Cirrus card not working in Philippines [Archive]

walesrob

28th January 2007, 10:14

Hi all.

Been in Phils now for 11 days, money almost gone already and I cant use my ATM Cirrus card. It keeps coming up as transaction failed 8510. Spoke to local BPI branch in Cebu and the best they could come up with was to call Bank in England. Any advice on this please?

Had a similair problem when I was in Philippines in 2004. Metrobank blamed Natwest, Natwest blamed Metrobank :NoNo: Funny how it worked in Hong Kong, Dubai and Doha, but as soon as I arrived in Philippines, it clammed up, holding back much needed money :doh Always laugh about Metrobank logo "Your in safe hands" :furious3: On top of that I couldn't use my Paypal account to send myself money by Western Union or Xoom, as my Paypal account was blocked for some fault of not my making.

Luckily I had my credit card with me so not all was lost.

Have you tried other ATM's in the area? Cirrus is part of the Mastercard network, so any ATM showing the Mastercard symbol will take the card. BPI are probably the best bet.

aromulus

28th January 2007, 11:13

I believe that Cirrus needs to be activated for use in Phil.
Phone your bank, and tell them of your intention to travel there. I make sure that my Visa gets activated by warning my bank before hand. As they only trying to protect you against fraud. Like I just done, as I will be going over in a few days time.

fred

28th January 2007, 13:14

joebloggs

28th January 2007, 16:39

hmm I know that error msg well,ive had this prob many times, i could only use my cirrus card in certain atm machines, only ones i could get money out of were BPI ones and in certain areas, i could go around the big malls, it would work in one atm but not another atm.. try the big malls, or where the tourists go, and dont take out more than £200 in php or it will reject it..

baboyako

28th January 2007, 18:29

i think 4000 is the normal maximum per transaction. I've heard that there is a machine in davao that will give you 8000.

The limit per day should be the same as your UK limit.

Just keep trying different machines. most atms don't work for me, I've had the most success with metrobank i think.

KeithD

28th January 2007, 23:28

UK limit would be 25,000PHP then!

gingxrick

29th January 2007, 10:25

I found BPI is the the one for cirrus, you can draw 5000 or 8000 at a time so if you want more you have to make 3 or 4 withdrawals 1 after the other, this is what I did on my first trip to the Phils, some machines didnt work if you drew out 8000 but worked if you drew out 5000 at a time.

tiger@tigress

29th January 2007, 10:43

BPI is affiliated by cirrus only 5,000 per transaction...

JustSomeGuy

31st May 2007, 23:50

I use BPI and cirrus... and can withdraw up to 20,000 per time HOWEVER i have found i get that message when using machines that arn't attached to a branch... i guess it's to do with the current online status of the machine.

Most little machines just give me errors, most machines outside branches work fine.

oh make sure you keep the little error slips as one of my friends had great fun trying to get his money back from his bank when the machine gave him no money but still debted his account.

oh i just saw the date of this message,I guess this reply is a little late...

walesrob

1st June 2007, 08:44

We're in the Philippines now, and we've had some good luck with ATM's, no problems, except when the Maestro system went down for 3 hours JUST when we needed money the most. It seems the ceiling on cash withdrawals has been lifted, I was able to withdraw 10KPesos from a Metrobank, (or Bo&%*#s Bank as we like to call it). PCI Equitable machines seem the most user friendly of all, and take nearly all cards, others like BPI wont take some Cirrus or Maestro cards.

klsl_forever

2nd June 2007, 22:04

Maybe I should've replied sooner to stop this thread from coming back to the top.

Many thanks to those who did reply, much learnt!

Admin, you need to stop being so aggressive. Using search in phils is often useless and using search in uk taught me cirrus should've been fine!

As things turned out, I still managed a top 2 months in phils, I never ran out of money, just ran out of things to spend money on. The beauty of Mindanao eh:cwm38:

Top advice from this chap:

oh make sure you keep the little error slips as one of my friends had great fun trying to get his money back from his bank when the machine gave him no money but still debted his account.

oh i just saw the date of this message,I guess this reply is a little late...

One thing I did learn before going, always request balance slip 1st, just to check banks are communicating.

Never too late for advice!

