When I came to the Philippines, I didn't have a bank account. I simply had a paypal account, and a paypal debit card, I had everything I needed with that.
My debit card has since expired, and on top of that I want to conduct business that requires a US bank account now. Is there a US based bank in the Davao area that is able to give a US banking account to a US citizen?
DavidS
Member
Have you considered opening an account with a U.S. Internet based bank? These are banks that allow you to open accounts online. Some even lack retail sites alltogether. They conduct all of their business online. They'll allow you to open an account without physically being in the U.S. An internet search will reveal several.
JohnM
Member
Kevin: ALL US bank accounts, even Internet-based, normally require at least one in-person visit to a branch for a signature card.
DavidS
Member
Actually they can fedex the signature card to you. You sign and return.
bangkaboat
Member
Is there an American bank in Manila? When in the Philippines before, I found the Philippine banks to be too involved in how I handled my money. Still, it was no thrill keeping a few hundred thousand P$ in our bedroom closet(took up most of the closet!). I suppose my wife will tell me what I'm supposed to do, but a U.S. bank seems, somehow, a more comforting thought(As long as it isn't owned by AIG).
Mike
Gentlemen, what am I missing here??
If you are in the Philippines, sooner or later your funds have to be converted into Pesos so where is the advantage of having an American Bank? Are the conversion rates different or what?
Thanks, --Rich--
Philippine banks has a deposit insurance coverage of P500,000 per depositor by PDIC (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.) So, I wouldn't deposit more than that in a Philippine based bank. US bank account is covered by FDIC for $250,000.
I think it's best if you have both a US and Philippine bank accounts. Your pension/SS (or whatever) can be deposited directly to your US bank and then just transfer some funds to your Philippine bank account for your household expenses and daily needs.
Thanks Miss August, that explanation makes a lot of sense. I never thought of the protection side of the equation.
--Rich--
Thanks for everyone's responses, unfortunately nobody seems to have answered my question hehe.
To DavidS: opening a US bank account online? Something tells me that trying to open a bank account online, never going to a local branch to pick it up (because I live in the Philippines) and entering a Philippines address for them to deliver the card is going to be extremely unproductive. With all the rules and regulations after 9/11, (albeit I'm guessing) ... banks just don't do that. Perhaps they would if they were faxed my passport or something ... in which case I would be looking for an example in the past which this was actually successful for someone, I don't really want to initiate this process with dozens of online banks to run into dead-ends.
JohnM: Thanks that is what I was thinking ... that's why I want to know a US bank with a branch in Davao that would let me start an account if I actually physically show up at the location. I'm still looking for an example of such a bank if anyone knows of one.
Rich321: I am a website designer. One of the new programs I have affiliated with pays to a US bank account only. When shopping for the dozens if not hundreds of affiliate programs out there, very very very few have options that would let me accept money to a filipino bank account. Even if I were to find a place that would send to a filipino bank account ... none of them are ACH (automatic direct deposit) ... they all involve wire fees which are like $50+ per withdrawal. So there are plenty of reasons to need a US bank account when you're in that line of business.
Miss August: Thanks for the information. I agree ... it's best to hold both a US and Philippine bank account. My initial post was asking about how to obtain a US Bank account without needing to hop in a plane and fly home to get one, spending some $2000+ and wasting a week or two of my time. If anyone has an idea how to accomplish this (such as a US bank with a local branch located in Davao), I would appreciate it.
I was researching online and I found a reference to "Bank of America" branch in Davao City. Unfortunately, it was only a reference to it, no address or phone. Does anyone know where this might be? I'm guessing if I walked in and produced an American passport and driver's license that I could probably start up a US bank account.
Kevin,
I'm interested in the Bank of America angle too since I already have a Bank of America account here in the states.
A google search turned up this link. .. Interesting in that it is called "offshore" and does not have an actual Davao City brick-and-mortar storefront.
http://global-travel.mobi/banking.php?city=Davao%20City
Apparently there is a Head Office in Manila:
Bank Of America - Head Office
8767 Paseo De Roxas , Makati
Philippines
02 815 5000
bankofamerica.com
Other American Banks are (one in Davao at bottom of this list):
Chase Manhattan Bank N.A.
