Exchanging money

[Russ_UK]

There's a few of us travelling together & guess we will be changing around 180K php between all of us & will be bringing cash.

 

[kwhkg]

agree with Jigo, stick to exchanges at mall or BDO, at least you have little or no risk. unless you are exchanging millions of dollars the difference in cents is not worth any risk

 

[joebubbles]

two weeks ago at the BDO Bank in the Mall of Asia, I had to record the serial number of each bill I wanted to exchange into Pesos. I thought that was a little over the top, but they did offer a good exchange rate, so I didn't mind. It's best to exchange as little as possible at the airport or your hotel. They are convenient, but usually offer the least competitive exchange rate.

 

[Wantonmien]

Greetings Russ,

Enjoy the trip and for sure the water will be warmer than Bull Bay ... !!

On landing in NAIA I normally make use of the ATM machine which you can find if wandering left when coming out of arrivals. Depends what UK ATM bank card you have, but LloydsTSB and HSBC UK cards have always worked in Philippines for me, and of course prices in Philippines remain far far cheaper than UK, so a couple of hundred quid converted to Peso will still last you a long time for food and drinks.

Of course not all places have ATM's (eg: MoalBoal), so just make sure you've enough cash, and not relying just on ATM's.

Enjoy ~ and don't miss Rhyl too much !

Cheers.

 

[Russ_UK]

Thanks again for all your replies - don't think I'll be missing Rhyl too much ha ha - it's MINUS 2 C here this morning - a few weeks ago it was minus 11 .
Guess we will be using the banks then as we will all have a fair bit of English cash with us - are banks open on a Sunday in Manila - or are they the same as UK, just Monday to Friday ?

 

[clgsamson]

most banks in the malls are open Sundays, e.g., Banco De Oro (BDO), BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands and Chinabank.

 

[kwhkg]

joebubbles@ yes its BSP Regulation that banks selling dollars are supposed to record serial numbers of each Dollar they exchanged as well as fill out a form stating what you intened to do with the money . I think something about anti money landering or counterfit stuff, but grey market exchnage (meaning non bank) dont follow that. maybe some BSP exec has better insigt into that anomaly. Anyway stick t the malls, also just fyi theres exchange inside Greenbelt 1 also. I just went there yesterday

 

[Evie G]

Reminder: No ATMs in Sabang.

 

[Russ_UK]

Thanks again for all your replies, just to note that we do not require any ATMs (but thanks for the input) - we will all have UK Pounds in cash with us.
We are staying close to the US Embassy (Bayview Park Hotel), has anyone got an address of a BDO or PBI nearby, or a name and address any recommended money changers ?

 

[DevonDiver]

Russ.... did you look into exchanging some money in the UK before you leave? I've never had a big problem getting pesos (PhP) there..