Are you still using your Payoneer card? I am not using that card as often as before, because I am quite contented with the transfers that I do from Paypal to Unionbank to Smart Money.

Payoneer card for oDesk

-I read an announcement posted in my Payoneer account yesterday. Metabank replaces the First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank. Here’s a snippet of announcement posted within my Payoneer account:

On February 9, 2009 , MetaBank will replace First Bank of Delaware as the issuing bank for the Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard card accounts.
The transition to MetaBank will not affect card usage. You may use your card as usual without interruption in service or security. Please access your Terms and Conditions for changes.

Now this might explain why the First Bank of Delaware bank account suddenly dropped from my list of Paypal bank accounts. I used that virtual bank account a few times to transfer funds from Paypal to Payoneer (this feature is NOT available yet for all Payoneer card holders). This means I have to add that virtual bank account again with Paypal. I will still have to try adding that bank account again in a few weeks.

Payoneer is an alternative for me to withdraw cash from oDesk, but this card can also be linked to other websites such as ReviewMe, Elance and GetAFreelancer. It is a lot similar to a Paypal account, but this one is a Mastercard debit card that can be easily used to withdraw cash or to pay for purchases.

Even though I prefer to use the Payoneer card for purchase, I find so many Filipinos asking around how to save more on Payoneer withdrawals. I did not want to get the “insufficient funds” message seen whenever I decide to take some funds out, so I decided to fix some amount left in the Payoneer account: I highly recommend leaving around P500 in the account instead of getting the whole amount out.

However, ATM machines are different. There are some machines that allow a higher withdrawal limit than the others. I’ve discovered that the limit imposed on machines is not dependent on the bank or the location of the machine. For instance, I found few BPI ATMs which allow a lower withdrawal limit while the rest of their bunch allow higher withdrawals.

Here is what I have to say about getting more from each cash withdrawal from the Payoneer card:

• Determine which ATM machines allow higher withdrawal limits, if you plan to withdraw higher amounts exceeding P4,000. Some say the withdrawal limit has to do with the bank, I’ve also heard others that the limit has something to do with the location of the ATM. However, it really pays to ask the bank personnel or the guard-in-charge on which ATM machines allow higher withdrawals. The limits are often dependent on the model of ATM machine installed in the area.




• Do a balance inquiry first. Balance inquiry is always free and it is often helpful to determine the amount of money in Pesos that is funded in the account.




• Choose SAVINGS over current account option when doing balance inquiry or withdrawals. You’ll still get slapped with $0.90 charge when you choose the incorrect option.




• Leave P500 in your Payoneer account. Do a quick mental computation after a balance inquiry. You cannot withdraw everything in your account. Despite having a $2.15 withdrawal charge that Payoneer takes away, leaving P100 or even up to P300 will still give you “insufficient funds” error with each withdrawal.




• You can still use the P500 amount left in the card to pay for purchases in department stores, supermarkets and other stores as long as these merchants accept Mastercard payments.




• It is possible to pay the remaining balance of the card for a purchase that is worth more than the amount stored in the card. A card with P400 left can still be used to pay for a P600 item by telling the cashier to withdraw off funds from the card then add P200 more to pay for the purchase.




• The $3 maintenance fee can be reduced to $1 maintenance fee by having more than two Payoneer transactions in one month. Instead of doing a set of load and withdraw transactions in a single month, use the card to pay for some purchases too.

For new Payoneer users, withdrawing money from an ATM can be quite frustrating – if you find out that you cannot fully withdraw your hard earned cash from oDesk (or from other site). Getting “insufficient funds” message in the ATM is something of a concern – because aside from getting stumped at needing the funds to spend for some expenses or want, “insufficient funds” deducts around $0.90 each time.

I’ve experienced a series of insufficient funds too, before I was able to withdraw funds off successfully from my Payoneer account. From those several uses with the Payoneer card, I finally set out to always leave at least P500 within my Payoneer account.

image credit to Adam Sonnett

• Always do a balance inquiry first before a withdrawal. Each balance inquiry done with the Payoneer card is entirely free, I get to decide the amount that I need to withdraw.
• Withdraw funds at P500 less than the amount that you have seen during balance inquiry.

