PinoyRemote
When a client says they pay by bank wire, ask your bank for the receiving instructions for your specific account and currency. Send those instructions accurately, agree on fees and keep the payment reference.
A foreign client can also pay through a service that delivers a local Philippine transfer. That is a different route from an incoming international wire, even when both end in the same bank account.
Clarify the route before comparing costs or promising an arrival date.
Ask what the client means by bank transfer
The client’s finance team may mean an international SWIFT payment, a domestic transfer to foreign receiving details supplied by a provider, or a service that pays out PHP locally.
Ask:
- Which bank or payment service will send it?
- In which currency?
- Will it be an international wire or a local payout?
- Which recipient details does the sender require?
- Who will cover sending and receiving charges?
Then check with your receiving bank that the account can accept that payment.
SWIFT carries financial messages between institutions; banks handle the movement and crediting of funds. Its explanation of the network helps distinguish the messaging system from the account that receives your money.
Get the receiving instructions from your bank
Use the bank’s official website, authenticated app or verified support channel. Do not rely on a copied code from an old blog or an unverified message.
BPI’s receiving instructions, for example, include the account details, branch and SWIFT information relevant to its process.
Your bank may ask you to provide:
- Beneficiary name exactly as registered
- Account number and account currency
- Beneficiary address, if required
- Bank and relevant branch details
- SWIFT or BIC code
- Payment purpose and invoice reference
- Correspondent-bank details, when required
Use the address your bank specifies. A head-office address is not automatically the right answer for every receiving instruction.
Sample payment details block
Beneficiary name: [Name exactly as registered]
Account number: [Bank-provided account number]
Account currency: [Currency]
Beneficiary address: [If required]
Bank and branch: [Official details]
SWIFT or BIC: [Verified bank code]
Correspondent details: [Only if the bank requires them]
Payment reference: [Invoice number and accurate service description]
Send only the information needed to receive the payment. Your client does not need your bank password, PIN or one-time code.
What if the sender asks for an IBAN
Philippine receiving instructions generally use an account number and the bank’s SWIFT or BIC rather than a Philippine IBAN.
If the sender’s form requires an IBAN, ask their bank how to select the appropriate non-IBAN international-transfer route. Do not put a SWIFT code into the IBAN field or invent a number to get past validation.
For BPI, its official guide lists BOPIPHMM and BOPIPHMMXXX. Other banks and payment forms may specify their own format, so copy the instructions for your actual destination.
Confirm the details before the sender releases the payment. A correction after sending may take time and involve additional charges.
Understand the possible costs
An incoming wire can involve more than the receiving bank’s fee.
| Cost | Where to check |
|---|---|
| Sending fee | Client’s sending bank |
| Correspondent or intermediary charge | Sending bank’s route and available estimate |
| Receiving fee | Your account’s current inward-remittance schedule |
| Currency conversion | Bank or provider converting the funds |
| Applicable taxes | Receiving bank’s stated schedule and treatment |
BPI’s published inward-remittance page lists USD 6.50 for credit to a USD account, and PHP 150 plus applicable documentary stamp tax for PHP credit. It identifies its service charge as a minimum and notes that correspondent arrangements and other bank charges can affect the result.
BDO’s published remittance fee schedule has different currency columns and a stated August 2022 effective date. Confirm the charge applicable to your account before using an old table to quote a client.
For any bank, ask what amount is likely to be credited and which charges remain uncertain. Avoid treating an unspecified intermediary fee as zero.
Agree who covers the charges
You may see fee instructions such as OUR, SHA or BEN. These generally allocate charges to the sender, share them between parties or deduct them from the beneficiary’s payment.
Ask the sending bank how its options work on the actual route. A sender-paid instruction does not always ensure an exact net receipt throughout every processing chain. KBC’s international-transfer guidance, for example, explains limitations with OUR instructions.
If the invoice requires you to receive a specific net amount, ask whether the sender’s bank offers a full-value delivery option and what it covers.
Keep the commercial agreement clear too. A bank’s fee instruction and the client’s obligation to pay your invoice are separate parts of the arrangement.
