After using my ePassporte ATM card for several months I noticed that it is cheaper to transfer funds from Paypal to your local bank account rather than to withdraw them from your ePassporte ATM card as I previously thought. The exchange rate of the US Dollar to Philippine Peso when withdrawing your funds if about 1.50PHP to 2PHP less from that of the exchange rates in the local banks. Add to that (Note that these limitations are for Personal accounts in restricted countries such as the Philippines.):
- 1USD fee per ATM transaction
- 2 day transaction limit
- a maximum withdrawal of 320USD only.
Which translates to a maximum of only 14,500PHP (if the local exchange rate is 48PHP then the conversion is somewhere around 46PHP) withdrawals per day compared to the 30,000PHP limit of local banks. So when withdrawing large amounts it will take you longer and cost you much more due to the number of withdrawals you’ll have to make.
Increasing your ePassporte limits is a tedious task as well if you are from the Philippines. They require you to have 2 verified load mechanisms which are either a Credit card or Debit card. You will then send a request to ePassporte to review your application along with the following items (note that this process is for each of the 2 load mechanisms required to upgrade your account):
- A copy of Proof of Name and Address
- A copy of Visa Credit Card front/back
- A copy of Visa Credit/Debit Card Statement
- A copy of Government Issued Photo ID
I’ll try and extend my limits by doing the above process but I am discourage by the amount of charge they already have in place.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
hello mike,
i had ordered an epassporte this month and i realized that it takes upto 10 days before they will mail the card and then it said that it will take another 2-4weeks before the epassporte will arrive. My epassporte has been mailed since last oct.7 and after almost 3 weeks not yet arrive.. i wanted to transfer money through bankwire but it wil cost $50 dollars, and it is also disabled using xoom. Do you know other ways where i can transfer money cheaper and faster through bank or moneywire using the virtual visa of epassporte?
Not really, I only use either Paypal or ePassporte for these. I try to avoid bank/moneywire transfers because they tend to take longer. You may want to try using merchant services which allow you to receive funds through credit cards.
hi i have few questions to ask regarding epassporte hope you could help me. thanks in advance.
hi mike.. tanung ko lang po kung anu contact number mu.. need your help regarding epassporte, i think you can help me,, and i can pay you back..just e-mail me.. tnx
Hi Al, just post your question here, or you can email me instead. No need to pay me