• Bank-owned remittance services like BDO Remit or BPI Expres Remittance
• Internet banking
• Non-bank remittance services like Western, Xoom, Moneygram
• Bank wire transfer
• Post-dated checks
• Payment processors like Paypal

Typically, you choose a remittance service or method depending on:

• Reliability – Mapagkakatiwalaan ba?
• Speed of remittance – Kailan darating sa pamilya?
• Exchange rate – Magkano sa peso?
• Accessibility of sender to remittance office – Malapit ba ang office kung saan magpapadala?
• Accessibility of receiver to where remittance is given – Malapit ba ang pamilya  sa bangko, service o sa ATM na daratnan ng remittance?
• Remittance fee – Mahal ba ang pagpadala?

One of the ways to send money to the Philippines is through BDO Remit.

BDO Remit is a remittance service available in almost all countries where there are OFWs and  Filipino immigrants. You can load the equivalent of up to 100,00 pesos to the BDO Remit Cash Card of your family.  Where you are, look for:

• BDO Remit subsidiary offices
• BDO Remit representative offices
• BDO Remit remittance agents
• BDO Remit remittance partners

You can choose how your remittance through BDO Remit can reach your family:

• Through a BDO account, such as BDO Remit account, BDO Kabayan Savings account, or a regular savings account (can be withdrawn anywhere there’s a BDO ATM or affiliated ATM)
• Door-to-door delivery
• Deposit of money to family’s account in another local bank
• Cash pick-up at BDO branches, SM department stores,  Savemore, affiliated rural banks

How much is the remittance fee?

The fees vary depending on the country of origin, the type of delivery and whether the money is received in pesos or U.S. dollars.  If in dollars, the fees vary depending on the amount.  Dollar deposits and delivery are offered only in Metro Manila.

Fees for remittances from California:

Deposit to a BDO account -  US$8
Deposit to another local bank – US$12 (Metro Manila), US$14 (Province)
Cash Door to Door – US$12 (Metro Manila), US$14 (Province)
Pick-up – US$12 (Metro Manila or Province)

Fees for Remittances from Italy:
Credited to a BDO account: 8 Eur or $8, 10 Eur or $10
Credited to other local banks or door-to-door: 10 Eur or $10
Cash Pick-Up Anywhere:  8.50 Eur or $8.50

Fees for Remittances from Hong Kong:
Credit to a BDO Account:  HK$ 20 for peso account, HK$28 for dollar account
Credit to another other Local Bank:  HK$ 30 for peso and dollar accounts
Cash Door-to-Door: HK$ 30 Metro Manila, HK$ 40 for provinces (peso only in provinces)
Cash Pick-up Anywhere: HK$ 20 for remittance in pesos or in dollars

How fast can the family receive the remittance? (From California, Italy, or Hong Kong)

• For deposits to BDO accounts -  within 1 hour
• Deposits to other local banks – within 1 to 2 days if in pesos, within 3 to 4 days if in dollars
• Door to door – within 1 to 2 days in Metro Manila, within 1 to 3 days in major cities, within 4 to 7 days in other areas
• Cash pick-up – within 1 hour

You can open a BDO Remit account abroad:

1. Go to a BDO Remit subsidiary, partner or agent located in your city.
2. Fill up a BDO Remit Cash Card Application Form.
3. Pay the BDO Remit cash card fee.
4. BDO will deliver the the ATM to your family.

Or a member of your family in the Philippines can open his/her own BDO Remit Cash Card account and then email you the account number.

You can check online the status of your remittance through BDO Remit Status Inquiry.  Just fill in your Reference Number, including any alphabet letter or special character provided by the remittance office, partner or agent.

What is a BDO Rewards Card?

You can also earn points that you can use for shopping through a BDO Rewards Card. You can request for this card at your branch or at any BDO Remit office abroad. Just fill out a BDO Rewards Customer Information Update Form.  The card will be delivered to your mailing address. You’ll earn points as you remit money, make deposits and pay bills using BDO services.

There are BDO Remit Subsidiary Offices in:
Germany
HongKong
Italy
Macau

The addresses of BDO remittance offices, partners, representatives and agents can be seen on the BDO website.

There are BDO Remit Representatives in:
France
Israel
Taiwan

There are BDO Remittance Partners in:
Australia / Bahrain/ Belgium / Brunei / Canada / England (Great Britain or UK) / Greece / Guam / Hongkong / Ireland / Israel / Jordan / Kuwait / Lebanon / New Zealand / Norway / Oman / Malaysia / Mexico / Papua New Guinea / Qatar / Saudi Arabia / Singapore / Spain / Switzerland / Taiwan / United Arab Emirates / U.S.A. /

There are Remittance Agents in:

HongKong
California and other U.S. cities

Related Articles:
BDO Kabayan Savings, BDO Remit Cash Card for OFWs
BPI and BDO Internet Banking — Free and Quick Ways to Send Your Children’s Allowance
BDO Correspondent Banks for Sending Money to the Philippines
Cheap Ways to Send Money to Your Loved Ones Within the Philippines

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. Use the Card Sale/Reload Slip.
• 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.
• Minimum reload of 100 pesos.
• Withdrawal only through ATMs.

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
• Update as of March 2011:  There’s now a withdrawal fee of 15 pesos per withdrawal.

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
• Can be used to verify a Paypal account and to withdraw funds from Paypal.
• Update as of March 2011: There’s now a withdrawal fee of 10 pesos for the third and subsequent withdrawals for the month.  In other words, you’re allowed only two free withdrawals for every month.

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.