Peace all.

baboyako

2nd June 2007, 22:26

not the time to go spending money :cwm24:

http://www.exchange-rates.org/Chart.aspx?iso_code=PHP&base_iso_code=GBP&mode=G&filter=90&x=a.jpg

klsl_forever

3rd June 2007, 00:31

not the time to go spending money :cwm24:

http://www.exchange-rates.org/Chart.aspx?iso_code=PHP&base_iso_code=GBP&mode=G&filter=90&x=a.jpg

Link never worked for me...exchange rate?. Cacking myself already, I promised to start annulment proceedings on my next visit:furious3: :Help1: :cwm38:

silver13

3rd June 2007, 01:14

:Brick:
Never heard of it, if you read the forum we ALWAYS tell folk to make sure they take VISA/MASTERCARD

On the back of the card is a number, call it and ask them for advice.

Sorry this will not help you now, but as Win2Win says a Visa/Mastercard is essential in the Fil I found that Mastercard was more readily available and guess what I had a Visa Bank Account :-(

I had difficulties with American Express also, Mmmmmmm just sign the back and then countersign the front in front of the bank clerk. This does not apply in the Fil so I got linited Money, I managed to talk one into giving me money, but after that it had to resort to the Black Market traders :-( Mmmmm I was a little scared for my safety!!! I needed to provide the proof of purchase with the Reference numbers on it for each Travellers Check and guess what? I did not take that piece of paper :-( Also needed was my Passport too.

Internet banking saved the day, I was able to transfer money from an account I had left at home and withdrwaw that too.

I found that I was only able to take out about 4000 to 5000 PHP in each machine. I have learnt my lesson from :Brick: hopefully next time I will not have such problems.

As a last resort the British Embassy is your only hope, Thankfully I did not have to go that far, I believe they do help out in this kind of situation, It would probably be at a vast rate of interest though :-(

Good Luck

Paul & Anilyn

walesrob

3rd June 2007, 04:22

:Brick:

As a last resort the British Embassy is your only hope, Thankfully I did not have to go that far, I believe they do help out in this kind of situation, It would probably be at a vast rate of interest though :-(

Given the choice, I'd rather cut my arms off than try to get help from the British Embassy in Manila. I know they can be relied upon in extreme emergency, but anything less than that, forget it.

joebloggs

3rd June 2007, 05:22

exchange rates are not good for us brits. :bigcry:

down to 91 php to £.. looks like its due to the 5.9% growth of the philippine economy in the first quarter of this year. :Erm:

boom and bust, because its election time, maybe it will not last long..

how i miss the 100+ php to £ days :bigcry:

KeithD

3rd June 2007, 09:30

Admin, you need to stop being so aggressive. Using search in phils is often useless and using search in uk taught me cirrus should've been fine!

:Erm: I think most folk on here would call me 'helpful' for supplying this place for FREE and putting in hours,weeks,month,years....of work for plonkers like you! :Rasp:

With anti-fraud devices in place on many cards these days, you need to have the bank UNLOCK it for use in the Philipines, before leaving the UK, otherwise it will not work. This goes for most folk travelling, whatever the card, as the banks may put a stop on it even if you've been using it a few days.

A simple phone call to the bank before leaving is the easiest way to ensure any bank card will work when abroad.

aromulus

3rd June 2007, 10:13

:Erm: I think most folk on here would call me 'helpful' for supplying this place for FREE and putting in hours,weeks,month,years....of work for plonkers like you! :Rasp:

With anti-fraud devices in place on many cards these days, you need to have the bank UNLOCK it for use in the Philipines, before leaving the UK, otherwise it will not work. This goes for most folk travelling, whatever the card, as the banks may put a stop on it even if you've been using it a few days.

A simple phone call to the bank before leaving is the easiest way to ensure any bank card will work when abroad.

I agree 100%. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

As in my previous post on this topic on this subject....

I make sure I phone my Card providers and let them know, that I will be traveling abroad to such and such country, the week before departure.
Any purchases made after those dates are to be rejected.

Better safe than sorry..

The only hitch encountered, was that with some machines I was not able to withdraw more than 5.000 per transaction. A bit of a pain, but that what security measures are there for.
And after every trip, I also change the PIN numbers... just in case...

I always take 2/3 cards along, and leave the debit cards at home.
In case i need to do some quick banking and shifting of funds, I can get online from my wife's pc (it's mine really) and sort it out.
In my opinion, it is just matter of thinking ahead, and plan on worst case scenarios.
And also very important, always get separate travel insurance, some credit cards do provide it free if you pay for the ticket with them, but lots of things will not be covered.

My two pence worth.

silver13

3rd June 2007, 13:44

I agree 100%. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

My two pence worth.

I Agree 100% Too and also your two pence worth is worth reading :) and thanks also for Win2Win providing this site for free, without this site many people would be left trying to seek another route to the answers to so many burning questions and everyone's head would be sore just :Brick: I know I have been there and done that before discovering this forum and all the people in here who have gone through the same burning questions, it is a long a rocky path to bringing your Filipina home to England for marriage, if you trip up on one thing it is back to the bottom of the mountain again.