After arrival, compare the credited amount with the invoice and payment confirmation. Ask for a breakdown if the difference is unclear.
My experience with a USD 400 business payment
An Indonesian client sent USD 400 to my business USD account at Security Bank. The sender’s OCBC confirmation showed the payment as successful on September 3, 2026, with SHA as the charge option. Security Bank later confirmed by email that it had received USD 363 and credited the payment on September 10.
That left a USD 37 difference between the amount sent and the amount the bank said it received. Malaking bagay din iyon on a USD 400 payment. The records I have do not itemize that difference, so I cannot attribute all USD 37 to Security Bank or use it as the bank’s standard receiving fee.
There was paperwork involved too. My emails show that I sent proof related to the payment on September 8 and 9. The bank’s later confirmation gives September 10 as the credit date. That timeline is useful context for this one payment; it is not a promise about how quickly another transfer will clear.
The receipt does not explicitly identify the payment as SWIFT, so I describe this as my cross-border bank-transfer experience. My takeaway is practical: compare the amount sent with the amount credited, keep the payment confirmation and supporting documents, and ask for a fee breakdown if the numbers do not match.
Choose the receiving currency deliberately
Check what happens if USD is sent to your PHP account. The receiving process may include conversion at the bank’s applicable rate.
A foreign-currency account may allow you to receive and hold that currency, subject to the account’s rules and fees. Consider any maintaining balance, withdrawal costs and later conversion steps before opening or using one for this purpose.
Compare the complete route to the currency you actually need. If your expenses are in pesos, include the eventual USD-to-PHP conversion rather than stopping the comparison at the dollar balance.
Use the conversion timing guide for a worked net-payout comparison. The rate shown in a market search may differ from the executable quote.
Plan around the bank’s estimate
Wire timing varies by institutions, route, currency, cutoffs and compliance checks. Ask the sender and receiving bank for the estimate relevant to the payment.
GoTyme’s SWIFT receiving guidance, for example, says usually one business day, with some payments taking up to five. That estimate should not be applied to every Philippine bank.
A payment reaching a destination bank and the beneficiary being able to use it can also happen at different times.
Allow a buffer when an expense has a firm due date. If the client pays near a weekend or holiday, check how that affects processing on both sides.
Avoid promising an exact arrival based only on another freelancer’s experience.
If the wire has not arrived
Ask the client for the sending bank’s payment confirmation, sending date, amount, currency and transaction reference.
Where available, request the UETR, the unique end-to-end tracking reference. Swift explains the UETR as a way to identify and track a payment.
You may also receive a payment-message copy. MT103 is a message format rather than the tracking number itself. Following Swift’s November 2025 migration, a bank may supply ISO 20022 payment information such as pacs.008, or a legacy-style advice.
Give the relevant details to your bank through its verified channel and ask the sending bank to trace the payment where necessary.
Huwag muna mag-request ng duplicate payment habang hindi clear kung nasaan yung first transfer. A second payment can create another issue to reconcile.
Be ready for a document request
Banks may ask about the payment purpose or source of funds. Keep the invoice, agreement and relevant payment records available.
Philippine anti-money-laundering law distinguishes covered transactions from suspicious transactions, which can be relevant regardless of amount.
Answer the bank’s questions accurately. Do not split transfers to avoid reporting or use a false payment description. A document request may need further review even after you respond, so ask the bank for the next step rather than assuming immediate release.
Compare a wire with a provider route
If the client has another supported option, compare it using the same starting amount, destination currency and required arrival time.
Wise’s Philippines receiving-fee page currently lists a USD 6.11 fee for USD wire or SWIFT receipt and free domestic non-wire receipt for supported details. Account eligibility and other route conditions still apply.
Wise also warns that SWIFT correspondent fees can affect incoming payments. Include conversion and onward payout costs when comparing the amount that will reach your Philippine account.
The best available route depends on what the client can use and what your account supports. A wire may be practical for one arrangement and unnecessarily complicated for another.
Before the first payment, verify the details, agree on fees and save the instructions securely. That preparation gives both you and the client a clearer process to follow.
