak to the performance with other banks in the Philippines.


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## Fred98TJ (Apr 4, 2015)

Mmmmm, didn't think of that.
I have accounts at Wells Fargo and USAA now (for many, many years) and regularly transfer between those banks.
Didn't know that I could setup to transfer to a non-USA back that's out of the country like I do between some of my Wells Fargo and USAA accounts.
I'll have to look into that.

Fred



ragbone13 said:


> It's easy. As long as you have accounts in both countries, you just go online, set up the transfer into your Phils account from your USA (or whatever) account, and send the money. You can send it as pesos or as dollars (dollars costs a little more to send).
> 
> For BDO, the deposit is usually complete within 5 - 10 minutes. I can't speak to the performance with other banks in the Philippines.


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

Fred98TJ said:


> Mmmmm, didn't think of that.
> I have accounts at Wells Fargo and USAA now (for many, many years) and regularly transfer between those banks.
> Didn't know that I could setup to transfer to a non-USA back that's out of the country like I do between some of my Wells Fargo and USAA accounts.
> I'll have to look into that.
> ...


Wells Fargo has a good international Transfer service, too. But you have to set up the transfer in person and send the first one in person. If you have someone in the States with access to your account, they could do it for you. After that you can do it via WF internet banking. Their fee is only $4.00 (compared to $4.99), the daily limit is about the same, but the monthly limit is much higher, and best of all their exchange rate is usually about 1/2. peso better than Xoom.


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## Fred98TJ (Apr 4, 2015)

Yes, I use that now to send to my lady in PH.
Only "problem" is that I can not set up to send to "my" account at a bank in PH until I actually open an account at one of the PH banks and I can't do that until I actually get to PH and have my PRA ID, and I can't even set up a Wells Fargo express send now and simply have Wells Fargo add the account number after I get to PH and have opened an account their. Sort of like a Catch 22.
Anyway what I did do, is set up two (BDO and Metrobank) Wells Fargo Express send accounts for myself as cash pickup at the bank.
So now I would open an account at one of those when I get there, send from the online WF banking (which I do now) to that bank, say BDO, go to BDO, pick up as cash and then immediately deposit into my account.
I would send the minimum amount ($25.00) before I leave the US as I have to do the first one in person and simply pick up from both when I get there.


Fred




ragbone13 said:


> Wells Fargo has a good international Transfer service, too. But you have to set up the transfer in person and send the first one in person. If you have someone in the States with access to your account, they could do it for you. After that you can do it via WF internet banking. Their fee is only $4.00 (compared to $4.99), the daily limit is about the same, but the monthly limit is much higher, and best of all their exchange rate is usually about 1/2. peso better than Xoom.


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

Fred98TJ said:


> Yes, I use that now to send to my lady in PH.
> Only "problem" is that I can not set up to send to "my" account at a bank in PH until I actually open an account at one of the PH banks and I can't do that until I actually get to PH and have my PRA ID, and I can't even set up a Wells Fargo express send now and simply have Wells Fargo add the account number after I get to PH and have opened an account their. Sort of like a Catch 22.
> Anyway what I did do, is set up two (BDO and Metrobank) Wells Fargo Express send accounts for myself as cash pickup at the bank.
> So now I would open an account at one of those when I get there, send from the online WF banking (which I do now) to that bank, say BDO, go to BDO, pick up as cash and then immediately deposit into my account.
> ...


That'd work, and like I said, if there's someone in the USA that you trust, you could have them set it up for you after you have the account there.


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## Fred98TJ (Apr 4, 2015)

I'll check at Wells Fargo today or tomorrow. I had thought when I asked before that I had to actually set it up in person, showing ID (passport, etc) and could not have someone else set it up for me.


Fred




ragbone13 said:


> That'd work, and like I said, if there's someone in the USA that you trust, you could have them set it up for you after you have the account there.


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## ragbone13 (Jun 17, 2015)

Fred98TJ said:


> I'll check at Wells Fargo today or tomorrow. I had thought when I asked before that I had to actually set it up in person, showing ID (passport, etc) and could not have someone else set it up for me.
> 
> 
> Fred


If they are a signee on the account, they can do it. But of course that implies a heavy level of trust.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

I notice all the acrobatics people use to get money in the PI. Besides if you needed big money to buy a car or house is it really all about avoiding ATM fees when it comes down to it?


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## hozpypr (Jul 5, 2014)

I use XOOM regularly to send from US bank account to PI bank account. Never a glitch and it's usually hours to complete the transfer. Yes the max transfer is 2999. but remember there is a 9,000.00 limit per month if you ever needed to move money fast. Forget Remit home they regularly took about a week. it was a joke. Good Luck


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