International Money Transfer In The Philippines

[OldSalty]

Hi guys,

I have a small problem and maybe somebody can give me a good advise. I am living with my Philippina wife in Pattaya, Thailand but we still have a PHP account with BPI in Olongapo. Now we opened an AUD account for her in Australia with CBA, which was easy done by Internet without travelling to Australia. We are getting a good interest rate there abt 5.5%. Now we are trying to transfer abt. 400.000.00 PHP to Australia, but BPI is giving us a hard time. You have to fill out forms and forms and forms, which you can not even download through the Net, you have to pick them up at the branch, but we are not going back to the Philippines. I am thinking about closing her account with BPI and opening up another account with another bank in the Philippines. Is there any bank you would recommend in the Philippines that offers reliable and good internet banking service and where she can open an account from Thailand, maybe HSBC, like it is possible in Australia or Europe? Every reply will be appreciated.

[roadagent]

You might consider Citibank...

[OldSalty]

Problem has now been solved, it took only two weeks. BPI has no international transfer connection by internet to Australia, they only have a telegraphic connection to NAB (National Australia Bank), which is their corresponding bank. So SWIFT and anything normal in today's world does not work in the Philippines. Once they have transferred the funds to NAB, they transfer it to your bank in Australia, which was CBA (Commonwealth Bank) in my case, but your have to give BPI a national routing number for Australia, which was AU+branch number and your account number. What made it so difficult, was the unprofessional attitude from BPI, but now the nightmare is over.

[Sateev]

Really appreciate folks who post followup. Thanks for your report, it will help the next guy...