# wire money in/out



## Peter123459 (Sep 1, 2018)

I may wire money from a bank in Asia to the Philippines and into my wifes account (BPI) in order to buy property. If we do not end up doing the deal I will want to wire it to Canada. It will be a little over $100 K USD. I do not want the money stuck here in her bank if the land deal does not happen. Is it easy to wire the money out? Any restrictions? Thanks


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## Hey_Joe (Sep 13, 2016)

Ask your wife to show this article to the BPI bank manager to see how it effects you.

https://business.inquirer.net/308628/bsp-bank-online-transfer-fees-waived-until-year-end

If you decide to buy, have you considered a financial contingency clause? Then immediately wire the money. A financing contingency gives the buyer time to obtain financing for the purchase of the property.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/102913/contingency-clauses-home-purchase-contracts.asp

Otherwise, wire it to Canada if you don't buy.


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

Welcome to the forum Peter and always be careful when you are dealing with such a large amount of money, HeyJoe has a good point make payments, houses and condos here will accept monthly payments but with a large down payment.

I wouldn't purchase anything until you've spoken to a Lawyer that specializes in property or at a bare minimum check with your bank they probably do sell houses or least can recommend who to talk with.

So many unscrupulous people here that speak English very very well, you really need to be careful.


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## bobby1947 (Apr 15, 2020)

We considered buying a house when we arrived in 2011 but after considering all the hassles it would involve we decided to knock down the wifes small home and build the 2 story home we have now and a lot cheaper than buying a newly built home ! And we bought the Materials ourselves as needed 2 days before being used 
The materials from the wifes old home were used to build a large dirty kitchen. The wife also owns the family home which we are slowly repairing and re-decorating since the mother passed.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

Before considering buying any property ensure the seller is the titled owner and you have a clear path to having the title signed over to you. Not necessarily from unscrupulous standpoint, just a lot a land still in grandpa's name who passed away 20 years ago and the beneficiaries never transferred it correctly.


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## Tiz (Jan 23, 2016)

Peter123459 said:


> Is it easy to wire the money out? Any restrictions? Thanks


Is it easy to wire the money out? No

Any restrictions? Yes

You'll notice that none of the remit companies like TransferWise have options to send PHP.

When I enquired with Citi, this is the reply that I got.

"We wish to inform you that we are unable to process a funds transfer 
from a Peso account to a Dollar account or to an account abroad. 
Transfers in Dollars should be deducted from a Dollar account. Due to 
certain limitations and BSP regulations, purchase of Dollars would 
require documentation that you would have to present over the counter at
any of our branches."

So from that reply, I would assume that if you kept the money in a USD account that it would be easier than if you convert it to PHP.


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## Peter123459 (Sep 1, 2018)

Tiz said:


> Is it easy to wire the money out? No
> 
> Any restrictions? Yes
> 
> ...



Thanks. I asked this question because years ago I bought an apartment in China and it was not easy to get the money out when I sold. My concern/fear is not being able to get the money out. We have USD accounts here. Just wonder if they have a limit on how much can leave the Philippines. Obviously I will ask the bank. Thanks for all the replies.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Welcome to the forum Peter, enjoy. There has been some great input here but only an observation as an Aussie that has purchased property here some years ago. Firstly why do you need to transfer large funds on something you haven't purchased yet? A small deposit, 5% to 10% is sufficient, for us it was only 1.5% and settled 90 days. Simply transferred the balance to the seller once we were happy with all the documents. As others have mentioned moving funds out of PH can be difficult so only move what you intend to spend. We only transfer 6 to 12 months living expenses and the bulk sits in the safe.
Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

Tiz is correct. There is a BSP rule where ONLY US Dollars can be wired out, not PHP.
Here is where i've written about this twice before:

https://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/851250-phil-us-php-usd.html#post8117458
https://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/1008554-leaving-3.html

You can certainly wire inbound USD, but I would only change/convert it to PHP once you are ABSOLUTELY sure the purchase is a done deal.

Good luck!


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

You have right to send out up to same amount as you can prove you have send in. 
But I don't know if it's like that in reality


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

Peter123459 said:


> I may wire money from a bank in Asia to the Philippines and into my wifes account (BPI) in order to buy property. If we do not end up doing the deal I will want to wire it to Canada. It will be a little over $100 K USD. I do not want the money stuck here in her bank if the land deal does not happen. Is it easy to wire the money out? Any restrictions? Thanks


You didn't say what currency you will be wiring. If you change currencies during the wire, your fees will go way up because they will hit you hard on the exchange rate, typically.

If you have the money in the Asian country now as dollars, make sure your wife has a dollar account to receive it. As others said, don't send it until the deal is final.


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

DonAndAbby said:


> You didn't say what currency you will be wiring. If you change currencies during the wire, your fees will go way up because they will hit you hard on the exchange rate, typically.
> 
> If you have the money in the Asian country now as dollars, make sure your wife has a dollar account to receive it. As others said, don't send it until the deal is final.


If you need the funds to purchase property here then somewhere along the line the money is going to have to be exchanged into PHP no matter what currency you send it in.
Personally I think you're much better off using someone like Transferwise to convert your funds rather than a local money exchanger or bank. I regularly transfer from my Transferwise $ account to my local PHP account. Best exchange rates and fast.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

hogrider said:


> If you need the funds to purchase property here then somewhere along the line the money is going to have to be exchanged into PHP no matter what currency you send it in.
> Personally I think you're much better off using someone like Transferwise to convert your funds rather than a local money exchanger or bank. I regularly transfer from my Transferwise $ account to my local PHP account. Best exchange rates and fast.


