Trying to send money to Olongapo but...

[robbie_d]

Hi all,

I'm trying to send some "support money" to a friend over there but she doesn't have a bank account. She seems, kind of, clueless about the whole process.

I am in Montreal and i almost used WorldRemit until i saw, when i was in the process of sending the money, that they require clients to have a mobile phone. A required field on their send page.
I don't use a mobile phone at all. That stopped the transaction right there.
Then, i saw their customer reviews page today with 102 serious complaints and 1 star, with many people saying they wish they could vote NO stars. WOW. I'm glad that my lack of a mobile phone prevented me from sending any money through them

She doesn't even know what she needs to open a bank account.
She's living in Pilar (in a small village) but she goes to Olongapo because she used to live there, until recently.

I thought about if she rented a P.O. box somewhere, but then i read online negative reviews about how the PhilPost system sucks big time. So... i am not so keen on using that.

She said her last employer (JolliBee) gives the employees an ATM card to collect their salaries?  I mean, i just don't understand the system over there.

Apparently, they don't even have mail boxes in front of their houses. It's considered "old fashioned" to have them? lol So i can't send a letter with money inside.
I don't understand how it works over there.
"Seems" kind of, i'm sorry to say, "backward", for lack of a better word.

Any suggestions for HOW i can send her this money without either of us having to pay a big service charge.
I was thinking a bank-to-bank money transfer might be the safest option but i haven't looked into that.
Perhaps paypal?...but i'm sure she'll still need a bank account for that.     
I won't be sending any large amounts of money, so i don't think that will be a problem for her when she goes to collect it. Maybe about $60.00 Canadian, once in a while.

Any suggestions?
What does she need to open a bank account?
She's keeping her savings hidden in her bedroom.

Thanks.

[starrt]

Hi Robbie,

All transfers will cost some money to send, and a lot of times, to pick up.

Western Union has outlets all over the place in the Philippines, but you will be charged for sending money, and she will have some deducted for picking it up, it depends on the amounts.

Bank to bank wire transfers are the same, the bank in Canada will charge you for sending and the bank in the Philippines will charge her when it arrives there. It costs me $40 CAD to send a wire transfer from Scotiabank, and the bank in the Philippines charges me for receiving the wire transfer.

I wouldn't send any money at all, not even a cheque, through the mail system. It is just too unreliable.

There are some money transfer companies that deliver the cash to the door of the recepient, but I don't know what the costs involved would be.

Perhaps you should head down to the area of town where a lot of the Philippine restarants and stores are and ask around. The last time I was there it was in the Snowdon district, around Victoria Ave and Van Horne Ave.

Good luck in getting your money to the Philippines.

Tommy

[JoeLP]

Does xoom.com work in Canada?  If so, use that.  Send it to a local pawn shop like Cebuana or MLhuillier or any others like those that are nationwide(promise, they exist in Olongapo and probably more than 3 of each there).  She can go, show ID, and pick it up for free.  The cost to you will be $5 plus a small, small percentage off the conversion.  Talking less than 1%.  So you get it. 
Make sure you have her name correct to her ID.  They will require the ID and they MUST match. 
This is the system I use to send money to Tina each month from my accounts in the USA.

[ABCDeVil]

Hi Robbie_d

The easiest is Western Union. As JoeLP said, make sure you have the full name that is on your "friends" ID, do not miss any letters, or spell it wrong, as that causes no end of hassle. If you use Western Union, your "friend" can collect in Olongapo or Pilar or wherever they want, as long as the name matches and they have the number from Western Union. Its same day and easy for your "friend". NOTE you should be able to send in Canadian $ for pickup in PH Piso's. Hope it all goes well.

[robbie_d]

I ended up using W.U. and paid CAN$12.00 in fees. Not too happy about that. I told her to open a bank account and then get a paypal account but she seems to have a real problem to open a freeking bank account. I told her to open a Union Bank account because they allow paypal (so i read on this forum). She went to the bank but they wanted to know her source or proof of income. She is not working, so she feels unable and discouraged to get an account. I contacted the bank, myself, to ask about that and they never responded to my email. Is opening a bank account such a major issue in The PH? What's up with that?   

[jjcabgou]

I ended up using W.U. and paid CAN$12.00 in fees. Not too happy about that. I told her to open a bank account and then get a paypal account but she seems to have a real problem to open a freeking bank account. I told her to open a Union Bank account because they allow paypal (so i read on this forum). She went to the bank but they wanted to know her source or proof of income. She is not working, so she feels unable and discouraged to get an account. I contacted the bank, myself, to ask about that and they never responded to my email. Is opening a bank account such a major issue in The PH? What's up with that?

