Using paypal to paypal to send money to the Philippines

[JoeLP]

I was really bored today and was just bouncing around my book marks when I got curious on how paypal could help save money on sending my money over.  I know that Paypal owns xoom.com, which is my current setup for bringing money over when I need it.

Anyway, I go to paypal and ask the question in the help search and I am taken to a page where they show all the ways you can send money.  Most of the setups are via xoom.com and I was already familiar with such.  But then paypal to paypal was an option and I looked it up.  Basically the good things is it costs .50% of the money you are sending.  So, 50 cents for every $100 I sought to send.  That is a savings over what I was doing.  Not a lot, but some what of a savings.  But the negative is that despite being an instant transfer, it states that getting it into a bank account can take a couple days. 

I guess it's up to weather or not you have a paypal, and if your better half wants to open one of their own.  And also do you mind waiting a couple days.  In the end, it's not worth the switch to me, but decided to post this in case someone else would want to go down this road. 

[Lee2]

Thank you for posting this, IMO, the more ways that are available to get money over, the better.

[Steve & Myrlita]

Yes Paypal is a quick way. If you have a PP debit card, the sender can just transfer it to you in seconds. There is a catch though. The ATMs in the PH will charge you P250 and since PP charges $1 or P50, that's P350. But.....Since ATMs can't dispense in 50s, round up. So it will cost P400 to get the money. Whatever the bal is, deduct 400. ie P10,000-400=9600. Since it's in real time, you must withdraw 9600.

BTW: This is how my family sends to me.

[Gray Wolf]

I've been using Xoom for years. It's the cheapest and fastest way I've found. I have a PayPal account but it's hard to beat a $4.99 flat fee for up to $2000, and the Lhuillier office is only 2-3 minutes from the house. Just sent $135 earlier today. Exchange rate was 50.05. I'll have to look into the PayPal thing. It might come in handy down the road to send myself some extra money

[bigrod]

I've been using Xoom for years. It's the cheapest and fastest way I've found. I have a PayPal account but it's hard to beat a $4.99 flat fee for up to $2000, and the Lhuillier office is only 2-3 minutes from the house. Just sent $135 earlier today. Exchange rate was 50.05. I'll have to look into the PayPal thing. It might come in handy down the road to send myself some extra money

I use Transferwise.  I sent money yesterday with FX rate of 51.48.  Cost to send is just under 1% of sent amount.  Example $2000 minus $20, send amount $1980 received amount in BDO php account 101930.40.

Xoom would be $2000 at php 50.05 received php 100100. Plus the $4.99 charge.

I get about $40 more by using Transferwise versus Xoom.  Plus Transferwise updates the XE rate constantly during the day.  Which allows you to cancel and resend if the rate would change drastically while they finalize the transaction.  I processed my transaction about 2:30 pm and it was in my account by 4:30 pm. 

Chuck

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

I processed my transaction about 2:30 pm and it was in my account by 4:30 pm. 

Chuck



When I use Transfer Wise, they always inform me it will take 3 to 4 days before my Pesos is deposited into my BPI PhP checking account. I usually make the transfer on a Mon or Tues PST.

[bigrod]

I processed my transaction about 2:30 pm and it was in my account by 4:30 pm. 

Chuck



When I use Transfer Wise, they always inform me it will take 3 to 4 days before my Pesos is deposited into my BPI PhP checking account. I usually make the transfer on a Mon or Tues PST.

When I processed it said "By the 2nd Feb".  Been doing it twice a month for months and it usually in my account NLT than 8:30 pm local.  They transfer normally between 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm local time (3:30 am to 4:30 am EDT).  Now if you process during weekend/holiday either here or there it is normally in my acct here the morning of the next business day here.  Yes when I initially start a transfer it says 3-4 days but when I send it normally will say next business day here, but I get normally after the banks close here.  I go online and it is in my account.

Chuck

[copusmaximus]

if have a ph pp acct you can link it to a gcash card and i believe no transfer cost then use card anywhere like debit card and can withdraw cash also very cheep not totally sure because i dont have it but was looking at it as option awhile ago.

