I’m sure you already know that you can now utilize full functionality for PayPal here in the Philippines — meaning you can use it not just for making payments but also for receiving funds. Immediately, budding online entrepreneurs took full advantage of this new option to further expand their business.
However though, a question was almost immediately raised, in chorus: “How do we get our funds off PayPal and use as real Philippine peso?”
Thanks to the persistence of fellow bloggers like Jozzua, we have now confirmed several options for receiving payments from PayPal and to your local credit card. Yes, just your locally–issued credit card.
The more popular option as of now is UnionBank’s EON Visa Electron, which we also mentioned before. It is the cheaper and simpler choice, it being a debit card. Getting one is much easier with less requirements unlike a credit card, and you can get one now for only 350 pesos a year. Charles over at NiervaDotCom details how he activated his EON card for PayPal, and confirms transferring funds from PayPal to the EON Visa Electron card.
Even better news now is that HSBC credit cards can also be used to get funds from PayPal. Another local blogger checked this and successfully used an HSBC Mabuhay Miles Visa Classic credit card. He provides details on how to transfer the funds from PayPal to the card, and even offers how to actually receive it as cash.
Important reminders: there are several caveats to all this.
- Everytime you transfer money from PayPal to a local credit card, there is $5 USD transfer fee. That’s significant money, unless you’re moving several hundred dollars or more than a thousand.
- If you use the “cash advance” route offered by HSBC (and maybe other credit card companies), they charge you an arm for money that’s actually yours. HSBC charges 300 pesos per cash advance withdrawal, something they try to make you believe is a simple ATM withdrawal — it isn’t. Better use the overpayment option instead.
- All these transactions do take several business days before you physically get hold of your cash, so take it into account especially if you need your money to be available on specific dates.
My advice: use your PayPal funds to cover your credit card payments. Less worries, since it will only be a one–step process. But you still take the five dollar hit though. We should be thankful still, as we now truly have PayPal!