If you have a $75 funds loaded in the Payoneer card, then doing a balance inquiry at any Mastercard ATM should show around P3,000 (depending on the Mastercard exchange rate for the day). The amount that can be withdrawn from the card should only be P2,500 so that “insufficient funds” message will not appear.

I’ve tried leaving funds from P100 to P300 which covers enough of the $2.15 withdrawal charge that Payoneer takes away, but I still get “insufficient funds” message and get deducted. I have not tried leaving at least P400 in my account, so I do not have any idea whether “insufficient funds” will still bug me at that amount.

I’ve been seeing this in my Payoneer account lately: load money with Western Union. I’ve seen this while I was doing a fund transfer from Paypal to Payoneer account. This is a new option that was not available before.

Before Western Union is available, Payoneer cards are usually loaded using US bank accounts and credit cards. I have not tried any of these to load my card – I often got it loaded through Paypal transfers and earnings from several freelance sites.

Western Union transfers are currenly available only in the US. I hope this gets to be available in the Philippines too.

UPDATED: February 17, 2009

I’ve found out a quicker way to verify Paypal account without using a Unionbank EON card. If you happen to own a Payoneer card then you might want to verify your account using this card because the entire process only took me less than five minutes to complete. The Paypal expanded use (EXPUSE) number, which is used to change the status of Paypal accounts from “unverified” to “verified”, is reflected immediately in my online account at Payoneer’s website.

Using a Unionbank EON card to verify Paypal has a lot of disadvantages. A person had to wait for a few days up to more than a week before calling up the bank’s customer service for the EXPUSE number. Calling up the bank’s customer service is often difficult: a Unionbank customer often needs to call up several times to get through a customer service representative. The only option that the customer could find out the EXPUSE number is to make several attempts to reach the customer service to follow up the request.

Remember, you can opt to maintain an unverified Paypal account to receive payments. However, if you need to withdraw the funds to a Philippine bank account then Paypal verification is always needed.

Before doing the procedure, you need $1.95 or more in your Payoneer account for the verification process. That amount will be refunded back to your Paypal account. If you need to know how to load funds into your Payoneer account, then read this post on ways on how to load funds into a Payoneer card.

I’ve outlined the step-by-step procedure that I had followed:

1. Login to Paypal. Create a Paypal account if you do not have one yet.
2. Make sure My Account tab is active; if not, click on that tab.
3. Under the heading My Account Overview, click the link that says Unverified just beside the Status.
4. This will enable you to enter a card and verify it. Take your Payoneer card and enter all the card details that are asked on the screen. Guide instructions are provided on the screen.
5. Login to your Payoneer account and get the Paypal EXPUSE (expanded use) number that is shown in your list of transactions (View Transactions). It is a four-digit number within your transaction history that looks like PP *nnnn Expuse where nnnn is the four-digit number assigned by Paypal. (click the image below for a closer look)
   
6. Return to Paypal by logging in again. Enter the given four-digit number in the transaction statement to your Paypal account by logging in again to your account, under Link and Confirm Card. If this is successful then your status should change to Verified. (click the image below for a closer look)
   

If you still do not have a Paypal account, simply click on the banner below for a FREE account!

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.

UPDATED: February 18, 2009

The Payoneer virtual bank account is NOT yet offered to all cardholders. This facility is currently under pilot stage where few selected account holders were invited to take part in this new service that will be out soon. To learn more about Payoneer, click to my experience on receiving my Payoneer card.

Here is great news to Payoneer card account holders: Payoneer will be offering virtual bank account services. Payoneer cards of account holders will have the option to avail of a virtual bank account with its issuer First Bank of Delaware Metabank. This opens up more possibilities of loading the card – such as doing a Paypal to Payoneer transfer.

I am using an oDesk Mastercard which is powered by Payoneer. I will not be depended on oDesk to fund my oDesk Mastercard to fund it because I have Paypal to Payoneer transfer as another option to load my oDesk Mastercard.