[Gray Wolf]

I've been using Xoom for years. It's the cheapest and fastest way I've found. I have a PayPal account but it's hard to beat a $4.99 flat fee for up to $2000, and the Lhuillier office is only 2-3 minutes from the house. Just sent $135 earlier today. Exchange rate was 50.05. I'll have to look into the PayPal thing. It might come in handy down the road to send myself some extra money

While making a transaction recently I noticed some changes at Xoom. Minimum is now $10 and maximum is now $2999. Same flat fee of $4.99

if have a ph pp acct you can link it to a gcash card and i believe no transfer cost then use card anywhere like debit card and can withdraw cash also very cheep not totally sure because i dont have it but was looking at it as option awhile ago.

Please elaborate on the ph pp acct linked to a gcash card. Exactly how does that work without a fee? Exchange rate?

[BudM]

While making a transaction recently I noticed some changes at Xoom. Minimum is now $10 and maximum is now $2999. Same flat fee of $4.99

My bank, as of about a year ago, start popping my USD account for 5 bucks when I deposit a US check.  I am not thrilled with keeping too much USD here so I write one once a month.  If the bank decides they are going to some day start charging me more and if the Xoom rate stays the same for that amount, I might just start bringing USD in that way.  Unless it pertains to only if you convert to pesos for transfer since then they get you good on the exchange rate.

[Lee2]

For those still in the U.S planning to retire, I suggest a Fidelity account, I use our Fidelity ATM card at HSBC in the Philippines and at any machine with a Visa logo and it has been free but even if it isn't, they reimburse ATM fees.

Another choice would be Charles Schwab, they also reimburse ATM fees, in fact if I was going to retire and move to another country then I would open both of those accounts and get a Cap One CC too because that can be used for free when outside the U.S and they pay you 1.5% for using it.

Also to make it easier, I have a Fidelity Visa that we use in the Philippines and they charge me 1% for using it and pay me 2% back, so we still make 1% and that gets deposited into my Fidelity cash management account for us to do with whatever we wish, thus for us it is easier than using our Cap One credit card or any other card with no fees. The less cash we need to use, the less we have to carry around and using cc's makes large purchases easier but you may need to maintain a U.S. address for some cards and definitely for a Fidelity account.

[copusmaximus]

adding gcash link  so people can read about it please let link show tyvm
https://www.gcash.com/cash-in/mobile-facilities/paypal

[suzukig1]

For those still in the U.S planning to retire, I suggest a Fidelity account, I use our Fidelity ATM card at HSBC in the Philippines and at any machine with a Visa logo and it has been free but even if it isn't, they reimburse ATM fees.

Another choice would be Charles Schwab, they also reimburse ATM fees, in fact if I was going to retire and move to another country then I would open both of those accounts and get a Cap One CC too because that can be used for free when outside the U.S and they pay you 1.5% for using it.

Also to make it easier, I have a Fidelity Visa that we use in the Philippines and they charge me 1% for using it and pay me 2% back, so we still make 1% and that gets deposited into my Fidelity cash management account for us to do with whatever we wish, thus for us it is easier than using our Cap One credit card or any other card with no fees. The less cash we need to use, the less we have to carry around and using cc's makes large purchases easier but you may need to maintain a U.S. address for some cards and definitely for a Fidelity account.

One thing to note is that Fidelity does not allow the use of a foreign address.  Even if you use a U.S. address and they suspect that you are living outside of the U.S.  That happened to me.  I stupidly responded to their request for a cell phone number and I asked what if I don't have a U.S. cell phone number.  (They had "my" U.S. landline number on record.)  That triggered a series of events that led to my accounts being frozen.  I was able to make withdrawals but no other activities.

With Schwab I can use a foreign address but it has to be an international account and not a U.S. account.  If you are a U.S. citizen, you still get the Schwab debit card and check writing but no other banking privileges like bill pay. 

[Gray Wolf]

My bank, as of about a year ago, start popping my USD account for 5 bucks when I deposit a US check.  I am not thrilled with keeping too much USD here so I write one once a month.  If the bank decides they are going to some day start charging me more and if the Xoom rate stays the same for that amount, I might just start bringing USD in that way.  Unless it pertains to only if you convert to pesos for transfer since then they get you good on the exchange rate.

They give you the option for recipient to pickup money in pisos or dollars

[Gray Wolf]

adding gcash link  so people can read about it please let link show tyvm
https://www.gcash.com/cash-in/mobile-facilities/paypal

Thanks, I'll check that out. On the surface it looks like something I can use