Then you can nominate her or him for the fifth BPInoy Awards of the Bank of the Philippine Islands. Any individual or organization can nominate by writing a short article about the nominee, describing:

• how the nominee has contributed to the improvement of the Filipino community abroad
• why the nominee deserves recognition
• what is unique or exceptional about the nominee’s achievements

Nominations must be submitted to bpinoyawards@bpi.com.ph on or before September 15, 2010, addressed to Ms. Athena G. Balleza, Marketing Department, Overseas Customers Segment, Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Last year, the BPInoy awardees were:

• White House executive chef Ms. Cristeta Pasia-Comerford
• Dr. Eli Remalona, chief representative for the Asia and the Pacific of the Bank for International Settlements
• painter Mrs. Anita Magsaysay-Ho

For more info, visit www.bpiexpressonline.com.

Why do you pay hundreds of pesos to send money from Manila
to your families in the province? or vice-versa or any location within the Philippines?

Does paying 130 pesos to send 1,000 pesos or 650 pesos to send 7,000 pesos make sense?

There are now several ways to send money without paying any charge, or if you have to pay, it would only be a few pesos.

1.  Debit cards

• You can get them for only around 100 to 150 pesos.
• You don’t need to maintain a daily balance.

BDO Cash Card

• Pay around 150 pesos to open the account.
• No charge for reloading money.
• Choose from three types of cards based on maximum balance limits of 10,000; 25,000; and 100,000 pesos.
• The 10,000-peso-limit card needs to have at least one deposit or withdrawal within a six-month period.

BPI Express Cash Card

• Pay around 150 pesos to open the account.
• Good for two years, renewable.
• No charge for depositing or loading money.
• Minimum withdrawable amount: 500
• Maximum withdrawable amount per day: 10,000

RCBC MyWallet

• Pay 100 pesos to open the account and another 100 pesos annually.
• Pay only 20 pesos to deposit, any amount.
• Pay only 10 pesos to transfer money, if you have a regular RCBC account.

2.  Regular ATM Savings Accounts

BPI Family  –   1,000 pesos maintaining balance

BDO —  2,000 pesos maintaining balance

Metrobank – 2,000 pesos maintaining balance

Open your account where you plan to send money so you won’t have to pay a deposit charge.  Example: If you’re sending from Metro Manila, open an account here.

If you’re depositing in Metro Manila to a provincial account, you’ll have to pay a deposit charge ranging from 50 to 100 pesos, still lower however than other remittance services.

3.  EON CyberAccount of Union Bank

• No maintaining balance
• Pay 350 for the Visa electron annual fee
• No charge for depositing

4.  Bank accounts for OFWs

Most banks have special accounts for OFWs.  No maintaining balances and just a few pesos to open the account.  Just present proofs of remittances from abroad.

5.  Accounts for Minors and SSS/GSIS Pensioners

Most banks also have special savings accounts for children, requiring zero or low maintaining balances.

6.  Smart Money and G-Cash

Will write another post for these.

This is the only credit card in the Philippines which has no annual fee for life.

Except of course those premium cards for the very wealthy, and those cards whose owners accumulate enough points to get annual-fee waivers.

I’ve related in my other posts that I finally became free from the bondage of credit cards last February 15.   I had eight credit cards, and after paying off all the balances, I canceled all of them, except my local BPI Classic.

But because I need a credit card for my Internet payments, I had to choose one credit card good for international purchases.  I like BDO Shop More, but if I have to cut costs, I should retain one with no maintenance fee.

So I finally chose the M Free Mastercard of Metrobank.  After canceling my old Metrobank card, I requested for the no-annual-fee card, and it was given to me.

More than a year ago, I applied for this no-annual-fee Metrobank card, but I was told I need to first use an annual-fee Metrobank card for at least a year before I can qualify for the free annual-fee credit card.

If you need to maintain just one card, consider this no-annual fee credit card.

I became free from the bondage of credit cards. And I pray I’ll never become a slave again.

Amid the pain of selling something meaningful to us, my husband and I sold the lot we bought in the 1990s just so I can be free.   Over the past few years I became a slave to lenders, as I accumulated more than 200,000 pesos in credit card debts.

Even with a higher-than-average salary, I couldn’t make a dent on the principal balances even if all my payroll money goes to paying the monthly card bills.  I had to work overtime everyday, even on Sundays.  I couldn’t even visit my aging parents in the province because there’s nothing to set aside for fares.

There’d been a lot of pain… and other awful things too embarrassing to describe here.  It’s enough that now I’m free.

(by bluesemotion, photobucket)

And I thank God that amid my many grave financial mistakes, there’s one good  investment that I did when I was younger — that is to buy a lot in a good location and pay the amortization faithfully through the years no matter how hard.  And now, it was the one that saved me.
Credit cards are not evil per se. They can help. They have helped me when people I love had to be hospitalized and when tuition needed to be paid.

BUT credit cards are like knives — they can kill if not handled carefully.

There are many important things I have to tell my children.  But there’s one  thing they don’t have to hear about — the consequences of credit card use. They’ve seen how I suffered and almost got drowned in torment.

Credit cards in the Philippines

Info related to the deposit insurance:

• The increase will apply only to deposits in banks closed by the Monetary Board starting June 1, 2009.

• Splitting of a bank deposit account of more than 500,000 pesos within 120 days of a bank holiday or closure order is prohibited.

• Investment accounts are not insured, such as bonds, trust accounts and securities.

• Different types of accounts in the same bank, such as checking, savings, time or other types of deposit accounts, under the same depositor will be counted as one.
  For example, if you have a checking account and a savings account in the same bank, the amounts of the two accounts will be added to determine the coverage, which will not exceed 500,000.

• Several accounts in the main branch and branches of the same bank under the same depositor will be counted as one.
  For example, if you have deposit accounts in the main branch and a branch of the same bank, the two accounts will be added to determine the coverage, which will not exceed 500,000.

• Deposits in different banks are insured separately.

• The insurance premium is paid by banks, and not by depositors.

• If a depositor’s bank account exceeds 500,000, the depositor can claim the rest of the deposit amount from the liquidator of the bank if the bank has still assets remaining.

• The depositor of the failed bank must file his claim with the PDIC within 24 months.

Source: Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC)