Salve
online banking had been my life for more than 3 years now. it made my life easier, i used them to pay our bills (meralco, smart, globe, credit cards),transfer funds (from payroll to our EF SA) and view my credit card transactions.

i’ve been using epci, bdo and bpi. So far, i noticed that bpi has the most number of downtimes and i agree with you. it is irritating.

hmmmm…I am a BPI customer and I’m quite satisfied with the internet banking. So far, I haven’t experience a lot of downtime in their website. The usual downtime is only during site maintenance which they usually do early morning so as not to affect many customers.

Reyna Elena also have an entry about her recent experience at BPI and how is online banking in the Philippines compared in the US. You should read it…

A site where you can do your banking transactions online is a big plus! I personally enrolled online with the following banks: BPI, BDO, and metrobank. I find BPI’s site the most user-friendly. I just love it.

Now I don’t have to go to the bank (and wait forever in line) just to do the following:

1. Fund my checking account through the site’s fund transfer service. Fund my ATM account for that matter as well when I’m on vacation.

2. Pay my credit card bills!

3. Check my account balance.

4. Pay other merchants like my cellphone co., electric co., or even my insurance provider.

5. Buy/Sell Mutual fund shares

6. Fund my ATM account whenever I need to

Not to mention the fact that it’s available 24 hours a day! That means I don’t have to take time off from my work/business just so I can go to the bank!

The only drawback I think is that some banks are already charging for over the counter transactions that can be done ONLINE or through the ATM.

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BTW, I have been accessing BPI’s site over the past days. Wala naman ako na encounter na site maintenance problem.

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I do almost all of my banking transactions online (view current balance, pay bills, transfer funds to another account in same bank or remit funds to another bank, order checks, view credit card transactions, contact customer service, etc…) in my experience, bpi express online if most of the time slow and is frequently down. metrobank online by far is the best, and easiest to use except it doesnt do inter-bank transfer. ucpb has inter-bank transfer but the website is very slow especially during paydays. for credit cards, citibank online and hsbc is also quite good. just remember never to open these sites and login to your account in internet cafes or work computer or somewhere else. only in your own computer at home and also never save or write down your password. its the same as your ATM pin. =)

acually doing banking online saves me a lot of hassle, travel time, effort, etc… you know what i mean =) now i pay all my bills in just one sitting from the comfort of my home and i don’t need to wait for my bank statement in order to see how much i have charged on my card. i can see it immediately a few hours after the transaction and monitor how much i have spent. another thing i really like is to be able to send money to the province without going to the bank or any western union or kwarta padala. the list of benefits can go on.

As a US resident having business in the Philippines, this is the best feature for my money. I am able to monitor the cash activities of my account and I can question my business manager of any activity which i see can see instantly on-line!

I’m using BPI Express Banking. Didn’t encounter the problems you are encountering.

There was probably a day that they were under maintenance. Other than that, their site is accessible. Are you accessing http://www.bpiexpressonline.com?

I was just complaining about this yesterday, as I’ve been looking at the websites of local banks. I need to open a new deposit account and I wanted to see what my options were.

Most sites have poor navigation, don’t have information (just fluff words that don’t answer any questions in the customer’s head), and some things don’t even load properly. Pangit ang pagkaka-structure at pagkaka-code.

We don’t need it to be pretty, we just need it to work. Nasasayang tuloy oras nila sa customer service because instead of simple questions being answered through the website, you’re forced to call or visit the branch.

Hindi pa kasi na-aappreciate or nakikita ng local businesses (big or small) kung paano nila mamamaximize yung websites nila. They think you just buy a domain name, hire someone to make it look pretty, and that’s it. They are missing out on big marketing and customer service opportunities.

Almost daily user din ako ng BPI pero its okay most of the time, maybe nag try ka during their Maintenance Schedule

Date Day Downtime
(Manila Time GMT +8)
Every Monday - Friday 10:00 - 10:30 PM
Every Tuesday 2:00 - 6:00 AM
Every Wednesday - Saturday 5:00 - 5:45 AM

I strongly disagree with you re BPI website. I regularly visit my account online and it’s always working perfectly fine. Maybe your’re on a different timezone in this part of the world and when you try to access the website it is during midnugth Manila Time. I noticed that every midnigth the system is down for maintenance but after a few hours it’s online again.

it’s very convenient to transact online. saves time and money. checked on my account today, website is ok.

I think they undergo maintenance daily at 10 or 11 pm so it might just be the time when you access it. I can access BPI’s website just fine.

BPI’s website is truly helpful. I used to do most of my banking like transfer funds to different accounts, paying utilitites, etc., thru their site. Several months ago, we transfered to BDO, and it just sucks. I sure hope they upgrade their site to something much more friendly.

I find your experience with BPI express online very odd. I’ve been using their service since 2000 and never had site maintenance issue before on consecutive days. It is very likely that the times when you attempted to log-in is the time when the system is under going daily operational maintenance (like posting to GL etc., in banking terms its called batch processing) Usually this duration varies depending on the volume of transactions but usually starts midnight to morning. Sad truth about online banking is that it still depends on the core banking facilities, therefore, it most likely operates like a branch bank due to this dependency. The advantage of this is that instead of having to queue up to a teller, you can be first in line in your computer. No need to wait for your turn in that case.

Second, most of the time, online accounts needs activation. Most of the time, people think that just registering entitles you to immediate service. Wrong! BPI makes this convenient by letting you activate via an ATM. I tried this with Metrobank and BDO and I still had to go to their branch. BDO, is the most evil of the among the three since they still just forward your paper application to their main branch. I get really frustrated when you still need a paper trail for online account, which ironically, is for a digital service. Demonic Metrobank tries to hide the inefficiency of their system by claiming its for security. But in this day and age, security can be had with convenience.

So to answer your question, yes, online banking is very important especially when looking at interest rates. But, most more than that, is the ability to do branch banking at the convience of your computer. The bad thing that I find lacking with BPI is that it seems averse to joining bancnet and megalink. I wanted to do inter-bank funds transfer between two different banks but could not do so because the interconnection is lacking. I still had to risk being robbed everytime I withdraw money.

for me it’s very important. However, in China, if you want online banking with English website, you have to go to the international companies and they usually have a higher minimum balance.

in addition to my previous post, i’ve been using BPI express online for several years now. The only pain in the ass is if I forgot my password. I had to call long distance just to have it fixed and usually it takes more than 10 minutes for them to do something about it as 2 different agents will ask you security questions.

are you sure you have the right URL address? i just finished checking my salary via BPI online. even last week, i didn’t encounter any problem with BPI expressonline.

i loooveee BPIexpressonline because of the convenience! i can pay for different bills just by expressonline:

- meralco
- ateneo grad school of business (tuition)
- manulife
- sunlife
- smart bro and smart postpaid lines
- BPI credit card ko

Hi,

I have been a client of BPI for a long time and their online banking is very helpful for me even at the time that i am out of the country. I can access my account anytime, confirm withdrawals and clearance of checks deposits, do online transfer and payments without delay, schedule future payments and inquire on loan rates, foreign exchange etc. very convenient.

Salve,

First, mag-aapologize na ako to your readers because you guys might not like what I wrote about online banking in the Philippines.

I found out that there is a big disconnect with regards to the definition and what “ONLINE BANKING” means, when you are in the Philippines compared to what online banking is, in the west. Wayyyy big difference.

Here’s my experience with online banking that just happened to be with BPI.

http://reynaelena.com/2008/10/21/big-online-banking-misconception-about-online-banking-in-manila/

bank’s websites are very important to me. They provide me convenience. I used two websites since I have accounts in two banks. One of them was Metrobank which I used to pay my credit card bills. Registering a bills payment is very very easy. I don’t fall in line in bank’s branch but instead, just a few clicks and presto! The other account is also BPI. I used it for transferring funds from one account to another. I also used it to fund my stock trading account with BPI Trade.

Among the banks offering online banking service, I find BPI is the best.

Hi Salve,

You may try this link to sign-in.

https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/AuthFiles/login.aspx?URL=/direct_signin.htm

I’ve also experienced this issue in the past, and what I’ve noticed is that search engines have “stale”/old cache entries, for the maintenance page here:

https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/direct_signin.htm

I’ve also encountered issues with their site apparently not being accessible on high traffic days (paydays). I hope they’d have high availability solutions implemented in the future, to reduce their downtimes.

For now,try the first link out, that should work.

Hope this helps,

Xander

Among the banks offering online banking services, I find BPI the best. I have never encountered maintenance issue so far. I live abroad and online banking is my only way of doing biz, like transferring funds, paying bills, etc. Customer service is also great. I had a problem before in accessing my account, emailed CS, and they acted promptly . A BPI representative called me overseas and helped me right away. Very accommodating. There’s just one thing that they need to improve on. Interbank transfer of funds. I find it weird that I cannot transfer from Metrobank to BPI or vice-versa without asking someone to withdraw first, then deposit next. Such a waste of time. BPI should do something about this.

Yeah, I use BPI net sites for bills payment, fund transfers, moneycard reloads, trading stocks, and its very convenient. I seldom encounter problem on their website. Very convenient.

So the author’s experience is really unusual.

Ms. Salve,

This is my first post.. finally!

