Wire transfer buying car problem?

@Larry Fisher

The issue is probably related to the world-wide efforts to cut down on money laundering. The generally accepted limit is $10,000 USD. Send more and warning bells & whistles go off. It's best to send multiple transfers over a few days if you need to transfer more than $9,999.99 USD.

Different countries but the same thing .... but much easier to sort out.

I transferred 50,000 quid from the UK to Indonesia but the money was held at this side by the receiving bank until they called me to ask me why I wanted the cash.

In this case it was from a UK account in my name to an Indonesian account in my name so they let it go when I informed them it was simply personal money I wanted to have over here for ease.

It's all this money laundering for terrorists and so on that's the cause of much of the issue, but never for the many corrupt politicians who have dodgy shell companies.

That in mind, either become a corrupt politician or try to open a local bank account in your own name.

That might look after the issue when it comes to future transactions.

Yep, agree Fred, Buying a house and car here was around 10 days to clear to the recipients accounts but I regularly transfer 1 to 1.5M pesos from AU to BDO account here and only 1 to 2 days but like you, we always get a call from the bank here,,,,, "sir did you know there was 1.5M Pesos deposited into your account today" Yes mam I transferred the money. " what is that for sir?" Is it any of your business? "no sir just checking."

Tsismis or protocols I have no Idea but my bank in Oz? Never a call, I only get the one time password to actuate the transfer.

At the BDO bank when Ben draws the cash, half a million or more he is always questioned by the teller, once he told them to mind their own business but after a little coaching from me he now tells them "daily needs" no more questions.

Cheers, Steve.

There has been no correspondence with me from the BDO receiving bank. And this is the Dealerships bank. As well we even noted car purchase and the VIN# of the vehicle on the wire.

I should have just used a facking debit card. With the amount lost in exchange rate with the bank it came out the same $400 I would have paid for "visa card" fees.

I just hope I'm not getting bent over and have to do some old school shit.

Larry, remember it's the festive season. Have you spoken to your bank or broker?

Cheers, Steve.

@Larry Fisher I have done this before with PNB to buy a toyota fortuner, well above $10K. If the money is not released to the dealer, the dealer's bank might be collecting maximum interest and/or betting on an improved exchange rate. But the longer it sits there in limbo, the more opportunity for a bank employee to commit shenanigans with the transfer so I would do whatever I could to make some noise with the bank and also from the bank on the US end who can initiate traces (just to let them know you are watching).

@Larry Fisher same thing happened to me... except it was $100,000 dollars for our home... we initiated tracks with bank in u.s. to make sure everything was o.k... we were actually transferring to our lawyers account, and after a few questions and her sending the office letterhead, our sales contract, and copy of Dee's, etc they released it after about 12 days... we were told they watch for money laundering... but I have no doubt this is strategy by the Philippine banks to make extra $$ interest on my money.

Different countries but the same thing .... but much easier to sort out.
I transferred 50,000 quid from the UK to Indonesia but the money was held at this side by the receiving bank until they called me to ask me why I wanted the cash.
In this case it was from a UK account in my name to an Indonesian account in my name so they let it go when I informed them it was simply personal money I wanted to have over here for ease.
It's all this money laundering for terrorists and so on that's the cause of much of the issue, but never for the many corrupt politicians who have dodgy shell companies.
That in mind, either become a corrupt politician or try to open a local bank account in your own name.
That might look after the issue when it comes to future transactions.
-@Fred

That in mind, either become a corrupt politician or try to open a local bank account in your own name.

Out of curiosity Fred which do you think is the easiest option?

Different countries but the same thing .... but much easier to sort out.
I transferred 50,000 quid from the UK to Indonesia but the money was held at this side by the receiving bank until they called me to ask me why I wanted the cash.
In this case it was from a UK account in my name to an Indonesian account in my name so they let it go when I informed them it was simply personal money I wanted to have over here for ease.
It's all this money laundering for terrorists and so on that's the cause of much of the issue, but never for the many corrupt politicians who have dodgy shell companies.
That in mind, either become a corrupt politician or try to open a local bank account in your own name.
That might look after the issue when it comes to future transactions.
-@Fred
That in mind, either become a corrupt politician or try to open a local bank account in your own name.

Out of curiosity Fred which do you think is the easiest option?
-@Lotus Eater

Opening an account if local banking rules allow it as becoming a corrupt politician requires a lot of arse licking. However, corrupt politicians get very rich very quickly.

It is the festive season, so lots of OFTW's responsible to their local families for financial support, romantic partners sending monetary gifts, businesses sending their salaries to their local employees/VA staff i am sure are contributing to a higher than usual volume for internation banking transactions.

I collect multiple salaries from my clients via Wise (upwards of 1,200 USD in total monthly).

Since roughly the last week of November, the typical Wise transfer has taken 2-3 days more than usual.

