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Q: when going to philipines --where to change money?
leaving from Guangzhou..... change there?? or if leaving from Hong Kong and have RMB... can you change to pesos or have to get HKD and then pesos or hang on to RMB untill you get to Philipines????? what to do what to do???
10 years 43 weeks ago in Money & Banking - China
if you change money anywhere other than a bank in philippines, watch for the scam, mother with child, child runs into you during your count and you leave with one less bill in your pocket and the shop runs the scam with the fake customer. airport exchange is always bad, they have to make a cut to pay the rent, if your card says union pay, getting money is easy, buying dollars b4 you go is easy also, many philippine banks offer dollar bank accounts and have dollars available, the daily rate is in the local paper you get on the plane if your flying cebu pacific or PAL, like 43.41 the bank should be within .05, 43.36-43.46 of the rate or go somewhere else.
I travel with 2 Visa cards and use ATM, I find they give good exchange and I don't have to carry much cash, only problem is I take out the daily maximum which is 10,000 pesos/$250 because of the $5 charge. I do the same in China and I always manage to spend it in a day.
You can also go the Bank of China a few days beforehand to order Php. We changed money at the Manila airport after arrival.
Also ATMs are everywhere, banks aren't always easy to find.
yeah, your ATM card for your china bank account is most likely on the UnionPay system. You can access your account from any UnionPay ATM (most all of them) in Phil and get php right there. But I always get some USD in my pocket b4 traveling most anywhere because I was always taught to expect the Best & plan for the Worst. USD is accepted most everywhere, some places use to want USD more than they wanted there own currency (eg. Cuba).
Get ready for the airport scam, ummm,, I mean tax in Manila.... lol It's more fun in Phil !
If you're taking cash exchange your cash at "Metro Point Plaza" in Pasay city, 15 minutes by taxi from the Airport.. 1st floor has the best money exchange rate in all of Manila, i lived there for many years. Also your ATM China Union Pay card will work finn with 80% of all banks in Philippines.
so... what I read here is ...don't need money...just a bank card... is that about right?
BHGAL:
fu** this less than tropical Zhanjinag...I am going to Bantayan Island in the Philipines for a month or so ......typhoon devastaed and hungry for my money and my rebuilding expertise............. hopefully don't need/want a heater there.
if you change money anywhere other than a bank in philippines, watch for the scam, mother with child, child runs into you during your count and you leave with one less bill in your pocket and the shop runs the scam with the fake customer. airport exchange is always bad, they have to make a cut to pay the rent, if your card says union pay, getting money is easy, buying dollars b4 you go is easy also, many philippine banks offer dollar bank accounts and have dollars available, the daily rate is in the local paper you get on the plane if your flying cebu pacific or PAL, like 43.41 the bank should be within .05, 43.36-43.46 of the rate or go somewhere else.
I'm going to the Philippines with $1,000 and my UnionPay cards. Sounds like that will do.
TedDBayer:
I managed to spend $250 pocket money a day pretty easy but I had a better time than I ever had in China. I spent $750 one day. I had such a good time that I missed my flight home. I actually like China better for other reasons, what I saw of Phil. was run down and poor. Watch how you spend. PM me if you want details or advice.
Me and the gf went during last Chinese New Year's. We exchanged some RMB for PHP in advance. Only the largest branch of Bank of China in bigger cities will be able to do this. I also took along some USD I happened to have. When the PHP ran out, I found it was pretty easy to exchange the USD for PHP and my american VISA debit card was also able to withdraw PHP easily. Didn't try my Chinese Unionpay debit card....but sounds like that works ok as well.
One thing I do suggest is to arrange to get some of the smaller denominations of Philippine currency. The airport exchange place in Manila let me change some large bills for small ones for free. One of the more common scams/tricks is the "sorry, I don't have change" trick. Your 400 php taxi ride just turned into 500 php because the driver "can't make change".
You need 550p to get out of the country at the airport per person.
cooter:
This is true. So don't go for broke on your last night in Manila.....easy to do, so I'm told.
best rate are money changer offices and safest is in the shipping malls
It was asked 2 years ago, so who gives a flying fuck?! He's probably had two babies with two different mothers and is working on getting his genital warts burned off at Manila Central clinic for sexually transmitted diseases by now.
robaird:
More power too ya. Good luck with the STD's and child support. Oh, wait: no one pays child support in the 'pines!
Union pay work in cash machines in the Philippines and a charge of 150 or 200 peso per transaction, depending which machine you use. Each transaction can be maximum of 10,000 peso..
I think my wife and I actually exchanged RMB to USD (with some sort of special rate).
And then exchanged a small portion at the airport to get around.
Then later at a smaller booth after shopping around for exchange rates just once or twice around the block. They seem to give the best rates for USD (higher in demand currency), so if you can work that into the equation, that would be best.