Payoneer virtual bank account with SERVICES menu enabled

I got the invitation from Payoneer to participate in this pilot program through email, and after some email exchanges I had agreed to participate in their program. The first thing I had noticed is that the SERVICES menu which was normally disabled is now enabled – that was where I saw the virtual bank account service which contained the account number and the bank routing number.

Payoneer virtual bank account

I added up a new bank account in Paypal. Then I decided to send a test amount of $13.90 from my Paypal account. Paypal processed it in their system for one day, a normal occurence to anyone initiating a bank account withdrawal. I received those funds in my Payoneer account after another day. The duration of the entire Paypal to Payoneer transfer was only two business days. I made several transfers and unless there are bank holidays, I often get the funds into my account in just two business days.

Aside from that fast transfer, I think Payoneer has a superb customer service – I had already used their live chat assistance for inquiries and account problems.

The only downside to using Payoneer cards are the loads of fees that are being charged when one uses the card. I hope this post on how to save more from Payoneer withdrawals can help on how to minimize Payoneer fees. Nevertheless, I still want to keep Payoneer as another option to withdraw earnings online just in case my Paypal account fails.

I tried to compare the exchange rates of Paypal and Payoneer to check which of these give better exchange rate. Payoneer puts on a 1 to 3% currency conversion fee as dictated by Mastercard, while Paypal puts on a 2.5% currency conversion rate on top of their wholesale exchange rate.

I got into my personal accounts at Paypal and Payoneer and tried to make a tally of the transactions where currency change was in effect. In Paypal, there is an exchange of currency when I decide to withdraw funds to my bank account. Payoneer, being a Mastercard, a change of currency occurs when I decide to withdraw funds from an ATM or decide to purchase an item off a store with a different currency other than the US dollar.

Here is the comparison between Philippine Peso and US Dollar exchange rate (I’m just simply shy to show you the withdrawal transactions). Exchange rate = value in pesos/value in dollars
There are three observations that I have noted from this data:

1. In Payoneer, higher Peso exchange rate is seen when items are bought off purchase than that by cash withdrawals.
2. In Payoneer, there is no fixed exchange rate of the day: it varies a lot – the transactions worth Php 184.60, Php 1084.00 and Php 418.35 were all card purchases done in a single day.
3. At a glance, there seems to be no huge difference between the exchange rates of both payment methods.

The data could have been quite accurate if I had been able to get data that spans for several transactions: However, I have just gotten my Paypal verified only last month.

Overall, it seems to me that the exchange rate for both methods does not differ much from each other, so using any of these two payment methods would be great. Remember that if you are trying to purchase in US dollars then currency conversion fees does not apply to both Paypal and Payoneer.

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.

A lot of bloggers had written about the success of Paypal withdrawals in the Philippines; I stumbled on a lot of these when I had to figure out how to withdraw my earnings from my Paypal account – to do this in the Philippines I need to have a verified Paypal account first.

I think that getting a Paypal account to work along with Payoneer account is good so that I get to have my earnings if one withdrawal method fails. In case there is a problem with Payoneer, then I can still have my funds from oDesk through another source. I’ve written about the comparison between the different withdrawal methods used in oDesk.

Here in the Philippines, a verified Paypal account is needed to be able to withdraw Paypal funds to any Philippine bank account and even purchase from online sites.

How did I able to get a my Paypal verified?

I was successful in using two cards for this:

• Unionbank EON card
• oDesk debit Mastercard powered by Payoneer

The oDesk Payoneer card is a debit Mastercard which I find flexible in many ways. Aside from using it to verify my Paypal account, I used it for internet transactions and POS purchases in groceries and malls around town. Withdrawal through any local Mastercard ATM is possible too.

The Paypal EXPUSE number is a number attached to the $1.95 amount that Paypal deducts from the credit or debit card for verification. According to Paypal, the number can be seen in account statements, but in the case of my Unionbank EON card, the EXPUSE number did not appear on my account statements – a call or an email to the bank’s customer support is necessary for them to say what has been the EXPUSE number provided with the account.

If you happen to use a debit card for verification, be sure to load the card with $1.95 or at least Php 100 for Paypal to properly debit the account. The deducted amount from the card, if successful, goes to the Paypal account so you have nothing to lose. If verification was not successful then the funds are credited back to the card.