Related Articles:

If you’re a parent whose high-school or college-age kid is living in a dorm or studying in another city or an OFW who likes to control your child’s weekly allowance, take advantage of free Internet banking services offered by local banks.

Most large banks now in the Philippines offer free Internet banking, and they offer lots of services that prompts you to say Wow.

However, in this article, I would describe only two, BPI Express Online and My BDO Internet Banking, because they’re the ones I use.

1. If you already have accounts with BPI and/or BDO, then you’ve
done the first step. Your savings account or checking account
would become the wallet from which you would get money to give
to your child weekly.

2. Next is to get an ATM card for your child, or ATM cards if you have more than one child to support.

If you get a regular ATM card, you are required to maintain a balance  –  2,000 for a BDO account;  1,000 for a BPI Family account or 3,000 for a BPI account.

For most children, this maintaining balance is a temptation — a cake on the table ready to be consumed.

So the best option is to get a BPI Express Cash Card or a BDO Cash Card.  Both of these ATM cards do not require a maintaining balance.

You can get a BDO Cash Card for only 120 pesos or a BPI Express Card for only 120 pesos also.  (Update for BPI Express Card:  There’s now a 15-pesos fee for ATM withdrawal and a withdrawal amount minimum of 500 pesos.)

If you like to know other cash cards,  go to this post:  Best Savings Accounts for Students in the Philippines.

For OFWs, a better account is available — BDO Kabayan Savings.  It only has a 100-peso maintaining balance, and it has other benefits too.  Info on BDO Kabayan savings account.

OFWs can also get a BDO Remit Cash Card.

Other banks also offer accounts for OFW remittances.

3. Then enroll your BPI savings or checking account with BPI Express Online or your BDO account with MyBDO Internet Banking.    You enroll online and then print the filled-out form for submission to your BDO or BPI bank branch.

Just prepare your user name and password and be ready with your account number and your BDO or BPI cash card numbers.

4. After your Internet banking account is activated, you can plan and schedule when and how much money to put into your child’s cash card.

If your child needs 200 a day, you can reload your child’s cash card 1,200 or 1,500 every week. Just adjust the amounts when your child needs to pay the dorm or buy something.

Just tell your children that the minimum withdrawal for BPI Express Cash is 500 pesos and for BDO Cash Card, it is 200, (changed to 100 pesos as of March 2011).  Tell them to withdraw,  if possible, only from these banks’ ATMs to avoid other banks’ ATM fees  (about 10 to 12 pesos for each withdrawal).

5. For OFWs, Internet banking can save you remittance costs and at the same time prevent your children from having access to large amounts of money, which can be tempting.  One-day millionaires among OFW children are common.

You don’t have to send money every month or every week, so you’ll save on remittance fees.  Just remit an adequate amount to your own savings account and then transfer controlled amounts to your kids’ accounts through your Internet banking account as often as you like, as there’s no transfer fee.

Related Articles:

OFWs Can Send Money to the Philippines Thru BDO Remit
List of Banks in the Philippines — Universal Banks, Commercial Banks
Cheapest Checking Account in the Philippines
BDO Kabayan Savings, BDO Remit Cash Card for OFWs
BPI, BDO, or Metrobank Fees — Why Keep Paying Them?
Savings Accounts in the Philippines with the Lowest Maintaining Balances

BDO Kabayan Savings for OFWs

This is a special savings account for OFWs and their families in the Philippines.

You can open an account here in the Philippines, or abroad if you work near BDO partner remittance firms chosen to issue this account.

• Can be in pesos or in U.S. dollars
• Initial deposit of 100 pesos for a peso account or $100 for a dollar account.  (Update as of November 2010:  was changed to 50 pesos. On brochure seen on June 2011:  50 pesos)
• No maintaining balance as long as you make at least 6 remittances a year.  (Update as of November 2010:  was reduced to ONE remittance a year )
• You will receive a Passbook and a Mastercard ATM Debit Card.
• Additional update for seafarers:  You can open a BDO Kabayan Shipping dollar savings account with passbook for only US$10.  Show one valid ID and your valid seaman’s book.
• With your Kabayan savings account, you can arrange with BDO for the payment of your home loans and insurance premiums through BDO’s Auto-Debit Arrangement (ADA).

Check here BDO correspondent banks.

Check also this blogpost:  What happens if your BDO Kabayan account DOES NOT receive at least one remittance in a year?

BDO Remit Cash Card for OFWs

This card is similar to the regular BDO Cash Card,
but you can get this card abroad — in selected BDO accredited remittance
services.  There are thousands of BDO Remit offices, partners and agents worldwide, particularly in countries where there are a lot of OFWs.

This also has a higher load balance and deposit limit, compared to the regular BDO cash card.  While the regular cash card is limited to 10,000 pesos,  BDO Remit Cash Card can be loaded with up to 100,000 pesos.

You can send money directly to this BDO Remit Cash Card account.

Your and your beneficiary can also check the status of your remittance through the BDO Remit Status Inquiry on the BDO website.

Related Articles:

OFW Parents: Take Advantage of Free Internet Banking to Manage Your Childrens Weekly Allowance
BPI and BDO Internet Banking — Free and Quick Ways to Send Your Children’s Allowance
Savings Accounts for OFW Remittances
Savings Accounts in the Philippines with the Lowest Maintaining Balances
Cash Cards for OFW Remittances to the Philippines
List of Banks in the Philippines — Universal Banks, Commercial Banks
Top 27 Savings Banks in the Philippines — or Top 27 Thrift Banks

OFWs Can Send Money to the Philippines Thru BDO Remit