Originally posted by C&JEdinburgh@Aug 4 2005, 08:31 PM
The best way to send money is to get a Flexi Account from Nationwide. Give the card along with pin. There is no charge for taking the money out in the Phils as the exchange is at whole sale hence you get a slightly better rate than in the high street.
I'll second that - when I was in Phils with Elsa, I used my FlexiAccount cashcard all the time. On my departure, I left the card with Elsa (she had it 6 months) and she used it every week. Best of all, I could easily transfer money from my current account to the Flexaccount and Elsa could withdraw it next day.

Word of warning, make sure you don't have huge amounts of money in the account - I suggest keep it to max of £100, in case the card is lost or stolen. During the time the card was with Elsa, while she never lost it or mislaid it, there were 3 or 4 very mysterious ATM withdrawals that she couldnt explain. Luckily they were small amounts of money, but it could have been a lot worse.

ATMs in the Philippines are a strange beast. They open and close at random intervals as I found out. Somedays they accept your card, others they dont. Other days they decide they don't like your PIN number!! :huh: