Banking, new laws, no more bank accounts for tourists period

[Lee2]

My wife and I and a friend spent the whole day going from bank to bank trying to get him a bank account, he wanted to buy a condo but he is on a tourist visa, the banks all wanted ACR cards but to be more specific, they said new rules came down this year which states no tourist ACR cards, so he can either get an investors visa, a student visa or a resident visa if he wants to open an account or find a developer who has connections with banks, such as Ayala, and buy a property from them based on them opening a bank account for him to make payments on it, weird, but I thought I would let readers know, there are apparently new banking laws this year.

So if you are planning on coming here on a Balikbayan or any type of tourist visa, you best set up other ways to have or get cash here.

Anyone know of any other way??

[starrt]

Hi Lee,

My wife and I purchased a new condo here in Taguig from a large developer. When we finally found a bank willing to give us a mortgage they insisted on seeing my visa and ACR card. If I had not been in the process of getting the Permanet Resident visa, who knows if the bank would have given us the mortgage.

That law, or regulation, must be new for this year as last year we got a car loan, while I still had a Probationay Permanent Visa.

Good luck in finding a financial institution that will give your foreigner friend a mortgage. By the way, some develoeprs, such as DMCI, have in house mortgages which they will give to pretty much anyone, so even though the terms are exhorbitant, that may be a possibilty.

Thomas

[BudM]

Like anything else, things get tougher and more costly to do because of people who screw things over for everyone else.  The banks catch all kinds of crap and keep getting more costly regulations for dealing with foreigners.

[bigrod]

Ok I have Googled this and can find nothing supporting a new law/rule etc.  In my 8 years I have been told about many rules/laws etc., many of which I had already researched.  So of course my response is please show me the rule/law you are referencing, which in many cases they cannot produce anything to confirm their statement/supposition.  Plus many locals have a hard time actually understanding what is written the laws/rules, mainly a requirement with term "and", "or".  The "and" requires all blocks be ticked while the "or" can substitute something for another item.

Just had conversation with my BDO branch manager according to him no change on having ACR-I card(Tourist/Perm Res)
.  I am assuming your friend is not married to a Filipina so he needs to establish some residency time here to get a bank account.  Now getting the Condo developer to support opening the account will normally be a big help.  In BDO's case buying from SMDC(umbrella  Co) would facilitate the opening of a checking account.

Chuck

[iamjames]

No country gives accounts to tourists. You always have to give proof of residency : Phone Bills, Electric bills, etc.

[David690]

No country gives accounts to tourists. You always have to give proof of residency : Phone Bills, Electric bills, etc.

I arranged my account with PSBank whilst on a tourist visa.

[Lee2]

I arranged my account with PSBank whilst on a tourist visa.

Was that this year? The reason I ask is because we checked with a few banks and all told us the same thing, the central bank now audits banks and thus the new requirements must be met or they would lose their ability to have a bank, of course who knows what is true here, but since it came from different banks and since I had been able to help friends get bank accounts last April and May at the same banks, it seems there is some consistency in what the different banks are telling us, so there has to have been something in writing that came down, I will try to do some research and post it if I can find it.

[bigrod]

No country gives accounts to tourists. You always have to give proof of residency : Phone Bills, Electric bills, etc.

I got an account with BDO on a tourist visa with less than a month after my arrival in 2010.  No bills in my name at that time.  Was lucky and had an ACR-I card just a few days after arrival.

Chuck

[Lee2]

Oh another item that came up, if we who already have bank accounts here wish to wire or deposit large sums of money, over p500,000, then we would have to provide the bank with proof where the funds came from, I do not think that is new because CityBank Philippines when we had an account there used to make us do that but until recently BPI and BOC never made us do that, but both told me yesterday that we would now have to provide that proof if we were to deposit money to buy another property with. 

[Lee2]

I got an account with BDO on a tourist visa with less than a month after my arrival in 2010.  No bills in my name at that time.  Was lucky and had an ACR-I card just a few days after arrival.

Chuck

I have accounts in my name both dollar and peso and we stay on a BB stamp and I have never had an ACR card but it seems something changed very recently, or someone is now checking to make sure banks are staying within the rules. I did not check with BDO because they used to be the strictest and would not open an account for me in the past while other banks would, even Citibank, so I skipped them but will give them a try next week when my friend comes back from his vacation to another island.