I encourage you to wait until next week, once we move into January, and then follow up as you see fit. Keep in mind that most businesses have a very relaxed approach to their usual routine around this time of the year (New Year's is literally within the next 2 days), so don't expect to have much of an update on the process of your transaction for the time being until next week.

I would agree. All of the money transfers I made occurred within 3 days and I do suspect banks will hold onto it for a few days for max interest or exchange rate if nobody says they are in a rush. I never heard of issues with corrupt politicians as that seemed o go away in the nineties. The Phils is much more mature now in terms of business and SWIFT does have many safeguards and tracing today.

@Larry Fisher I recently bought my wife a new Wigo from Tacloban Toyota. It is the second new vehicle we bought from them so I knew sending money directly to their bank account was safe. The price of the Wigo was around $12,000 so I sent $6,000 using Remitly and $5,000 using World Remit which is the maximum 1-day remittance for each. The Remitly money was instant but the World Remit transfer took a couple days since they wanted additional info on the transfer. After all that settled I sent the small balance by Remitly and the Wigo was paid in full by 3 transfers. The final payment was on a weekend and the car was delivered to us by the sales lady the following Tuesday. It is a 3 hour drive one way so having it delivered was appreciated.

I have used that(Remit)Aldo to buy our car, and mopeds, and also part of down payment for our home... remitly always works well... and is always pretty fast... 5 days when you send bank account to bank account for a better rate, and instantly from debit card to cash pickup.... but about 3/4 percent less exchange rate.

@Moon Dog what color?

@Larry Fisher The Wigo is yellow. We had no plans of buying another car at the time but we were having the Fortuner serviced at Tacloban Toyota and saw a yellow one in the show room and my wife thought is was cute and said she could drive a Wigo. The Fortuner was too big for her. I liked the color so we asked if they had an automatic version available and just so happens they had a yellow one on the lot so we bought it. Original plans was to have two cars just like in the US so this worked out well. It is a great little car.

One crazy thing is the dash cam which was dealer installed and we didn't even know it was there until it came loose from the windshield. You can barely see it in the photo dangling from its wire in the center of the windshield. It needs better glue.

So, today the story almost concludes. I've been giving the dealer a very hard time since Tues morning. I finally got a manager involved. Today I got up at 2am to call my bank in the states and get some pertinent information and see if it was fully successful and non refundable at this point. Then this morning, I jumped on them hard and told them today is final day. Tomorrow would proceed with attorneys bearing down on them for a full refund.

Surprise, surprise, surprise as Gomer Pyle used to say. Within 90 mins they said funds were released and I could pick up car. We'll go tomorrow.

@Larry Fisher That is great unless they just told you what you wanted to hear to clear you out of the office. But assuming what they said is true, how long was the bank holding the money collecting interest?

@danfinn This was all being done via messenger app. They did send me a in-house receipt pic saying paid in full. They're 2.5 hrs away so I wasn't going back unless it was to collect something. Car or money.

@danfinn

Wouldn't be so surprised if this was the case.

It's astonishing what some Filipinos can accomplish within the constraints of their role when you press it upon them to get something done! 

they're not used to what they see as aggression, but alas, efficiency is something that Filipinos are allergic to!

Exactly, aggression doesn't work here. If you are here long enough you learn to adopt the same behavior of speaking in a quiet voice and never speak in accusatory tones. In the rare times I am in these situations, rather than confront I ask questions, the type whose answers cause them to more or less confront themselves. They seem surprized by this tactic and it is something I learned working with the Chinese at our Beijing headquarters. They are very good at it and it avoids loss of face because making statements by asking questions is so indirect.

So, today the story almost concludes. I've been giving the dealer a very hard time since Tues morning. I finally got a manager involved. Today I got up at 2am to call my bank in the states and get some pertinent information and see if it was fully successful and non refundable at this point. Then this morning, I jumped on them hard and told them today is final day. Tomorrow would proceed with attorneys bearing down on them for a full refund.
Surprise, surprise, surprise as Gomer Pyle used to say. Within 90 mins they said funds were released and I could pick up car. We'll go tomorrow.
-@Larry Fisher

Did you get the car yet? When you do, check the tire lugs, brakes hoses, etc.

I only wire 10K max at a time once per week., I did this to our bank here, once a week until I had the funds to purchase our vehicle. Then we went to the dealership to arrange payment and wired from our bank here to the dealerships bank.

Did the same thing for a big bike.

@roberttaymanph Is there a reason to limit the transfers to 10K? Three times I have made transfers of nearly 50K, the max my bank allows in a single transfer. I know the bank reports to the gov on transfers over 10K but as long as I could easily explain why, if asked, I never worried about it. I was never asked. You wait a week for each transfer but make the marginally not-reportable transfer on a regular basis and that too cab be reported as a suspicious activity.