Well, after seeing a huge amount of adverts for this company on this website, YouTube and pretty much anywhere I tend to go on the net these days I figured I would find that one out.. And so.. I sent Joy 1000 pesos a few days ago using this service to test it out, signing up online providing my personal details to cover whatever security checks they performed and also providing the full details of the recipient (name, address and phone number). Then the payment was processed as per usual online transactions. Now the important part is the cost, 1000 PHP cost me £19,39 to send. The same amount with Western Union cost about £19.75 (and these change every day) so it is pretty much on a par with that service - unless you are a Gold card carrier for Western Union and get the Gold card discount. The money gets collected by the collector in RCBC, LBC or Cebuana money shops. So make sure the person collecting knows where one of these shops is. The process took just a few moments, but given the cost I would only recommend this service for quick and fast money transfers and not regular payments.
I signed up for it too but I had not done the experiment yet, the real benefit, if it works, is that it scales much better than western Union, by the time you get to 150 pounds it is a lot cheaper than Western Union. Very interested in the results of your experiment Sean, let us all know how it goes! Importantly they do door to door cash payouts for the same fee, I might try that experiment, to fill in that blank! I think I will also try the direct payment to a bank account to see how that works. I was a bit nervous about them but it does look like a really good service as the larger amounts are comparable to the direct bank to bank remittance services fees from the likes of PNB.
Joy got the money hours later. Though I did send it at something like 7pm UK time and she collected it about 12 hours later. No idea how it compares to western unions 15 minutes service.
Well I am really pleased that it actually worked for you Sean!!! I was a bit scared about trying it. I will definitely give this a go, Xoom used to be a couple of hours but none of us pariah Europeans are allowed to use it anymore and it cost a lot more than World Remit for the larger amounts It appears to be very close to PNB and other banks for large remittance amounts. Cheers Sean!
Nice topic and very interesting stuff. I always think everyone has their own 'best' way for a couple of different scenarios. We've used i-remit for years, and never had the slightest issue. Ah, well apart from finding telephone contact doesn't always happen as we would want. But the exchange rates are great and the charges OK I used Western Union a couple of weeks ago as I had no comparable alternative. The service was good, the money got to where it should be without a hitch, and the family 'issue' got resolved within a few hours. All good, but the cost made my eyes water. Basically, I paid what was needed to do what I wanted there and then. Couldn't find any way to do it faster from home. I'm always interested in gather info on different routes etc.
Had a problem today with World Remit, or perhaps it was with Cebuana Lhuillier who are one of their Filipino partners Basically, I sent Joy a small sum of 2,000 pesos over the interwebs before I went to bed but selected Cebuana Lhuillier as the collecting agent (seems some of the others had same day issuing problems which World Remit show in writing before you send). Anyway, I sent Joy the text with the reference number and off to sleep I went. Waking up to a few replies advising that I had sent incorrect details... Cebuana Lhuillier agents were telling Joy I had incorrectly used just her first name and not her full name as it appears on her ID. This was wrong, as I simply selected the previously saved details I had used before with success.. After firing off an email to World Remit I got a quick reply advising that all of the correct details were sent along to Cebuana Lhuillier and everything should be fine. After telling Joy to head on over to Cebuana Lhuillier again, she found the same story... Another email toWorld Remit and they contacted Cebuana Lhuillier as well as Joy to try and work something out. Anyway, Joy has been contacted to say it will clear tomorrow by both Cebuana Lhuillier and World Remit.. We shall see...
did you transfer the cash from your debit card Kuya OR THROUGH your bank account here in the UK...ive just got mine today via direct debit and hope my mum can collect it tomorrrw with no problem..touch wood
I've not tried them yet but it's useful to know, all these services have hiccups sometimes, certainly for Western Union in the past they sometimes got ludicrously pedantic about exact name matching. Remember over there it's Firstname, Mothers maiden name, Fathers Surname, on the birth certificate and in theory on all official documents and ID's, doesn't always work that way but it's supposed too.
Yeah, I sent it through my debit card online. Done so a few times now with them and no hicups or issues. Usually, I click send, go to bed and then wake up to a thank you text... Job done! Though, this is the first time I selected Cebuana Lhuillier as the agent...
I think WorldRemit could be very useful especially for smaller amounts and for personal pick-ups. Looks like all turned out OK in the end Kuya So what happened to resolve the initial issue?
Have you guys tried a prepaid debit card? I usually use it to send money to PH when I'm still in the USA. The fee is much cheaper and almost instant transfer. Paypal is also a great option for transferring money.
Hi dorlyn Welcome to the Forum Yes we have and we are fairly well versed in prepaid cards, the problem with prepaid cards is that Banks in the Philippines charge 200 peso for a foreign card ATM withdrawal, that is 3 pounds or about 4.5 dollars, so in general we avoid them where possible. Your first post is promoting what looks like a Philippine based prepaid card, now in other circumstances that might be a good thing but right now it looks like spam. At least you are promoting something that is relevant to us, so it's up to our mods to decide how to treat your post Best wishes And by the way, yes Paypal is great, if you have a bank account in the Philippines that can meet the verification requirements. Regards
@oss, thanks for the warmth welcome If that's the case, then I might as well try the service of World Remit.
World Remit would definitely appear to be legitimate; here are there FSA Registration details... https://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/psd...bMnkrDqRfzqwbynknvrkLOlQzNp65In0__?sid=235345 I did a quick check on the cost of sending 20,000 Pesos (my usual monthly amount). Here are the figures... World Remit 20,000 Pesos: £301.79 (World Remit exchange rate) Transfer Fee: £6.99 Total: £308.78 FairFX Anywhere Sterling Prepaid card (currently cheapest prepaid card) 20,000 Pesos: £298.03 (current interbank rate) 1.4% markup: £4.17 FairFX withdrawal fee: £2.00 (£1 per withdrawal) ATM owner withdrawal fee: £5.96 (200 Pesos per withdrawal) Total: £310.16 PayPal 20,000 Pesos: £309.95 (PayPal Exchange Rate) PayPal Fee: £1.55 (100 Pesos) Total: £311.50p Avoidable fees for PayPal: ATM withdrawal fee (0-12 Pesos - depends on bank) Bank Transfer fee (0-200 Pesos - depends on bank) Western Union 20,000 Pesos: £304.39 (Western Union exchange rate) Tansfer Fee: £32.00 Total: £336.39 So, for a 20,000 Pesos withdrawal, World Remit is the cheapest payment method!
A PayPal transfer for 20,000 peso or about 300 quid would cost about £1.50 + about 2% on the exchange rate. Money would be withdrawn to a local bank account and could be withdrawn at 11 peso per ATM transaction. It's just not fast.
Always a good idea to have money available via multiple sources and the FairFX is still likely to be cheaper in other countries where the ATM owner does not charge an exorbitant withdrawal fee.
