Making regular (small) payments to the Philippines - options?

[Ehiogu]

I would like to send ~HKD$1500 a month to the Philippines. Bearing in mind I'll be leaving in HK in a few months, I will need to send via the UK.

What are my options? I'm guessing the transfer charge every time will be quite significant. I'm considering paying once every six months instead but this doesn't really help the recipient as much.

Any other thoughts? Could I paypal?

[jimbo]

Assuming the recipient has PayPal of course but they'll lose out on exchange rate and charges etc so check those first

[Drunken Master]

There is a remittance service called I-remit that charges reasonable fees. Offices in HK and UK.

[shri]

I've used Xoom to pay a couple of freelancers in Manila. Used this over paypal as the person could pick up money easily from several locations.

https://www.xoom.com/philippines/send-money

[Ehiogu]

Thanks. I think the payment has to be made to a Phils bank account, rather than them picking up cash on a monthly basis, because the recipient will still be in HK.

[Skierx]

I have never used it, but you can send money via Paypal for free by sending it as a "gift". I am not sure if there is a limit on the number of transactions or the amount or whether it is covered by Paypal's fraud protection, but it might be worth looking into.

[jayinhongkong]

If the recipient's in HK, why not transfer to their HK account and have them transfer? There are tons of ways to deposit money in a Phils bank account from here. It can even be done at 7-11!

[rani]

Our previous helper would deposit the money in her local Hang Seng Account, and she gave her parents an ATM card so they could withdraw from there. Not sure what the charges were.

[Ehiogu]

The purpose of the money is for use in the Philippines. It doesn't make sense for us to transfer to her HK account, get charged for the transfer, then she transfer it to the Phils (and get charged on that transfer too).

[TheBrit]

I guess it depends if the person you are transferring to is sensible enough to draw down a chunk of principal every month. If so, then I assume you are fiscally sound enough to dump in 6 or 12 months worth of payments in one go, and then the 20 quid or so bank transfer fee isn't a big deal. The recipient can then use $1,500 per month and you can boost it again in six or twelve months.

Otherwise, I guess look into how Filapinas in the UK send money home. They probably send relatively small amounts frequently so they should have a handle on the best ways to do so. Or ping @hullexile as he might have an idea.