The Lady Programmer

UPDATE: Please wait for the official announcement from Payoneer for their virtual bank account service. This service is not yet available in most Payoneer account holders and is still in its pilot program where Payoneer selected a number of account holders to take part of this new service. Payoneer is aware that I am writing about their stuff and they had permitted me to blog about this so that Payoneer users are aware of this upcoming service.

I have encountered some Filipinos especially those who are new to freelance internet jobs who are wary of using the Payoneer card as a method of receiving payments. I find it a great way for me to receive payments and what even amazes me is that they come up with new ways that can benefit us – such as the Paypal to Payoneer withdrawal arrangements.

I was participant in their pilot program which involves tying up the Payoneer card to a virtual bank account. As I was able to do the test transfer successfully, I was greatly satisfied with the service because the transfer was very fast. Paypal to Payoneer transfers only took two working days before it was funded into my account. Best of all, the transfer is entirely free - at least for the pilot program – but the fees involved in the transfer is yet to be determined by Payoneer.

This service will go live within the next few months and will be available for any Payoneer account holder. The new services does not come automatically for existing Payoneer users: registration is still needed to avail of this cool new service. Although the transfer that I had made was with Paypal to Payoneer, anyone who wishes to fund their Payoneer card can simply put down the bank name, bank routing number and account number to withdraw from online funding institutions such as Paypal.

If the transfer from Paypal to Payoneer card remains to be free after the formal launch of virtual bank account service, then I will consider withdrawing my funds from Paypal into this card. The transfer is a lot faster for me: it takes me three or more days for Paypal to Unionbank transfer but with Paypal to Payoneer the transfer only took me two days. The transfer time depends on which institution does the transfer – thus Paypal to Unionbank transfer is longer because the money has to be cleared from one country to another while Paypal and Payoneer are both on US soil, so it follows that the transfer is a lot a faster than the latter.

Are you still waiting for your Payoneer Mastercard? Do you even have a Paypal account that seems to be taking forever to get verified? Enter Moneybookers: it is an another payment method available to oDesk providers to withdraw their hard-earned funds right into their favorite Philippine bank account.

For oDesk newbies, Moneybookers is the most accessible way for them to withdraw cash, if the first two recommended payment methods that I had recommended are not available. The withdrawal process is actually done by electronic bank transfers. The banks that benefits most are those that are connected with the SWIFT network of banks.

In reality, I have not tried withdrawing my funds from oDesk using this method, but I believe the overall concept works similarly to Paypal. Moneybookers can be a “wallet” for shopping to many internet sites. It can receive funds and send these through electronic transfers to the bank. There are also fees associated with the withdrawal of funds from Moneybookers to the bank account. These fees are:

• Withdraw money via bank transfer: € 1.80 flat fee
• Withdraw money via cheque: € 3.50 flat fee
• Withdraw money via credit/debit card (Visa only): € 1.80 flat fee

In Paypal, the minimum withdrawal amount is fixed at $10, while Moneybookers does not impose a minimum limit, but the funds that should be left should cover the incoming fund transfer fee of local banks. This incoming fee is different in Philippine banks, so it is a good option to ask their customer support.

• BDO incoming EFT = P200 (BDO customer support)
• Unionbank EON incoming EFT = none (UBP customer support)

If you need to add the bank accounts to your Moneybookers account, you will need the SWIFT codes for this – SWIFT codes vary per branch – so it is a good decision to ask your branch about the SWIFT code. Fortunately for BDO, Unionbank and Landbank, all their branches uses a common SWIFT code:

• BDO SWIFT code = BNORPHMM (given by BDO customer support through a phone call)
• Unionbank SWIFT code =UBPHPHMM (UBP customer support through a phone call)
• Landbank SWIFT code = TLBPPHMMXXX (listed on Landbank website)

I find this payment method an interesting option but the fees involved is more expensive than using Paypal. I get to pay only P50 for every withdrawal from Paypal if the amount is less than P7000; otherwise beyond P7000 withdrawals are always free of charge. Paypal and Moneybookers takes the same amount of time to withdraw funds to a bank account. I will surely use Moneybookers in case I encounter problems with Paypal.