As long as she has the minimum deposit to open an account, proper ID, and proof of residence (electric bill, water bill etc..) it should be quite easy

[robbie_d]

Hey JJ,
Yea? Well, she told me they sent her away because she had no proof of income. She was all set to deposit PHP7,000.00

[robbie_d]

Aww, crap, JJ.
I  was responding to my own response when i suddenly hit some wrong button and POOF my long response vanished. DAMN.
Maybe it's for the better as i DO now see the need for shorter posts.
Anyway, i think she was going to use her former Olongapo address, and i told her to go back and use her last job at Jollibee as a proof of income, but i am still waiting, since after the rains stopped in early May, when i sent her the money.
I told her "Open a BANK ACCOUNT and get a paypal account ASAP".

Would the bank verify her address and employment?

Thanks.


Edit by Steve: Removed offensive text.

[bigrod]

You verify the address and employment to the bank by providing your wage and earning statement from your employer and a electric/water bill/etc.  The banks here are way behind USA/Canadian banks in terms of how they function.  Using statements/bills from the past may not prove current employment or residence.

Chuck

[robbie_d]

She is now living alone in her mom's second house which is being renovated because her mom threw her and year 2 year old out of the main house.
So she has no official address. No utility bills in her name. No job because she is a full-time basically homeless mom, now. WTF?
Her mom threw her out because the mom wanted more and more money from her.  WTF?
I know this is all true because i saw the photos of where she was in the mom's house and where's she's living now in the house being renovated.
She has a bit of money left, now.

Should she be going to a Women's Shelter if the mom threw her out with a 2-year-old, and she can't look for work, or even WORK, with a baby on her back? WTF?

Where is all this famous "family helping each other out" i keep hearing about?
I got her a passport - that is paid off.

So, i guess she'll go to an agency and risk being a "sold-out" slave-maid in the Middle East and risk rape and being beaten. Her mom wants her to do that i think. Do they even CARE about their daughters.
So many reports of Pinays being raped (and she's a 5'7" tall hottie with hair past her butt), beaten, starved and even murdered as maids in the Middle East and even Singapore. What an EFFed UP place that is! 

She was doing fine until someone DROPPED her son on his head and needed the hospital and then she decided to go live with her mom BUT she quit her job to do that, and now she's really stuck.

[robbie_d]

I wonder if a women's shelter is free, or does a homeless mom have to pay for THAT too?

[robbie_d]

The whole country should go on strike, NO ONE WORKS until the wages are raised to a normal work wage. All the money making, beautiful resorts. 
What is the President doing over there keeping every one dirt poor? I'm disgusted

[bigrod]

Guess you have not realized the Philippines is 3rd class country.  Comparing what happens in Western countries to here is like compring apples and oranges.

Chuck

[David690]

Sorry to read about your situation and the opinion that you are developing about this country.  Filipino families are, by and large, loving and caring, but of course there are exceptions, and without knowing all the details it's impossible to understand the situation in your ladies case.
As others have said opening a bank account is not so difficult and actually not so different to UK.  She will need the minimum deposit, proof of identity, utility bills etc and yes proof of income.
Try not to be so harsh on a country you have not even visited, i hope you will do make a visit some day and see it for yourself.

[JoeLP]

So she lives in a house...but has no address?  I sorta get it, but then I don't.  If her house is in a compound, then that compound address is her's.  When Tina and I built our home behind her parents home, we took on their address, but added an A and B after the number.  The mail is still delivered and no agency has had an issue with the A or B we put after the address number.  If she lives in a house, she should go to the post office and ask what her address number is. 
I get that maybe some squatters might not have address numbers.  But I just asked Tina's cousin if she has an address to her home and she recited it to me immediately without a second thought.  She lives in a squatter neighborhood behind the main houses across the street from our compound. 
There HAS to be a way she can get an ID.  That and a deposit should be all she needs to get an account. 
Oh, and this is the Philippines.  Not the USA or Canada or any first world EU country.  The Philippines.  Good look on a shelter being anywhere and everywhere.  I don't think there is one in all of Northern Samar.  I live in the capitol and know we have one(the largest) of 3 homeless shelters in the whole province and it hold only up to 50 and all three are run by the church(catholic).  The government has a single homeless shelter here.  There are 4 municipalities over 100,000 residents in them in this province.  In Michigan cities with only 10-15,000 have them.  In the capital of the province, here in Catarman, we do have 1 women's shelter that is paid for by the provincial government.  If I remember correctly, your girl is from the Bataan area.  There might have been a battered woman's shelter in Mariveles or Balanga, but I do not remember ever hearing of them.  Ours is recent.  Built since I was here as they rebuild the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office after a complete tear down of the old one and added an attached building behind it for a place for battered/abused women and their children.  When I was in Bataan was 10 years ago now.  I do not remember them having any at that time.  I was in Orion.