Corinthian Plaza, Paseo de Roxas
Makati City Philippines
T : (632) 811-33-48
F : 878-12-90
W : www.chase.com
Citibank N.A.
8741 Paseo de Roxas,
Makati City Philippines
T : (632) 894-71-38
F : 894-78-69
W : www.citibank.com.ph
HSBC - Davao (This is American or Global)
Luisa Avenue Square E Jacinto Avenue, Davao City 8000, DAS
p: (082) 226 7022 f: (082) 300 7899
http://www.hsbc.com.ph
Good luck.
--Rich--
I learned this after a personal visit to HSBC in Makati.
1. As a non-citizen, I could only open a foreign currency account, unless you have ACR, are dual citizen or joint with a Filipino.
2. You have to sign the signature card at the bank.
3. You can have separate ATM cards, for the different currencies.
4. You can use the ATM cards anwhere in the world but will spew out the currency of that country (e.g. in the Phil, only pesos, in Canada, CAD, etc).
Bob New York
Member
Rich 321
Thats a nice list of what may appear to be USA Banks in The Philippines. When I looked into this a few months ago I believe I was informed that even though the name is the same, or similar, the banks in The Philippines are entirely separate from their USA counterpart with little if any connection to them.
That was the answer I received when I looked into this. Maybe it is accurate, maybe not but I just thought I would mention it.
bangkaboat
Member
Kevin,
I asked my wife about this, as she just returned from Davao. She said no.
HSBC is a chinese controlled bank, formerly the Hong Kong Standard, changed it's name when it bought the Bank of British Columbia(Canadian), in the lead-up to the 1997 hand over.
HSBC is a British bank, always has been. It may seem Chinese controlled, but it started as Hongkong Bank, then took over Shanghai Bank, which became Hongkong & Shanghai, now just plain HSBC. It used to be HK based, but now headquartered in London. I find the service excellent even from overseas. We used to bank with Citibank in Makati before but I find it shady now.
bangkaboat
Member
Thanks for the correction, Alex. I thought it had changed hands, previously, but this is good to know, as I still have family connections to HK & will be there periodically.
Mike
toninsp
Member
I have HSBC in Hong Kong, Singapore and now Philippines. It's a mix of USD, SGD, HKD and PHP (not to mention EURO in another, European bank). I had no problem at all to open the account here since I have ACR. Transfers from either to Manila is no problem at all though you pay transfer cost, as always with any transaction. The service of HSBC is indeed excellent. I am running insurances through HSBC as well.
JohnM
Member
toninsp:
I've had nothing but headaches with HSBC in the Middle East... Each country is independent, and they all don't work well together.
Search
Member
Many banks and brokerage/mutual funds require an address in the USA. You could sign up with one of the mail forwarding companies* This would give you the required US address.
I have found Bank of Internet to be very good (not sure if they require a US address).
Search
* choose a mail forwarder in a state with no state income tax.
WRBClimber
Member
I'm new to the site, but I have a little info that I found out with my US Bank (Wells Fargo). With the Wells Fargo online banking you can transfer funds for a small fee of less than $10 stright to a BPI bank account in the Philippines.
Bill
suzukig1
Member
You need to be careful with the services that transfer funds with what look like small fees. You can check the exchange rate that Wells Fargo uses to convert from dollars to pesos compared to the prevailing exchange rate for that day and it's about 3% in their favor. You're better off depositing a check in your BPI dollar account, wait 30 days for it to clear and then convert the dollars to pesos at BPI. You take about a 0.5% hit that way.
WRBClimber
Member
Thanks for the info about the fees. I will look into it more before I do it.
ProfDon
Member
As far as currency conversion on in-coming funds is concerned, you might considder opening a US dollar account here. Then NO conversion cost - until you want to use it in pesos. Then you can negotiate with the bank on the rate (honest, I do with Metrobank in manila) or take the money out in US dollars and change at the money changer - which is usually at a better rate than the initial bank rate (before your chat with them).
