Sending Money To Philipines With Remitly? Read This first!

Tommy Buckley

23.02.23

3 minute read

Need to send money to the Philippines? Perhaps you’re supporting a family member, paying bills for an overseas property or sending a friend a birthday gift. Whichever is the case, you’ll need to find the best, cheapest and most convenient way to make an international transfer.

One of your options is the popular online money transfer service Remitly. But how does it work? And crucially, how much does it cost?

In this handy guide, we’ll run through everything you need to know about using Remitly to send money to the Philippines. This includes fees, exchange rates, transfer times and much more.

Remitly isnt the only money transfer service in town, why not check out wise. You could save with Wise's Mid-Market Rate.

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Can you send money to the Philippines with Remitly?

Yes, the Philippines is one of 145+ countries you can send to with Remitly¹.

You’ll have a choice of delivery methods, including bank deposit, cash pickup and mobile wallet transfer².

How to send money to Philippines using Remitly - step by step

When you’re ready to send your first Remitly money transfer to the Philippines, here’s how to do it³:

Go to Remitly.com and sign into your account. If you don’t have an account, you can create one for free. Alternatively, you can download and use the Remitly mobile app.
Select ‘Send money’.
Type in the amount you’d like to send.
Choose a delivery method. For bank deposits, you’ll need to enter your recipient’s bank account details. For cash collection, you’ll need to choose a convenient pickup location for your recipient.
Enter the recipient’s details, including their name and phone number.
Enter your personal details, if you haven’t already done so when registering for an account.
Choose how you’ll pay for your transfer - your options will usually include bank account, credit or debit card.
Review and check the details of your transfer.
Select ‘Send Money’ to confirm, and wait for the transfer to process. You should receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards.

Remitly: transfer fees

Now we come to the important part - how much does it cost to use Remitly to send money to the Philippines?

Remitly tends to charge flat fees for transfers based on delivery speed, with Economy and Express options available. But there are special Remitly Philippines rates, based on the delivery method you choose. If you opt for a digital delivery method such as bank deposit or mobile money, you won’t pay any transfer fees.

Here are your options in full⁴:

Bank deposit - £0 fee
Mobile wallet - £0 fee
Cash pickup - £3.99 fee
Home delivery - £3.99 fee.

These fees are likely to be for the Economy service. So if you want your payment delivered more quickly, you may have to pay an additional fee.

Along with the upfront transfer fee, it’s also important to factor in the exchange rate. This can make a big difference to how much the transfer ends up costing overall, as it influences how much of your money actually reaches the recipient.

To illustrate this, a quick example. Let’s imagine you want to send £1,000 from the UK to a friend in the Philippines. Here’s how much it’ll cost using Remitly (for a bank deposit), and with an alternative such as Wise:

Provider	Transfer fee	Exchange rate	Recipient receives
Remitly	£0⁴	66.38⁵	66,380
Wise⁶	£6	67.51 - the mid-market rate	67,111.10

Transfer fees and exchange rate correct as of 22-Jan-2023

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It’s worth pointing out that Remitly does offer promotional offers for new customers. This means that for your very first transfer, you could potentially get a better Remitly exchange rate for the Philippines.

Remitly: transfer limits to the Philippines

Remitly does have some transfer limits. But if you provide some additional ID and documentation, these can be increased. Here’s what limits you’ll start off with as a new customer⁷:

£5,000 per 24 hours
£15,000 per 30 days
£50,000 per 180 days.

Remitly pickup locations in the Philippines

Remitly has over 23,000 cash pickup locations across the Philippines², so it should be pretty easy to find one that works for your recipient. They can find their nearest one using the Remitly Philippines cash pickup locator.

How long does it take to send money to the Philippines with Remitly?

Remitly offers two different transfer speeds, with the faster option sometimes coming with an additional fee⁸:

Economy - 3-5 business days
Express - within minutes (if funded by debit card).

How does this compare with other providers? If you send money to the Philippines with Wise, your money should arrive the next day⁶.

Join Wise today 🚀

Transaction speed claimed depends on individual circumstances and may not be available for all transactions.

And that’s pretty much it - all you need to know about using Remitly to send money to the Philippines.

We’ve covered everything from transfer times and limits, through to Remitly rates to the Philippines. So, you should be all set to make your first transfer.

Before you do, just make sure you compare all options. Alternatives such as Wisecharge low fees and use the mid-market exchange rate, so could work out the cheaper option.

Pricing/fees: Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information

Sources used:

Sources last checked on date: 22-Jan-2023

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