[Peter]

Lee.

Asking for proof of source has been part of the international anti-money laundering efforts for many, many years.

I use MetroBank Remittance Centre in London to transfer funds as required. I transfer online, using the (free) interbank 'FasterPay Service', from my UK bank to the MetroRem centre. MetroRem then direct deposit in our Metrobank account, here in the Bataan. Normally 3 or 4 hours delay, as the UK is either 7 or 8 hours (summer/winter time) adrift from us and the London end transfer to here is done manually. So we go to sleep here and wake up with Pesos in the bank next morning.

If funds are in excess of Stg. 3,000, then (UK) MetroRem "Terms and Conditions" state they 'MAY' ask for proof of source. I was asked a couple of times, about 8 or 9 years ago when we were extending our house and the sums were larger than usual, but nothing since then (touch wood.) We regularly transfer, so have built up a relationship with them and are on first name terms with the manager and the 3 guys who are at the "coal face". Got their personal, UK mobile numbers as well in case of any problems. LOL!

Never had our local branch query any deposits either. Not even when we opened the account with a sizeable cash deposit back in 2006.

Of course, things may be different in other areas!

Peter

[M.C.A.]

These banking rules have been tough since I first got here in 2010 so I keep mentioning how tough they are but many still claim it's so easy so good to hear another get real story, I've been to several banks they all required my Immigrant card but then again these banks aren't offical Bureau of Immigration Officers so I find it hard they can figure out what card is legal to open a bank account, so many variations but last year they started color coding the Visa ACR cards.

[bigrod]

These banking rules have been tough since I first got here in 2010 so I keep mentioning how tough they are but many still claim it's so easy so good to hear another get real story, I've been to several banks they all required my Immigrant card but then again these banks aren't offical Bureau of Immigration Officers so I find it hard they can figure out what card is legal to open a bank account, so many variations but last year they started color coding the Visa ACR cards.

First off MCA you were on a 13a before you came here so your status is different from a tourist to begin with.   The rules are tough? I had a checking account in less than 2 month after my arrival. If my memory serves me correctly my ACR-I card always identified me as a tourist when I got my first one in June 2010.  As far as banking is concerned at least with BDO it depends on the branch manager.  Example it is required that loans not be given after 65 years old and paid off by that age.  I got a new car loan in 2016 at 68 years old and it will paid off at 71 years old, yes it cost me a higher down payment and max 3 year financing.  Could somebody just arrived here get that probably not, but can an established account holder get it?  I did.

Chuck


Chuck

[suzukig1]

Oh another item that came up, if we who already have bank accounts here wish to wire or deposit large sums of money, over p500,000, then we would have to provide the bank with proof where the funds came from, I do not think that is new because CityBank Philippines when we had an account there used to make us do that but until recently BPI and BOC never made us do that, but both told me yesterday that we would now have to provide that proof if we were to deposit money to buy another property with. 

At the end of last year, 2017, I wire transferred USD greater than $10k USD to both BPI and BDO.  Both held up the deposits until I called them back (they called) to explain what the money was for.  I told them living expenses and that was good enough.  My impression was that they needed to put a reason down on some form.  All wire transfers less than $10k USD don't get any scrutiny.

[Lee2]

All I know is that it is getting made harder and harder for new expats to live here but for us, we will be fine because we already have a checking, 2 ATM accounts in one bank and a dollar account as well as a peso ATM account in another bank, but for new people moving to the Philippines, my post was meant only to let them know that they might not be able to open a bank account without having a builder help them or having a resident visa. My friend wishes to buy a second hand condo, so he will not have a builder to help him should he continues on with his plan to buy that second hand condo that I found for him, to possibly make a deal with the owner.

As for others, as late as last year we were able to help friends open bank accounts including checking accounts without all this new bs, something has to have changed this year, I just hope this is not a sign of the things to come for future years getting even harder, as a lot of people who wish to move to the Philippines may end up very disappointed if they do not have a retirement visa of some type, or are not married to a dual citizen.