Hello, my wife and I have money in both the HSBC and the Bank of Commerce. We want to move all our funds back to the U.K. within the next couple of weeks. My wife is going to the PI within the next couple of weeks Has anyone done this before and how did you do it? Our money is all in Pesos. Thank you
I've no experience with the Bank of Commerce, but plenty with HSBC who can help you with that Xfer. Just talk with them. As a footnote, they may have changed their processes somewhat as a result of recent events with the US regulators, but in principle can still do the needed for you. Just be sure you understand and accept all those charges and exchange rates.
Whatever you do don't try to take cash out of the Philippines, I would suggest that if it is a joint account that your wife visits an HSBC branch over there, I know there is one in Makati, and simply ask for a transfer back to your UK accounts, it will cost both in exchange rate costs and in transfer fees (although if you earned the money in Sterling over many years and saved it in peso then you have made a tidy profit ) This quote is from the HSBC UK site for UK to international I would expect it to be the same for RP to UK transfers. Have you got HSBC internet banking for your Philippine account? They might well have an online option, HSBC is supposed to be one of the better banks for this international stuff In fact see this page click here Don't do a demand draft or managers check this is effectively cash and if it gets lost or stolen you have lost the lot plus international cheques take forever to clear. If you have these HSBC facilities then I would arrange a local transfer from the Bank of Commerce to HSBC to consolidate the funds, then use HSBC systems to transfer the money back home. Oh and welcome to the site
Thanks for the replies and the welcome so far. The wife is going over to the PI in two weeks time to find out how this can be done. Safe and easiest are our two main priorities. I'm originally from Belfast but currently living in California. My account in the UK is with Smile. I have heard that if we keep it in Pesos and transfer it to the Uk, it goes to $$$ first then to pounds which I am sure would lose us some money. She has tried speaking to the HSBC bank on the phone but always seems to end up with someone who has no idea of what he is talking about. we have already lost some money in the PI due to PDIC not paying us our claims, so I want to keep losses to a minimum. Thanks again, I'll keep you up to date with any progress.
Ah the co-op, currencies are often triangulated via an intermediate currency however I would not expect this from HSBC, it is quite clear from the HSBC Philippines web site that they can transfer your funds to any bank account worldwide, the main issue is going to be getting the authority to do it, again is the Philippine HSBC account held in your name or only in your wifes name? If you ask them HSBC will have to give you a breakdown of the exchange rate and transfer fees, I would expect you would get very close to the interbank exchange rate on the day and I would also expect the transfer fee's to be reasonable with a bank like HSBC
The HSBC is in her name only, joint in the Bank of Commerce. I'll get her to speak to HSBC first and find out the exact details of moving it back to the UK. Thanks again
Well, the wife managed to get everything sorted out to our satisfaction and it turned out to be alot less stressful than we expected. Mayen at the bank of commerce was more than helpful in getting our transfer organized as she was in getting our accounts opened. HSBc wanted $30 for the transfer and the BankOf Commerce charged $16. Getting the money changed from Pesos to dollars was also easier than we thought as contacts were known inside the bank. So we ended up changing everything we had in the PI, over 5 million and wiring it back. I had been a mug and listened to My Whittall and invested in the Legacy debacle, that was my fault but we did get most of our money back apart from 1 claim. Thanks to the rate of exchange difference between now and five years ago we did not lose that much and probably gained a little. My problem with Whittall and the same that others had with him him lay in the fact that he was so unhelpful in helping my wife file claims and helping us follow up. It's over now and the money has come home. It took two years, numerous e-mails and phone calls to the PDIC to get our money back. The most useless and unorganized bunch of wunkers I have ever come across. And they are a bunch of lying, cheating thieving arseholes. One of the main reasons I decided never to set foot back inside the country. Thank you to this forum for giving me somewhere to voice my opinion of them. Of course, now that the money has reached these shores, I will be drafting an e-mail to them which will contain my best Belfast vocabulary.
Hang around mate, no reason to visit for just one issue, we are all married to or in relationships with Filipino's (ladies or gentlemen). Glad you got your money back, not really heard of this particular debacle that you mention.
It's a few issues and not just this one. My wife is not enjoying her stay there either and cannot wait to get back here. it was her first visit back there in two years. Numerous reasons, never liked the food, family issues, laws etc etc. did enjoy some of the beach resorts I stayed at but not enough for me to go back there. Don't enjoy going back to Belfast either but that's another story.
I meant hang around in our forum, we are a friendly bunch and would value your input positive or negative on all kinds of issues.
http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=48864.0 http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/03/27/12/legacy-group-owner-dead I blame myself for the mess I got into here. It's what happened afterwards that annoyed me Oh no worries about that. It's a great forum so far. Kudos to those that started it Compared to others it's great, must be something to do with us Brits!!!
Yep all us Scots, Irish and Welsh blokes oh and those English ones too And lets don't forget our dear Italian Don, our Dom
Not very common in the UK mate as you know? There has been occasional comment on the merits of owning weapons in the Philippines but basically as foreigners we are not allowed them. "srs" ? Jim
