Send Money To Philippines
Rate: 51.2133*
| Payment Options | Speed |
| Debit Card | Next Day |
| Credit Card | Next Day |
| Bank Transfer | Next Day |
- First 3 Transfers Free
- Transfer Money at Any Time
- Low Costs
Rate: 47.7303*
| Payment Options | Speed |
| Bank Transfer | 3-5 Days |
| Debit Card | 3-5 Days |
- Internationally renowned bank
Rate: 47.4723*
| Payment Options | Speed |
| Bank Transfer | 3-5 Days |
| Debit Card | 3-5 Days |
- Internationally renowned bank
How To Send Money To Philippines
Sending money to Philippines is simple and easy. Follow these steps to get started.
Find a Trusted Provider
Sign Up and Deposit
Transfer Money
Ways To Send And Receive Money In Philippines
There are multiple ways to easily send and receive money in the Philippines but these will largely depend on the provider you decide to use. Below you will find everything you need to know about sending and receiving money.
Ways to Send Money to the Philippines
An as overseas Filipino you have several options to send money to your family. You can use bank-to-bank transfers, money transfer service providers, mobile wallets and other methods.
International Wire Transfer
According to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines financial system comprises 43 universal and commercial banks, 492 rural banks, and 57 thrift banks.
Sending money to the Philippines through the banking system can be cheaper and quicker if the beneficiary bank has branches overseas. For instance, the Bank of America has several branches in the Philippines. In such a case, it becomes easier to transfer money to the Philippines as you only incur one-way charges.
The top five banks in asset size include Banco de Oro (BDO Unibank, Inc.), Metrobank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Landbank of the Philippines, and Security Bank Corporation.
Metrobank allows you to open a Foreign Currency account that enables you to receive any amount into your account. The cost per inward transfers is $5.00. When you transfer money from non-partner banks, the transaction fee is a little higher. Also, it takes longer for your loved ones to receive the money.
Money Transfer Service
Providers such as TransferWise, XendPay, Western Union, MoneyGram, WorldRemit and Xoom, offer money transfer services as an alternative to the traditional sending methods.
Sending through these money transfer operators (MTOs) is faster, cheaper, and more reliable. All you need is to sign up for an account online; through the website or mobile app. You can then pay for your transfer online or at a store and send.
There are three options for paying for your transfer online. You can use a credit card, debit card, or bank debit. Credit card is the most expensive because of provider fees, but it ensures that your transfer gets to your recipient in minutes.
There are three different ways you can send money through MTOs: bank transfers, cash pickup, door-to-door delivery, and mobile money.
Bank Transfers
This method of money transfer is similar to the interbank transfer only that the MTO comes in between to allow you to move the money faster and cheaper to the recipient’s bank.
Most MTOs have partnered with banks in the Phillippines to offer this service. For example, WorldRemit allows you to send to banks such as BDO Private Bank, Metrobank, Philippine National Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Xoom has nine banks on its payout network. It also partners with stores such as Palawan Pawnshop and the SM Store.
MTOs transfer the money the same day or may take up to the following day. Whichever the case, MTOs to Bank Transfers are faster and cheaper than interbank wire transfers.
Cash Pickup
When you send money using this method, your loved ones can pick it up at the nearest location. Xoom, MoneyGram, and Western Union have 10,000+ cash pickup locations across the Philippines. Most of these locations operate 24/7.
Cash pickups are almost instant, especially when you pay for the transfer using a debit or credit card.
Mobile Wallet
Providers like MoneyGram and WorldRemit have partnered with GCash, a leading e-wallet company in the Philippines with a customer base of more than 20 million users and 63,000 partner merchants.
Sending money to the Philippines using this method is faster and cheaper, about 50 per cent lower than the cash pickup method.
Door to Door Delivery
Xoom offers door-to-door cash delivery services at no additional fee. If you send the money before 3 pm, delivery takes less than 6 hours to Metro Manila. For the rest of the 80 provinces including Tawi-Tawi in the south and Batanes in the far north, it takes 1 to 2 days.
International Money Order Service
The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPOST), offers this service to overseas Filipinos in the United States, HongKong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, Qatar, and Malaysia.
The central post office gives guidance on the exchange rates to be used by all the 1,383 postal branches across the country.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency traders have also joined in for a share of the lucrative remittance business. In the Philippines, virtual currencies such as bitcoins have become popular on the transfer corridors.
In 2015, more than $2 million per month was sent to the Philippines using digital assets. In the first half of 2017, an average of $8.8 million every month entered the Philippines through the blockchain network.
In 2017, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas licenced two virtual currency exchanges. There are 12 more cryptocurrency exchange applications in line.
What’s Needed to Send Money to the Philippines
Sending money to the Philippines is a simple process, especially is you use the money transfer services. The following is what you need to send money to the Philippines.
- A government-issued identity document. If you are sending from the United States, a driving licence, passport, or a social security card can suffice.
- The money you would like to send
- The recipient’s name as it appears on their official documents
- The recipient's mobile number and physical address for door-to-door cash delivery and mobile money deposits.
- If you are sending to a bank account, you should provide the SWIFT code, bank name, branch name, and the account number of the beneficiary.
You may need to provide additional information depending on the size of the amount or the location to which you are sending. These measures are part of the global anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime protection.
Common Reasons for Sending Money to the Philippines
There are many reasons why overseas Filipinos send money home to their families, friends and relatives. Below are the most common reasons.
Household Consumption
Inflows from diaspora supplement household income and helps to buy basic commodities. Most families in the Philippines use remittances for food, clothes, and utilities.