But what about Payoneer? As I have mentioned in a previous post, this provides the fastest and most convenient fund transfer even if you opt not to pay the $3 immediate load fee. The fees associated with the use of the card will dependent on many factors: immediate load fee, withdrawals, ATM withdrawal limits are some that will add more to fees. Oftentimes I use the card itself for purchases rather than withdrawing the amount loaded to it.

You can sign up with Moneybookers by clicking the banner below:

photo credit: woodsy (SXC)

As a Filipino living life here in the Philippines, I noticed that the majority still uses cash for payment. These majority think that cash is the safest, most secure means of payment. In my family alone, my parents prefer using cash as their payment means, rather than using their ATM or debit cards for store purchases. However, there are already so many major establishments that accept credit and debit cards and even cellphone wallet funds as payment means in addition to cash.

I cannot help but ponder on the irony that is happening in our country: there are many graduates of IT, Engineering and other computer-related courses who knows the most upbeat technology in the world. The funny thing is that, a vast majority of Filipinos are still resistant to change. In groceries, I still observe that many are still lining up in groceries and pays in cash; ATM machines contain long queues of people who need to take out cash; older people even prefer getting pension checks, rather than using issued e-cards which expedites the process; even in other freelancing sites, I receive numerous questions on how payments are received and whether these are “secure”, reliable and credible.

Probably, the main fear that results from these electronic payments is that there is no paper trail that can be traced on how transactions are being done. I always hear plenty of horror stories around it – for example, in using ATM cards, sometimes account is debited but there was no cash withdrawn. However, there are still electronic databases (with ample backups) that will truly record every transaction made with the bank – this will rectify any error that was made.

Come to think of it, these same set of Filipinos receive remittances confidently mostly through banks and other express remittance methods – these all the same work with the same electronic transferring means that fuels our own debit and credit cards.

Filipinos should be open-minded with these alternative methods. Carrying cash around is not also very secure – in fact, carrying plenty of it is a lot of risk to street thieves. Carrying an ample amount (not too much) on a single card can be a better way to purchase things and avoid the long ATM queues and offline problems.

Mastercard has a list of ATMs – amazingly they have a list for the Philippines. I tried to locate on in my location (Baguio, Philippines) and I really found a lot of ATM machine locations listed – enough to for me to save on gas in finding an ATM around town.

For the Philippines the list has 208 locations listed when I wrote this post – there are 30 Mastercard ATM machines around the city and most are located in Session Road, the busiest street in my place.

This is useful indeed, to those who have their own oDesk debit Mastercard.

Chances are, you got into this post because you need a Unionbank EON card to verify your Paypal.

If you have a Payoneer card already, you can use it to verify your Paypal account in a faster way.

However, if you need two cards verified with a Paypal account, or you simply do not have a Payoneer card, then you have to start the trek to the long wait right away.

Here are the steps:

• I enrolled in a Unionbank EON account online. I waited for around two weeks because the bank encountered some problems.  I had expected getting the card within a week after registration.
• When the card finally came, I went to the bank to claim it. I shelled out P850 for the account – P350 for the annual card fee and P500 for the deposit. I had to put in some money because Paypal requires some cash for the Paypal Expanded Use (EXPUSE). Paypal deducts $1.95 for this.
• I had to wait for another day to activate the card with an ATM.
• Once activated, I have to enroll in their internet banking. I waited two days to get it activated.
• I logged in my Paypal and linked this card within the site.
• I got into my Unionbank EON account and saw the $1.95 deduction – in Pesos.
• I have to wait for another 3 days for the EXPUSE number.
• When I got the EXPUSE number, I was able to confirm my card. I finally had a Verified Paypal account!

A verified Paypal account is needed to withdraw Paypal funds to any Philippine bank account. Unverified accounts do not have this capability.