5
definitely dollars seeing as you have to change anyway. Though 90% of the time you will be ok with Euros, some rural banks will not accept anything else. For a trip of only 21 days or less or maybe even 30 days I would not bother with ATMs as the fees are too high. It costs me a ludicrous 600 pesos - which plenty of Filipinos live on in an entire week - for me to get hold of 10,000 pesos from a Filipino ATM. I'd bring just cash, with maybe an ATM card as a backup but which I had no intention to use.7
there are very few of those around now since 2008 financial crisis. The one I have used to be totally free but they changed that in 2009. For a while it was still the cheapest there was in quite a large country (UK) but now they have raised their prices again and they are now basically the same as everyone else. I have now abandoned using foreign ATM's in the Philippines in the 4 months I am there each year and have opened up a Filipino bank account. I take half of what I need over in cash, convert it and deposit it, use a domestic ATM card to gain access to it, and send the other half to myself with Western Union. Even if I sent over all of it by Western Union it would still be cheaper than using a foreign ATM card I can get hold of. I retain a foreign ATM card but only as a back up with 500 pounds sterling in it in case there is any emergency.9
the only bank I know of in the UK that used to be free, after a period of charging but not a right lot - a bearable amount - now charges 2%. So every time I take 10,000 pesos out of an ATM in the Philippines they charge 400 and the Filipinos charge 200. If you work out how much it costs to withdraw 240,000 pesos in 24 10,000 peso withdrawals that is 6000 pesos - it is less to send that money by Western Union.11
best deal for a short vacation is cash. No fees at all and often better rates than the banks give. It is not compulsory for somebody to fiddle around with this bit of plastic to buy things, or to get their hands on cash. I don't use an ATM card in the west and don't particularly like doing it anywhere else. For longer trips however obviously it is not really advisable to carry the cash equivalent of 5,000 dollars around with you.ADVERTISEMENT
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