On-line Banking in Philippines : My experience

On-line banking has been known to me way back 2005. My first discovery of on-line banking was when I got so tired inquiring about my balance at East West Bank.

First thing to do to access your savings account at on-line East West Bank is to register. I've also tried fastnet of the Equitable PCI Bank. Registration process for on-line banking for banks mentioned are both easy. ChinaBank and Bank of the Philippine Islands are also easy to register via Internet but you also need to activate your E-banking through ATM machines.

Since my East west and Equitable PCI bank accounts are all zero balance because I'm not saving anymore, i'm now using Metrobank which at first find their system very inconvenient. Why? Because you have to go to your depository branch when you want to register your account to their on-line banking, which in my case very inconvenient because mine is payroll account opened at Davao City (about 5hrs of travel from Cotabato City) by our accounting office. The system of MetroBank is merely for security reasons though. That is to avoid registering your account on-line without your permission? Duh? It's merely foolishness if you entrust your ATM or account to anyone.

Anyway, why you should register? For your own convenience as simple as that. You don't have to look for ATM's just inquire for your outstanding balance. When you withdraw, you can withdraw immediately because you have already inquired your balance on-line. This will also lessen your time spent on that ATM machine. Another thing is paying your bills, in my case i usually use this feature to pay for my SmartBro Internet account. By the way, your payment will be credited to your billing accounts in three working days.

As of today, i think almost all our banks in the Philippines are all internet accessible. One thing though, to protect your on-line banking, you should make sure that your PC is installed with updated antivirus and spyware detector. Same thing with ATM, you should not let other people know your username and password.

I'm thinking of maybe next time our local banks in the Philippines would allow us to fund transfer to our Paypal account. I just hope that our local banks will consider Paypal.