Thanks for the replies everyone. I looked it all over and ... best of my knowledge ... nobody has posted any answer to start a US banking account, as a US citizen, while in the Philippines?
When I originally posted this, it was a minor inconvenience. Now that the Xoom transfer service has completely disabled using paypal as a means of sending money to the Philippines, it's become quite more drastic.
If anyone has any information specifically how a US citizen (with passport and valid US driver's license) can obtain a US banking account -- perhaps at US bank with a local philippines branch -- or any other method I would greatly appreciate it.
I've been here about two years and my paypal debit cards have since expired -- I really don't have any way to withdraw the funds to here. I'm considering sending a paypal to a friend who will turn around and send me a western union, but long term that solution isn't going to work for me.
JohnM
Member
Kevin:
Did you try BOA online? (I think you can apply online with Citibank, too. They switched my acct to the RP, no problem. HSBC was a different story.) I set my account up in Abu Dhabi, but they have no branch there. Most of the banks are based in Makati, since that is where the country's banking center is. The only other alternative may be a "premier" account with HSBC or Citibank, but that requires a large amount of cash (Over $100K, I think).
All of the US bank branches here are independent, Philippine Corporations. That is the law. The parent may have a large interest, but their policies may be different. You may just have to do a trip back to the States otherwise.
Right now I'm considering getting a Philippines paypal account, either for myself or my wife ... and attaching that to a Philippines bank account. The places that send me money really don't care which paypal email they send it to, whether its a US account or Philippines makes no difference to them.
That hopefully is the long term solution. I need to get a Philippines bank account that gives a debit card so that I can up the amount of money that can be withdrawed from paypal (they allow only 25000 pesos a month without a credit card confirmation). Anyone know for certain a Philippines bank located in Davao that gives a debit card?
Hi Kevin - My Philippine Paypal Account is connected to my Philippine bank account at Union Bank, the EON account, which gives you a Visa Debit card.
koegpiaz
Member
keep your bank account in US, if your card expired you can call then and let them know, and have them sent via fedex in PI for security purposes. I will never bank in PI for that reason.
Chase Bank has a Manila branch, I would contact them. They also use a ATM/debit card with Visa logo. Very easy to use here.
Bank of America also has a Manila branch, you could contact them.
Thanks for posting everyone. I thought I would relay what I did in case anyone else has the same problems and want to fix it.
I went to several banks with my wife, trying to start a philippines bank account.
First off, don't bother going to Metrobank ... they have over-the-board requirements including requiring a TIN (tax id) number for a Philippines citizen. Even if the government doesn't require a filipino to have one -- Metrobank does.
My first stop was Unionbank and we applied for the EON card. I wanted to get my own account, at first the guy there was wanting to see residency papers for me. After they learned I was a returned Balikabayan (having left the country to Singapore with my wife and got a 1 year Balikabayan stamp in my passport on the way back), and also I have a filipino driver's license -- a female manager at Unionbank said that was good enough and gave me the EON bank card.
Knowing how touchy Paypal is ... I wanted to get a second account. For whatever reason ... maybe they won't allow the card I receive to authorize my paypal account -- I just wanted to get another debit card at a bank to make certain things go smooth.
So I went to BDO (Banco Del Oro). Again there ... at first the account representative didn't know but after talking to managers they said my filipino driver's license and balikabayan stamp was good enough to start an account.
There was no minimum balance required at Unionbank, only 350 pesos a year per card. There was orignally going to be a 5000 peso minimum balance at BDO, but after learning that a remittance account where funds are transferred from US sources they offered me a 50 peso minimum balance account. The source of my funds will mainly be from a philippines paypal account -- but I can remit to it once a year from US source to avoid a 5000 peso minimum balance no problem.
I walked out of Unionbank with nothing -- I'll go back in 2 weeks to pick up the debit card and account info. I walked out of BDO with a passbook and account details, but must return in a week to pick up the debit card. So in 2 weeks I'll head back to Davao (in Bislig City at the moment) and grab the 2 sets of debit cards.
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