The Best PNB Remittances Partners in the Philippines: Exchange Rates and Fees

The Philippine National Bank (PNB) is one of the largest and most trusted commercial banks in the Philippines. While you can use the bank's Web Remit tool from abroad to directly send money transfers and cash pick-ups to friends and family in the Philippines, PNB is far from the cheapest service.

PNB is not transparent about its weak exchange rates and charges high fixed fees for its money transfer service. Even though it says it specializes in cash transfers from the United States to the Philippines, much cheaper and better remittance partners exist to help you send your money safely and cheaply back home.

To save money on your next remittance, use our real-time money transfer comparison engine below and read our full list of recommendations further down to find services that offer better rates when sending money to PNB in the Philippines.

Option 1 — Digital Remittance Platforms

The Philippine National Bank is one of the most widely used banks in the Philippines for both residents and those living abroad. Payouts by cash delivery and cash pick-up are available at any PNB domestic branch and PNB pay-out partners.

But first, you'll need to send your money from overseas to a PNB location. This process can take many days and cost a lot in fees if you use expensive services, like PNB WebRemit, other banks, PayPal, and other traditional providers. If you use a digital money transfer specialist, like Remitly or WorldRemit, then you can save with good exchange rates and send transfers in a matter of hours or even minutes.

To get started, sign up for Remitly or WorldRemit (the process is quick, easy, and free) and choose your delivery method (money transfer, cash delivery, or cash pick-up). Enter your beneficiary's information and the desired final location, and confirm your transfer. The delivery is often instantaneous!

Let's walk through the top 5 cheapest online PNB remittance partners that can send you money transfers, cash delivery, or cash pick-up to PNB:

Remitly

Remitly is a US-based remittance platform that has been the number one cheapest money transfer service to the Philippines on Monito's comparison engine from October 2021 to October 2022. It supports cash delivery and cash pick-up to PNB locations in the Philippines from popular countries like the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Average cost to the Philippines: -0.01%*

Available send countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, the EU, and many more.

Unavailable major send countries: Japan, India, UAE, Malaysia, Turkey

PNB limits: USD 2,999 within 24 hours, USD 10,000 within 30 days, and USD 18,000 within 180 days

More info: See our full Remitly review or visit their website.

* Includes a promotional exchange rate for first-time users.

WorldRemit

WorldRemit is a UK-based remittance platform that has been the second cheapest money transfer service to the Philippines on average on Monito's comparison engine from October 2021 to October 2022. It does not usually provide the best exchange rates for certain countries, but it does specialize in keeping costs low specifically for remittances to the Philippines! It supports cash delivery and cash pick-up to PNB locations in the Philippines from 52 countries, including the US, the UAE, Japan, and many more.

Average cost to the Philippines: -1%*

Available send countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, the EU, Malaysia, the UAE, more.

Unavailable major send countries: India, Turkey

PNB limits: Maximum send amount per 24 hours is USD 9,000.

More info: See our full WorldRemit review or visit their website.

* Includes Zero fees on your first 4 transfers with code 4FREEMONITO*

Panda Remit

Panda Remit is a Hong Kong-based remittance platform founded in 2018 that supports cash delivery and cash pick-up to PNB locations in the Philippines. It offers incredible rates for cash transfers to the Philippines and even waives fixed fees.

Average cost to the Philippines: -0.2%*

Available send countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Singapore, the EU, Hong Kong, S Korea, more.

Unavailable major send countries: India, Turkey, Malaysia, the UAE

More info: See our full Panda Remit review or visit their website.

Instarem

Instarem is based in Singapore and offers excellent rates specifically from Canada, the EU, and the United States. It does not directly work with cash payout providers in the Philippines, but you can send a money transfer to PNB and then claim your money at a PNB payout agent in the Philippines.

Average cost to the Philippines: -0.9%*

Available send countries: the USA, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Euro Zone Countries, UK, India, and Canada.

Unavailable major send countries: India, Turkey, the UAE.

More info: See our full Instarem review or visit their website.

Small World

Small World is based in the UK and offers one of the most extensive networks of payout locations worldwide. PNB does not offer cash pick-up services from Small World but does accept bank transfers. After sending money with Small World, you could order a cash pick-up at a PNB location or an agent partner like Cebuana Lhuillier.

Average cost to the Philippines: -1%*

Available send countries: the USA, the UK, the EU.

Unavailable major send countries: India, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Singapore, HK, and the UAE.

More info: See our full Small World review or visit their website.

Option 2 — Legacy Platforms

In addition to the convenient digital PNB remittance partners we discussed above, PNB also accepts remittances from traditional players like Western Union and MoneyGram. Although legacy platforms are usually more expensive than online platforms, their worldwide branches are accepted by PNB.

If you live in a country where Remitly or WorldRemit is unavailable, legacy platforms may still offer decent exchange rates. But before you choose a provider, we recommend you compare money transfer providers so you can check if Western Union and MoneyGram are giving you a good deal to the Philippines.

Let's go over the leading platforms in this category:

Western Union

Western Union is the largest and oldest money transfer operator in the world, offering money transfers cash pick-ups to the Philippines from dozens of countries across the globe.

Average cost to the Philippines: Approx. -1.2%

Available major send countries: All

Unavailable major send countries: None

PNB limits: USD 1,500 per day

More info: See our full Western Union review or visit their website.

MoneyGram

After Western Union, MoneyGram is the second-largest money transfer operator in the world and also offers money transfers and cash pick-ups to the Philippine National Bank from a large number of countries worldwide.

Average cost to the Philippines: Approx. -0.9% + $5 fee

Available major send countries: All

Unavailable major send countries: None

PNB limits: $10,000 every 30 days

More info: See our full MoneyGram review or visit their website.

Option 3 — Banks

You also have the standard option of remitting money to a PNB branch or cash-payout location with a bank account abroad.

However, we do not recommend you make an international bank transfer from a foreign bank to PNB in the Philippines. Sending money overseas with a traditional bank is very expensive, amounting to over 5% of the total transaction amount in many cases.

Instead, we highly encourage you to choose a PNB remittance partner like Remitly to cheaply send money home. WorldRemit ranked as the second-best service to the Philippines from October 2021 to October 2022 while Small World ranked as third.

Non-PNB Remittance Partners: 

If your recipient doesn't necessarily need to use a PNB cash delivery or pick-up to access their funds, you will still have many other options available to you. You can send money to Filipino banks from abroad with the best money transfer services to the Philippines:

The top five for bank transfers include Remitly (cheapest for 40% of searches in 2022), WorldRemit (cheapest for 15%), Wise (cheapest for 14%), Skrill (cheapest for 11%), and Panda Remit (cheapest for 3%).

Since rates change all the time, compare services in real-time with Monito to find the best international money transfer specialist for remittances to the Philippines:

References Used In This Guide

PNB WebRemit. Services. Accessed 28 October 2022
PNB. Steps to Send Your Remittances. Accessed 28 October 2022.