Education
Households receiving remittances use part of them to pay for school tuition, transport for school children, books and uniforms. As a result, children stay in school and completion rates rise.
Health
Recipients of diaspora remittances in the Philippines tend to enjoy better healthcare and nutrition. Crucial parameters such as high birth weight, lower infant mortality, and increase in health knowledge are some of the evident benefits of remittances on health.
Savings and Investment
Households in the Philippines consider remittances to be transitory. Therefore, they save a large proportion of what they receive and invest in physical assets such as land, housing, and machinery. Some of them invest in entrepreneurial activities and financial assets.
Social Contributions
Overseas Filipinos send money home for social activities such as festivals, weddings, funerals, and community development projects.
Why Send Money with a Money Transfer Service?
The rise in internet penetration and mobile phone usage in the Philippines has contributed to the increase in money transfer services. The following are some of the benefits you’ll get when you use money transfer services.
Faster Transfers
Speed is of the essence when sending money home. MTOs provide instant transfers to the Philippines through cash pickups and mobile wallet transfers. Western Union, MoneyGram, Xoom and WorldRemit can send your money in less than an hour.
Favourable Exchange Rates
MTOs use real exchange rates when translating currencies. Whether you are sending from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, or the Oceania region, the mid-market rates they use, give you more of the Philippine peso per unit of the source currency.
Geographical Spread
Money transfer service providers have invested in partnerships with banks, strategic stores, and other institutions to ensure that they make their services available. In countries as large as the Phillippines (300,000 km²) geographical spread is crucial.
Lower Transaction Costs
Providers do not charge higher margins on their transfers. Instead, they leverage on the volume of transactions they complete daily to give their customers cheaper sending options.
Most of the fees come from third-party merchants such as credit card companies. Using a debit card to pay for your transfer can significantly cut down on some of these costs.
Multi-Currency Support
Filipinos are present in every region, albeit populations are higher in others. With MTOs, you can get the support you need when sending money home from any corner of the world.
Western Union and MoneyGram are present in more than 200 countries and territories. Xoom has a geographical presence in more than 140 countries. This support for currencies makes sending money to the Philippines possible and cheaper.
Simpler and Faster to Setup
To send money through traditional transfer methods, you’ll have to go through tedious processes with lots of documents to sign and information to provide. MTOs have none of that. You only need to provide your name, email account, and phone number to register for an account.
Once the account is set up, pay for your transfer using debit, credit, or bank debit and send. It is that simple!
Most MTOs target areas with large populations when setting up their agent locations so as bring services closer to many people.
Things to Consider When Sending Money to the Philippines
When sending money to the Philippines, you need to bring on board a lot of considerations. However, the top must-think-about factors are exchange rates and taxes.
- Taxation on Remittances - When sending money from the United States to the Philippines, you must notify the government if the amount is $10,000 and above. When it comes to time for tax returns, ensure you file the amount sent as part of your annual US income and pay the relevant taxes. Money coming into the Philippines from abroad is not considered income hence not taxed. If you find taxes confusing, get a tax consultant or accountant to advise you.
- Exchange Rate - The Philippines runs a freely floating exchange rate system. This regime means market forces determine the direction of the currency. You should watch for declines in the Philippine peso and send when its at a low. For instance, in the last four months of 2017, the peso dipped by 3.6 per cent against the United States dollar. As a result, remittances to the Philippines from countries using dollar-pegged currency regimes such as the UAE, went up by about 9.9 per cent.
Therefore, sending money to the Philippines is dependent on your preferences, how much you know about providers, the different ways of sending money and the factors to consider. The information you’ve just gone through is critical.
Your Questions Answered
The fastest way to send funds is through ShareMoney. With ShareMoney, you can expect your money to reach its destination in the Philippines in a matter of minutes. The service is also incredibly cheap and costs less than the vast majority of its much slower competition. When it comes Philippines, hidden currency conversion costs are often intensified in order to make more money. With ShareMoney, even the hidden currency conversion rates are agreeable.
The cheapest way to send money online to the Philippines is through TransferWise. With TransferWise, you pay a stated, upfront fee that appears a bit expensive at first. The real savings come from the fact that TransferWise is a peer-to-peer money transfer system that doesn’t charge ANY hidden conversion costs. This cannot be said of any of the competition because they make far more money off the hidden fees than they do from upfront, stated fees.
The easiest way to transfer money to the Philippines is through TransferWise. They offer a very simple process that can be repeated easily once your account is set up. All you need to do is follow these steps:
- Tap the amount of money you need to send
- Tap the destination for your money
- Pay TransferWise for the transaction
- Wait one or two days for the money to arrive
The current exchange rate for the Philippine Peso (PHP) is 51.6003 PHP per American Dollar (USD) as of the time this was written. The PHP reached a high of 52.7710 PHP per USD and a low of 50.9140 PHP per USD during the last 90 days. The average exchange rate over the last 90 days was 51.9035 PHP per USD.
The PHP held an average volatility rate of 0.31% against the USD for the last 90 days. This is a moderate volatility rate, and the PHP has fluctuated moderately during the past year. Going forward, you can reasonably expect only moderate fluctuations to continue, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
The cheapest way to send funds online is through TransferWise. TransferWise is the cheapest option available to you if you need to transfer funds online, and it’s also the easiest to use. Unlike the rest of the competition, TransferWise won’t catch you by surprise with hidden currency conversion costs. TransferWise is also competitive when it comes to speed, as they are much faster than the majority of the competition, which is also much, much more expensive.
Looking to Send Money Somewhere Else?
Sending money anywhere else in the world is as easy as sending money to the Philippines. If you're looking to send money to another country, here is the list of the most popular destinations.