Special Thanks to Win2Win and everyone who has ever helped anyone in this forum

Paul & Anilyn

GaryFifer

3rd June 2007, 13:46

I have success with Banco de oro. Not much fee for use too.:)

andypaul

3rd June 2007, 14:15

I agree 100%. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

As in my previous post on this topic on this subject....

I make sure I phone my Card providers and let them know, that I will be traveling abroad to such and such country, the week before departure.
Any purchases made after those dates are to be rejected.

Better safe than sorry..

The only hitch encountered, was that with some machines I was not able to withdraw more than 5.000 per transaction. A bit of a pain, but that what security measures are there for.
And after every trip, I also change the PIN numbers... just in case...

I always take 2/3 cards along, and leave the debit cards at home.
In case i need to do some quick banking and shifting of funds, I can get online from my wife's pc (it's mine really) and sort it out.
In my opinion, it is just matter of thinking ahead, and plan on worst case scenarios.
And also very important, always get separate travel insurance, some credit cards do provide it free if you pay for the ticket with them, but lots of things will not be covered.

My two pence worth.

Great advice there and I think many of us have stood at the cash point taking 5000 then another and another while a queue forms behind us thinking flash joe:furious3:

What you say about the dates is true and also make sure yuou have more than enough credit on any cards if you book into hotels (which is true anywhere) i was quite shocked on the amount a very well known chain in phill froze as our covering fee when we checked in (only aware when i went online) never seen a similar ratio taken out in any hotel in the Uk or europe. Luckly no problem for us but could cause problems if you needed some of that credit in an emgency.

fred

3rd June 2007, 18:16

walesrob

3rd June 2007, 18:54

I used my pre-paid Lastminute Maestro card while I was over there, and I didnt need to notify the issuer that I was abroad and I had no problems at all, but then it is a pre-paid card, if you lose it, thats it, its gone, no refund, nothing. I used it only for cash withdrawals and used my HSBC Mastercard for booking flights, paying for hotels, etc.

andypaul

3rd June 2007, 23:02

I went into Nationwide last week as their debit card logo is Cirrus and the ATM charges are zero anywhere in the world.
I asked them if I needed to have the card unlocked or whatever before I go.
"No" was the answer. They have made changes recently which means that this is no longer required.
If I experience a problem once there I will put the info here..
If I can get my **** off the beach that is.

You don't need to unlock a card as far as i know, but a banks security
department/process may notice payments being made outside of the country, iregular use and suspend the card which might make life complicated if your away from pcs, branches of the bank and even the phone.

baboyako

3rd June 2007, 23:42

amex:xxgrinning--00xx3:

joebloggs

4th June 2007, 00:21

:Erm: I think most folk on here would call me 'helpful' for supplying this place for FREE and putting in hours,weeks,month,years....of work for plonkers like you! :Rasp:

good you used 'most folk' and not all folk :D

hahaha the scouser charm :icon_lol: ,, city of culture 2008 :action-smiley-081:, more like city of torture 2008, i wonder if he got evicted from lillypud land to wales, ready for 2008, imagine being a european and asking keith where the toilet or albert dock is .. you would just get :furious3: :angry: :censored: :cwm23: :angry: :furious3: :cwm23: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

scouser keith is ok, its the days he has his :angry: red days he insults people, and that nearly everyday :D , just humor him and he'll calm down :rolleyes:

fred

4th June 2007, 14:31

You don't need to unlock a card as far as i know, but a banks security
department/process may notice payments being made outside of the country, iregular use and suspend the card which might make life complicated if your away from pcs, branches of the bank and even the phone.

Yes I know but my Nationwide branch say there is no need to advice them anymore..
Who am I to question why?

vbkelly

5th June 2007, 13:32

open an acct. in PNB as a priority acct. and you can witdraw your money as much as you like no limits as long as you have enough money in your acct.either over the counter or atm but just need £300 monthly balance

andypaul

5th June 2007, 20:22

Yes I know but my Nationwide branch say there is no need to advice them anymore..
Who am I to question why?

Sorry didn't want to sound patronising but it is worth double checking up or at least getting in writing. As the reciever of many a misinformed piece of information from bank ucounter staff and phone centre bods, i have learned to double even treble check what staff quote.

But i have noticed that various members of the family have either used the a credit or bank card abroad or had clone card withdrawals and no one at the banks has questioned their use. Which worries me far more, than having to inform the bank of my travels.