Moneybookers – Another Alternative Payment Method

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:

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