Congratulate me! This Filipino mom has just had her first successful Paypal transaction, to withdraw money I earned from Elance.
I've had this account for more than a year but never got to use it before because I didn't have a credit card.
You need a credit card to get verified at PayPal. If your account is unverified, you can receive money, but you can never withdraw the money from PayPal to your bank.
(Addendum: Here's a more recent article on how to get money out of PayPal if you don't have a credit card.)
So, I got myself a credit card just so I could withdraw my PayPal funds.
Routing numbers
Now the most important thing you need to know when you want to transfer your PayPal money to your Philippine bank account is your bank's routing number.
Here is a list of routing numbers that I got from http://pages.ebay.ph/bankwithdrawal/bank_codes_ph.html.
BANK NAME | 9 digit bank code |
| ALLIED BANKING CORP | 010320013 |
| AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND | 010700015 |
| ASIA UNITED BANK | 011020011 |
| BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS | 010030015 |
| BANGKOK BANK | 010670019 |
| BANK OF AMERICA | 010120019 |
| BANK OF CHINA | 011140014 |
| BANK OF TOKYO | 010460012 |
| BANCO DE ORO (& EPCIB) | 010530667 |
| BANK OF COMMERCE | 010440016 |
| BANK OF THE PHIL ISLANDS | 010040018 |
| CHINA BANKING CORP | 010100013 |
| CHINA TRUST COMML BANK | 010690015 |
| CITIBANK N.A. | 010070017 |
| DEVT BANK OF THE PHILS | 010590018 |
| DEUTSCHE BANK | 010650013 |
| EAST WEST BANK | 010620014 |
| EXPORT & INDUSTRY BANK | 010860010 |
| FUJI BANK | 010640010 |
| HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANK | 010060014 |
| INTL COMML BANK OF CHINA | 010560019 |
| INTL EXCHANGE BANK | 010680012 |
| JP MORGAN CHASE BANK | 010720011 |
| KOREA EXCHANGE BANK | 010710018 |
| INTL NEDERLAND BANK | 010660016 |
| LAND BANK OF THE PHILS | 010350025 |
| MAYBANK OF THE PHILS | 010220016 |
| METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST CO | 010269996 |
| PHIL BANK OF COMMUNICATION | 010110016 |
| PHIL TRUST COMPANY | 010090039 |
| PHIL NATIONAL BANK | 010080010 |
| PRUDENTIAL BANK | 010150018 |
| PHIL VETERANS BANK | 010330016 |
| RIZAL COMML BANKING CORP | 010280014 |
| SECURITY BANK & TRUST CO | 010140015 |
| STANDARD CHARTERED BANK | 010050011 |
| UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK | 010299995 |
| UNION BANK OF THE PHILS | 010419995 |
| UNITED OVERSEAS BANK | 010270189 |
I've tried using the routing numbers given above for Metrobank, BDO, RCBC, and UnionBank, and they all worked.
How long and how much?
It took PayPal 1 day to change my withdrawal status in my PayPal dashboard from Pending to Completed.
"Completed" means that PayPal has sent out the money. It does not mean that the money has reached your bank.
It took 2 more days before the money was credited to my Metrobank account, and Metrobank deducted a service charge of, it seems, 76.7 pesos.
Note: BDO and RCBC deduct P200. UnionBank has a partnership with PayPal, so they don't deduct anything from your PayPal funds.
But remember that if you withdraw less than P7,000, PayPal will deduct P50 from your money before even sending it to the bank.
So I try to wait until I can withdraw P7,000, then withdraw to my UnionBank account, and I get the whole amount intact.
