Options for Opening a Bank Account without an ACR-I

0POSTS

4 years ago

As the title suggests I need a local bank account and the BI is taking forever to process my 9G visa, I've been told it should be ready by Feb. Not an ideal situation but the decision was made to get me into the country on a 9A visa and apply for the 9G once here, rather than wait in South Africa and risk another travel ban (and boy did that turn out to be the right choice).

My first assumption would be that the big foreign banks would be my best bet. Citibank's TRB requirements are steep and I am not prepared to keep that amount of money with them just to earn less than 1%. HSBC has a more affordable offering but nobody at the Makati branch seems to want to answer their phones? Their website says you have to book an appointment so don't know if I can just walk in?

Next attempt was with BDO. They said they didn't require an ACR-I card on their website but when I got a call to process my application I was told that a) I can't open a cheque account unless I have had a savings account with them for at least 6 months and b) I have to have some form of ID issued in the Philippines. I haven't tried any of the other local banks yet.

What options do I have at the moment in terms of opening an account? Should I just keep trying with HSBC? Are any of the local banks able to help me? It's not the end of the world if I do have to wait, but I'd rather not have to pay the extra 2.5% currency conversion fee on my ZA credit card until then.

I see that some posts have said that you can get around some of these requirements if you have your branch managers approval. I have met the branch managers at all the banks my company has accounts with, but I don't like mixing personal and company business so I don't really want to ask them about it.

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aklokow Contributor

114POSTS

4 years ago

Hi Bazatt suggest you keep going with HSBC, I have opened my account there remotely no issues at all. If you want I can give you the contact of my account manager in HSBC Makati, maybe that can help speed things up.

1 member reacted to this post

Enzyte Bob ViP

4301POSTS

4 years ago

aklokow wrote:
Hi Bazatt suggest you keep going with HSBC, I have opened my account there remotely no issues at all. If you want I can give you the contact of my account manager in HSBC Makati, maybe that can help speed things up.

One form of ID that is easy to get, if you have a drivers license, you can get a PH drivers license without any tests. PH drivers license will have your photo on it.

With your passport you will have two forms of ID.

1 member reacted to this post

GuestPoster1402 Guest

0POSTS

4 years ago

aklokow wrote:
Hi Bazatt suggest you keep going with HSBC, I have opened my account there remotely no issues at all. If you want I can give you the contact of my account manager in HSBC Makati, maybe that can help speed things up.

Hey, thanks for this. I鈥檒l send you a pm. It鈥檚 getting frustrating now and I鈥檝e actually put my expat account opening on hold as well. Can鈥檛 fathom why they鈥檙e so bad. Really considering just going with a local bank tbh.

GuestPoster1402 Guest

0POSTS

4 years ago

Enzyte Bob wrote:
aklokow wrote:
Hi Bazatt suggest you keep going with HSBC, I have opened my account there remotely no issues at all. If you want I can give you the contact of my account manager in HSBC Makati, maybe that can help speed things up.

One form of ID that is easy to get, if you have a drivers license, you can get a PH drivers license without any tests. PH drivers license will have your photo on it.

With your passport you will have two forms of ID.

Thanks for the tip! Just got back from the LTO, a relatively painless if a little drawn out process. Had to wait until my visa extension was approved first but licence should on its way soon.

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johncroy Active member

41POSTS

4 years ago

NBI clearance is the easiest PH ID to obtain and good for opening a bank account.

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coach53 ViP

1564POSTS

4 years ago

Bazatt wrote:
Really considering just going with a local bank tbh.

If so, check first if it has joined the bank guarantee system and pay the fees. Some of local banks have, some havent. If not you will loose all your money if the bank go bankruptcy - which聽 local banks do now and then.

Okieboy Serial expat

659POSTS

4 years ago

You use to be able to open an account in PNB they have a few branches in the USA you do everything in the USA than go to the branch you picked in the Philippines and get your ATM cards and other

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BillyJack CDO New member

9POSTS

4 years ago

We were able to open two joint savings accounts (peso & US$) at BPI without ACR-I. My wife is a dual citizen (PH+US). It was not difficult but, like most tasks here, time-consuming. I had my passport, PH drivers license, proof of residence (copy of lease). We also got a BPI Visa card in both our names, handy for online purchases.
We were unsuccessful at PNB and BDO. But we did open a joint savings peso account at Metrobank w/o ACR-I card.

Went back to BDO after getting the ACR-I and was able to open a peso joint savings account, and also 3 passbook direct deposit (Social Security) peso accounts, one for me, one for my wife, one for my daughter with wife as "representative payee" because she's a minor. The SS peso passbook account has no ATM card, no online access, etc. You must go there in person to withdraw. We move the funds from passbook to regular savings so we can use debit card, have online access, etc. And we don't have to exit the bank lobby with a big wad of cash.

Billy

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danfinn ViP

1936POSTS

4 years ago

#10

I do not have an ACR-I card because I am SRRV with SRRV member card. They may accept that as an alternative like they are supposed to but banks often do not even know what SRRV is. Anyway, I will not go to some bank here and get rejected because of an ACR-I card and I wonder why in the world anybody would want to put money in a Phils bank; for one thing their deposit insurance is only $10k, when you withdraw funds at the counter they ask what what you are going to do with the money, too often they are offline because of internet problems, for SSA you have to appear at the bank and wait in line (like in the 50's with a passbook), if your account is in their opinion "inactive" as in letting savings sit there and draw interest with not much activity, then without warning they will start stealing significant amounts of you balance for service fees (can be in the the hundreds of dollars) and banks here can much more easily go bankrupt leaving you to deal with PDIC to get your money back.