Here in Seoul, Korea, when you use Internet banking, the fees are really really low as compared to OTC transaction. Some are even free, including transferring money to other banks.

Let me share this:

My first on line transaction happened here in Seoul so I can’t say anything in the case of Philippine Banks but one thing I noticed when I enrolled my account to BDO’s Internet Banking last September, it’s not as secured as I expected it to be.

Here, when you avail that service, the bank will give you a security card with 35 four-digit numbers. You will need this card when you do online transactions aside from your usual pin number and of course, your log-in and password.

The website will ask you twice to input a particular four-digit number, depending on what number from 1-35 the website will tell you. Another thing is, you will need a certificate (to be downloaded in you pc or in a flash drive) to be able to complete a transaction. This is to ensure that only that particular pc (or flash drive) where you download the certficate can do the Internet banking.

Guys, just as I thought and expected, there would be BPI fans here. And guess what, I tried to login again, just now and got this message:

BPI Express Online is undergoing system maintenance. Online transactions are currently disabled. You may try again later.

Should you have urgent banking needs, you may call our 24-hour Call Center. . . BPI Express Phone. Please dial:

* 89-100 for Metro Manila
* 1-800-188-89100 for domestic toll-free calls (where available)
* International Access Code + 63 + 2 + 89-10000 for international calls

Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.

how frustrating is that? The three other online banks I regularly frequent work fine. Gasp. Salve Duplito has been banned?? Nyark.

The downtime in BPI Expressonline you are experiencing is quite odd. I was able to access it just now. Have you tried using a different computer or clearing your cache? Might work…

salve, clear your cookies and cache. it’s pretty impossible na everytime you log in sa BPIexpressonline ay ganyan ang message.

reynaelena,

it’s not fair to compare online banking in the US and in the philippines. una, technology-wise, hindi naman kasi magkapareho. second, some of your comments like money transfers are actually available here sa pinas. third, it’s not fair to expect the same services in the US and sa pinas. gaya yung sa condo payments mo, pinipili lang naman talaga ng mga local banks yung “accredited merchants” nila. finally, US’s online banking experience is not necessarily better. as it is, dahil sa mga online transactions na yan kaya ang daming amerikano ang naloloko ng mga nigerian scammers. pag nalaman lang ng scammer yung credit card numbers/bank records sa US, wala na, nalimas na lahat ang pera mo.

I checked our BPI account last week thru BPI expressonline and I was able to log in. I also checked this morning and it was fine.

I’ve been doing online banking with BPI since 1998. I’m a pretty much satisfied customer except for my credit card payments with citibank which BPI hasnt done anything to simplify life for other credit card holders. Most of the time, it works fine (though not brilliant too coz I find BPI’s website slow).

hahaha alam ko me aalma eh hehehe kaya pina-unahan ko na!

well, you’re right, i should have not made the comparison hahaha, kaso what’s in the definition, di ba? ngayon lang ako nakarinig nang “online banking” definition na me limitation.

i have problems and as an overseas pinoy owning a property or at least trying to own one, gusto ko syang ma-solve kaya when they would say “ok na ang online banking”, i did not realize that there is a big disconnect in so far as what “online banking sa pinas” and “online banking sa US” or in the west. alam mo yon? you’d expect na pareho, indi pala. so in some ways, justified naman talaga na i-compare just to clear things up at hindi ma-frustrate kaming mga taga labas nang pinas what online banking in the Philippines really mean and this is just fair di ba?

i think my experience is valuable sa mga di nakakaalam dahil - ang online banking in the Philippines is only limited to “THE BANK”, yong IISANG BANK lang. Kaya pagdating sa interbank transactions, andaming hassles. Pagdating sa mga payees uber hassle.

second - it touches on the national ID system. kaya it’s very disorganized and very limited. we have SSS numbers. sa pinas, nagpapatayan pa just to have a national ID. and i believe this online banking will only get better once the basics are resolved. it’s online banking but way tooo limited. if you can’t pay anyone online, then sometimes, i doubt if they should call it online banking kasi ang counterpart sa west is iba so it must be called something else dahil nakakalito.

third - naku, off na yung nigerian comments mo. di na problema nang bangko yun. problema na nang mga GANID na tao un. Ganid na Nigerian at ganid na merkano. you know what i mean?

I remember seeing a maintenance schedule link when I am logged in but I do not see it when I am logged out.

They seem to have regular maintenance work.