Some sellers prefer USD. You can negotiate that. I bought my lease here in the freeport using USD.

Will transferwise do large amounts?


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

DonAndAbby said:


> Some sellers prefer USD. You can negotiate that. I bought my lease here in the freeport using USD.
> 
> Will transferwise do large amounts?


Not sure why a local would want $, but i guess anything is possible. The max you can transfer into PHP in a single hit is P500K.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

Lunkan said:


> You have right to send out up to same amount as you can prove you have send in.
> But I don't know if it's like that in reality


Rights and government regulation doesn't always match.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

hogrider said:


> Not sure why a local would want $, but i guess anything is possible. The max you can transfer into PHP in a single hit is P500K.


I transferred 800k from sterling when we bought the car with no problem.


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## Hey_Joe (Sep 13, 2016)

hogrider said:


> Not sure why a local would want $, but i guess anything is possible.


It's been that way for years. When the bases were here, virtually all rent was demanded paid in dollars. Many are also seeking dollars to use when they travel to nearby countries or investing.

https://business.inquirer.net/228065/dollar-investments-ph-no-longer-just-rich


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

For the OP, Peter. I have used Worldfirst many times for transferring funds from Australia to Philippines, house purchase, car purchase etc. You need to shop for exchange rates obviously. A little paperwork online, this is to stop money laundering. These large sums went directly to the recipients of the settlement and not our bank account, be wary as the PH. Gov only guarantees 500K pesos for bank accounts if the bank folds. I have never sent money out of the Philippines as I only send what is needed but I'm sure it can be done, as another advised go talk to your bank manager, after all it's your money.

There are brokerage companies including my own bank in Oz that will remit funds (banks are generally lower exchange rates) to PH. and I'm sure my bank in Oz will accept funds transferred by me/others in Aussie dollars but hey, I've never had to do it and as said only commit to the Philippines what I need and note, can afford to lose.
I am sure 100% that if we were to sell this property and move back to OZ the purchaser would be wiring the funds to our account/s in Australia or no sale. 

OMO but why send money here for a hypothetical scenario? 1 to 2 days to secure the transfer for a sale.

Cheers, Steve,


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

bigpearl said:


> I am sure 100% that if we were to sell this property and move back to OZ the purchaser would be wiring the funds to our account/s in Australia or no sale.


 I doubt an OTHER would get permit to wire out, better chance YOU can wire out if you have proof you have wired in.


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Let's hope we never have a reason to test all the theories, as we all say only put in what you need and yes can afford to lose.

Cheers, Steve.


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## Peter123459 (Sep 1, 2018)

bigpearl said:


> For the OP, Peter. I have used Worldfirst many times for transferring funds from Australia to Philippines, house purchase, car purchase etc. You need to shop for exchange rates obviously. A little paperwork online, this is to stop money laundering. These large sums went directly to the recipients of the settlement and not our bank account, be wary as the PH. Gov only guarantees 500K pesos for bank accounts if the bank folds. I have never sent money out of the Philippines as I only send what is needed but I'm sure it can be done, as another advised go talk to your bank manager, after all it's your money.
> 
> There are brokerage companies including my own bank in Oz that will remit funds (banks are generally lower exchange rates) to PH. and I'm sure my bank in Oz will accept funds transferred by me/others in Aussie dollars but hey, I've never had to do it and as said only commit to the Philippines what I need and note, can afford to lose.
> I am sure 100% that if we were to sell this property and move back to OZ the purchaser would be wiring the funds to our account/s in Australia or no sale.
> ...


Steve when you use Worldfirst or any similar company I thought one could only transfer from his own bank account to another bank account in the your name. Are you saying that you sent money from your account using Worldfirst to another person? I recall trying to use Transferwise to send to an investment account I had and was not able to do that. Or it might have been from the investment account to my bank account. In summary I had to do a regular wire transfer and accept a worse exchange rate. Thanks


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Peter123459 said:


> Steve when you use Worldfirst or any similar company I thought one could only transfer from his own bank account to another bank account in the your name. Are you saying that you sent money from your account using Worldfirst to another person? I recall trying to use Transferwise to send to an investment account I had and was not able to do that. Or it might have been from the investment account to my bank account. In summary I had to do a regular wire transfer and accept a worse exchange rate. Thanks


Worldfirst, and probably most brokers have rules (world first offered the best deal at the time) relevant to the Philippines from Oz, don't worry I shopped around as it was no small amount. I had to accomplish a 2 page document stating where the funds came from (my personal cash in a bank in Oz) and what the funds were being sent for and who to. In our case it was a realestate agents trust account for the purchase/settlement of a property so the funds went directly to them and were dispersed no different to most countries. The car purchase the same deal, directly to the dealer, all good. I have also used them to send 10/20K to our bank accounts here, these days I tend to use my bank and though .2% lower is a lot more convenient and I watch the exchange rate daily,,,,,,,,, buy a safe and limit your exposure with local banks.
I will add to this that I used them for the purchase of the property prior to the money laundering issues that arose in many countries years ago but the car purchase was less than 18 months ago and no problems.

Further to this and only from memory you appear to be trying to send funds to the Philippines, a lady and family you have not met, correct me if I'm wrong and only my opinion smacks of gullibility and danger.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.


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## Tiz (Jan 23, 2016)

Peter123459 said:


> Steve when you use Worldfirst or any similar company I thought one could only transfer from his own bank account to another bank account in the your name. Are you saying that you sent money from your account using Worldfirst to another person?


With a TransferWise account, the sending bank account must be in your name, but the receiving account doesn't need to be.


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## Peter123459 (Sep 1, 2018)

Thanks Tiz. This is what I wanted to know.


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