Someone who looked like a messenger was standing at the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I glanced irritably at my watch. I was planning to be early for my meeting..
“Ano po yun manong?”
“Nandito po ba si Salve Duplito? Meron padala sa inyo. Pwede pumasok?”
The word “padala” of course got my attention. I couldn’t turn him away, but I couldn’t let him in either.
“Sorry, manong di pwede eh. Mag-isa lang ako dito. Di po ako nagpapapasok ng ibang tao. Kunin ko na lang po sa inyo dyan sa labas.” No, I wasn’t being unkind. We almost got victimized by a gang several years ago.
After which the discussion turned very, very interesting. Mr. Manong turns to me irritably and says, “Eh, pano to, magbibilang ako ng pera dito sa labas? Baka naman kung anong mangyari pag may nakakita sa akin?” His voice was already starting to creep towards the F note.
Apparently, my senior citizen mom again did not heed my advice to go to the bank to send money for my brother in high school. She used a door-to-door service, which apparently rated poor on that word: service.
In my mind, I tell him, “I could feel for you man, I really do, but no dice. Can’t compromise my family’s security.” I ended up saying, “Sorry po.”
His face was turning as red as his very dusty shirt. In the end, he counted the wad of bills in a little corner all the while glancing at me with irritation. I was going to offer him some water, but my patience was running thin. Instead I offered him a freezing litany on poor service and a threat to contact his manager.
Whew. Too bad it had to turn ugly.
Believe me. I knew he was just doing his job. But somewhere, somehow there was a disconnect.
We got $14.7 billion remittances as of last count and I’m sure it can still go higher, but in my book, banks are not nearly doing enough to serve OFWs.
Photo: AFP
PNB has been number one in this business for many, many years, but since the other year, BPI knocked it off its perch. Other banks are raring to get a slice of the pie, indicating that this is good business for our financial system. I think that if they improve their services – and really think out of the box – more Filipinos will trust banks to bring their money home. It would, of course, be nice if they lower their fees some more.
BPI is the most transparent bank when it comes to fees. Their website shows a table of the fees and charges for remittances. I imagine that this would be very useful to OFWs trying to shop around for the best rates.
(That got me thinking, though. Do OFWs look for the best rates or is banking still a “relationship” thing? How do you decide which bank to use for your remittances?)
So far, Citibank’s Money Card is the one that appears to be very convenient and inexpensive, but its $8-per-$1,000-remittance does turn off those who send less than that amount on a regular basis. I haven’t received PNB’s official reply yet on their rates, so maybe there are better options out there. Do let us know.
Why opt for banks? Banks have an image of being unfriendly and unapproachable. Many people believe banks will lend you an umbrella but will take it away when you really need it. So, why give your money to them?
If I still remember my Economics 101, banks make money for the economy by using the country’s collective savings to lend to worthwhile businesses that produce goods and employ people…who save and the cycle begins again. That’s a worthwhile reason, isn’t it?
Banks are also well supervised and regulated, and that at least can give our OFWs some reassurance that their remittance would not used to buy someone else’s brand new cellphone, which is often the case when our beloved overseas workers ask “a good friend” to bring his money home. (padala system).
My thoughts turn back to Mr. Manong as I remember the irritating exchange. I hope next time, my mom will go to the bank instead of the door-to-door delivery.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:23 pm
hi nina, i kinda get the feeling that banks are becoming “too” naughty (wagging finger). Also, can you believe how much Western Union is charging? That’s terrible for our OFWs. I discovered last December only that Cebuana Lhuiller has entered the business of domestic money transfer, but their rates are exorbitant too.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
It’s never real time - at least from my experience - that is why Western Union promotes itself as the fastest way to send money (but expensive). I think it goes through some clearing process and the money is usually deposited to the head office first before it goes to the branch. So those in the provinces has to wait for one more day or two. My friend before was forced to open an account in PNB Main (Escolta) to shorten the process. Matagal kasi pag sa branch and exchage rates difference is up to P1 if the account is peso so she also opened a dolalr account.
Banks are naughty too…they credit the money after banking hours so if you have a passbook, you’ll get it the next day!
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:04 pm
nina, thanks for sharing your thoughts on remittances. I particularly appreciate the figures on fees and charges so that other Filipinos can get ideas about other options out there. I am surprised that some banks’ remittance service are not real-time. That means they can still play the money in the overnight market during that “floating” period. Hmm. I hope bank customers are not paying for the cost of banks’ inefficiencies. I think though that it would be good for beneficiaries to have an account themselves so that they get the habit of thinking about saving money.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I think options for remittances vary from country to country. Here in Qatar, I sent money through a remittance center. They give good rates for $ to peso remittances - 0.25-0.40 centavos lower than the current published rates. There is an option to send it in any bank account in the Phils or through door to door or have it collected from Equitable PCI branches (possible even if the beneficiary has no account in Equitable - it’s called advice and pay). The fee is 15 Qatari Riyas ($1 = 3.645 Riyals) for every transaction (I belive regardless of amount though I haven’t really tried sending more than $2000 in one trxn).
They are affiliated with different banks but the fastest is if you send it to an Equitable PCI account. It takes maximum 24 hours (other banks takes up to 3 days, Metrobank is worse - there was a time it took a week) to credit the remittance to the beneficiary. My best experience was after two hours the money was credited to my Equitable account in the Phils. In cases of emergency, for an extra fee (it used to be 35 Riyals), the money can be collected from any Equitable-PCI branch within 30 minutes (advice and pay). Normally, Equitable (I think other banks too) does not deduct any fees for crediting PESO remittances in the beneficiary’s account - so if I send P10,000 the beneficiary will receive P10,000. But for DOLLAR remittance banks deduct $4-6 except if you send it to Equitable - they do not deduct any fees even if it is sent in Dollar denomination.
Another thing….what so good about equitable, is they have special accounts for OFW beneficiaries, which has lower maintaining balance and the beneficiary does not need to open an account to receive money. Another option for the sender is to instruct Equitable to open an account for the beneficiary so that next remittances will be credited to that account. OFWs here can also open peso and dollar savings account in the Philippines (again in Equitable) and can be withdrawn only in the Philippines, which is a good option for saving money.
However, my husband advised me that if it’s a huge sum of money, wire transfer through a bank here is safer (but cost is 70 Qatari Riyals plus other fees dedcuted by the receving bank) though I haven’t tried it yet as I don’t have that big amount to send =)