Could you have tried accessing the site during the periods mentioned in “https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/customer/customer_maintenance.asp”?

actually, problem pa din ng bangko yun kasi ganun pala ka-lax yung security features nila na madaling ma-access yung mga accounts. at least dito sa pinas, kahit ibigay yung bank account details (like what online and ebay.ph sellers do), walang ibang makaka-access except for the account holder. =D

Yung online banking in the Phils as against to the US is comapring jeep to a bmw. both are categorized under automobile but they are actually worlds apart. Hindi naman makatarungan to blame the bank for features not similar to the US, kasi the bank is limited to its environment. Pwd sa states yung SSS number, kasi integrated yun into one system, dito pwede yun kung may national ID na. Kung nabuo na sana yung Credit Information Bureau mas madali na rin sana for banks to check on you, so siguro kahit credit card application pwede na rin online approval. yung interbank ng expressnet at megalink matagal bago makonek sa ATM, it will take time din sa online. Basically its the fault of the Philippine financial system and not the banks themselves.

leela,

i beg to disagree with you on the nigerian scam and the reason why i say this is because we’ve seen this discussed on primetime tv many months(?) or years(?) back.

there’s no question about the nigerian’s 419 motives. but the problem also is on the other side of the continent who easily gets conned by these people - easily handing them out their personal account numbers. it’s not the bank. it’s the PERSON.

although there’s been some banks that have been subject to security breach like what happened to Bank of America - such is the risks that these banks faced and it’s a security mind game amongst hackers and the bank and it’s almost a daily basis of continually reinforcing security walls.

now, if you would compare security banking in the philippines and in the us, i hate to tell you this, but we’re (phil) not really much of a swiss account banking and i’ll leave it up with you what’s better. because if i follow that thinking - i’m sure Philippine deposits will tell a story compared to western banking.

at HSBC (in the Phils.), they give a security key that generates a six-digit number, which you need to enter together with the password in order to access your account online. So if you don’t have the six-digit secuirty code, you won’t be able to access your account.

HSBC also allows international and local inter-bank fund transfer to any bank - just enter the beneficiary name, bank and account number. But it takes a while even for local transfer only - I think 3 days. I’m not sure about the charges coz my hubby is the one doing it - but I think there’s a charge to send and the receiving bank also charges the beneficiary to receive funds.

Metrobank also allows local inter-bank transfers through their online banking again there’s a fee to send and receive (mind you it’s expensive - not sulit for small transfers) and and it takes three days.

With regard to payments, I’d really wish that payments can be made at any bank. For example SSS - ang hirap magbayad.

@ reyna elena, if you want hassle free interbank & intercountry transactions.. why not try the big int’l banks like citi, hsbc and standard?

@ All, I think there is an advantage here in pinas with regards to bank security. I’ve been in the US, talamak talga ang identify theft. Here, you can’t open/transact with the bank without proper identification.. limitation ng interbank transactions sa banks natin? I believe its great!!! Mas madaling ma scam pag pwede ang mga to.

Hi Salve,

I experienced it already several ongoing maintenance when I saved and directly login in the url
https://www.bpiexpressonline.com/AuthFiles/login.aspx?URL=/direct_signin.htm

But when I gone into there home page
http://www.bpiexpressonline.com/
and click the ‘Member Login’ link and login, i did not encountered ‘ongoing maintenance’ message.

If I did encountered, I checked the schedule maintenance time against the current time.

It could be cache problem in your browser. From now on I go directly to there homepage and click the ‘Member Login’ link to login.

Hi Reyna Elena,

I read your blogs and you have missed the points on some banks.

Going directly on you condo payments, why BPI (or other banks) will allow you to pay it online if it is not in there list?

(a short history on online payments integration)

It just means that your Condo Payments Accounts does not accept online payments and the did not register it in the bank.

The problem could be is in the real estate developer that does not want to received or integrate the condo payments online.

Just issue several bank checks to the condo admin for your payments and in return they issue a receipt.

For your boylets, I dont know how you will transfer there allowances from your US Bank account.

Its good to here from your blogs that you are comparing online banking from US (1st world country) vs Philippines (3rd world country).

Overall, I find very convenient in BPI Online Banking Services:

(additional to sanjun)
- Opening New BPI Direct Account
- Opening Time Deposit Account
- Transfer FOREX
- Automatic / Schedule Transfers
- Pay bills

(^_^) \m/

Sorry if i have to post it here, I am a victim of RA 1406. My account/s were “peeked” by a person and told me the details of my account. at that momment i was very furious at the same time worried that my very private and personal “spending and savings” behaviour are there known to that person. That person told me that he/she was an ex employee of that bank..and has still access to view. I just want to share this as of now..i dont still hear anything from that bank. I already complained, but i have no updates for more than a week now.

if it happened to me..what more to you? that person can search the accounts of anyone..he/she can give details to some crooked gangs right?

thanks for the info you’ve posted, there is just so much info out there and this is such a tiresome topic to research