What Is the Best way to buy Phill. Pesos

[rockman]

Hello I am looking forward to my next visit to the Phillipines but am unsure of the best way to transfer money.
The dollar is weak at the minute so would i be better buying loads of dollars now and hoping that they make a recovery in the next two weeks or would i be best sticking to the pound and just taking my credit card with me ?
Anybody know ?

[Admin]

Safer with the credit card. Most machines only give out a max of 4000 pesos, £37'ish, but that is plenty over there.

Don't go to the machine alone.

You can easily convert money over there, £,$, etc, not sure about Monopoly money though, sorry, the Euro ;D

[rockman]

Hello again , what i meant to say was would it be better me taking dollars now we have a really good exchange rate and hoping that the dollar recovers enough for me to have a really good time whilst i am out there !
Oh and does anybody know where not to go in Manilla as i am going there with my girlfriend to visit the British Embassy.

[peterdavid]

Credit card/debit card in an atm is the easiest and probably cheapest - you get pretty good exchange rates and the commission isn't TOO bad - certainly no worse than you'd get by physically changing currency at a bank (all seems such an old fashioned way to do it now).

BPI banks will allow you 10,000 pesos at a time, or 20,000 if your card will stand it. Alternatively, if you're with HSBC and go to an HSBC machine, you can get up to 30,000 or 40,000 (again, depending on your own UK daily limit). Saves having to repeatedly keep putting the card back in the machine - 4,000 in a country which is relatively backwards in terms of accepting credit card transactions (or which still ILLEGALLY charges you 5% higher for using a credit card in many "reputable" - [ho ho] places) wont last you long.

By the way, if you can be arsed, if you ever are charged 5% for using a credit card, then you can:-

(a) - tell the store that you will be reporting them to your card issuer. The terms of their contract with visa/mastercard, et al prevent them from charging you for using plastic and if they do it and you inform visa, etc, they can and will fine/penalise the store. If they still insist (lets face it, the average flunky in a philippine store doesn't even know how his own product works, let alone anything like this...), then:

(B) - send the receipt (tell the store to mark the 5% markup separately on the receipt) to visa and they will reimburse you. Step (B) often works better if you don't try step (a) first - the clueless assistant won't have a clue why you want it identified on the receipt and will happily write down whatever you want to make sure he gets his sale and thus his commission. Step (a), however, does have the advantage of not having to pay it in the first place.

Alternatively, you can do what I always did, which was bluster and rant at the shop assistant, vow to keep my receipt and get reimbursed, and then get home and find I couldn't be arsed, and end up binning it anyway. Sometimes life's too short :). Although I haven't tortured myself by adding up how much I've lost in this way over the years, I don't think I could take it.

[peterdavid]

Hello again , what i meant to say was would it be better me taking dollars now we have a really good exchange rate and hoping that the dollar recovers enough for me to have a really good time whilst i am out there !
Oh and does anybody know where not to go in Manilla as i am going there with my girlfriend to visit the British Embassy.

I wouldn't bother with that fuss, you'll lose it all in commission anyway, if you ever even made anything to start with. Sterling to peso is a pretty good rate, even if you did make a little more by going through the fuss of getting dollars first, it wouldn't be enough to get excited about. I'm not convinced you'd make anything anyway - if you get the dollars in the UK you'll be hammered with crap rates and commission anyway. Dollar is unlikely to change much against the peso while you're there.

As for going out in manila with your girlfriend, same as anywhere, taking into account the philippines' general aptitude for kidnappings and street robbery, then you're (relatively) safe in makati, where the embassy is - just dont go down any dodgy looking side streets or go flashing the cash about. Same as anywhere really. There are some good bars in Greenbelt 3 in makati, plus the surrounding areas. It's nice there.

[Admin]

I know someone who trades currency, his minimum stake to make the % profit worthwhile is £100,000

[peterdavid]

Exactly. For the average tourist, it's not worth even worrying about - just use an ATM over there and hope the pound doesn't crash whilst your on your hols :)

[Admin]

You could always buy £10,000 worth of $ at 1.9, and wait a few years for it to drop to 1.5/1.6 again, and sell for a reasonable profit.

[peterdavid]

And hope inflation remains below about 0.2% per annum....

[Admin]

I'll have a word with Gordon Brown about that one ;)

[ginapeterb]

Seriously the best way to buy Philipipine pesos, is to take sterling with you to the Philippines and change it in downtown money changers, very often the rate is much better, at around 105 or 107 dependant of course on the rate against the U.S. Dollar which hovers around 56.25 pesos to the dollar.

You can of course take a small amount with you, for taxis etc at the airport, for those of you who are flying on to other internal destinations such as Davao City, Surigao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Ilo Ilo, Puerta Princessa, Tacloban, Baguio or Tarlac, should carry a small amount of pesos for the taxi transfer to Centennial 2 or Domestic, those going to centennial 2, be cautious about the cost of the taxi fare, it is no more than 200 to 250 pesos, and even thats too much in truthfulness.

You will be deluged by shouting when you leave NAIA, try and keep your cool, be calm about the situation, you will be pushed maybe into getting into an airport taxi, minimum fares on these are 500 pesos, I repeat again, dont get int them, this is too much money, try and ask the attendant who is trying to get you in, how much for the taxi to Centennial 2 that is Philippine airlines, or Domestic that is, Cebu Pacific, Asian Spirit, or Air Philippines.

If its any more than 250 dont go with them, if you agree to the fare, they will give you a slip, or the taxi driver a slip, you will of course first pay the attendant, who will direct you to a taxi, dont be intimidated into parting with a higher fare.

Just like to help you all out, listen to the voice of experience, have done this 4 times this year already.

[Admin]

have done this 4 times this year already
....and it's only the 14th Jan ;D

[ginapeterb]

very humerous as always Keith, I was of course referring to the yer 2004, as it is so close to the current year, thank you fo that one.