Tag Archives: schwab

BAD NEWS: Schwab to restrict Philippine accounts starting 06 December 2022

Stocks,

I just received an email from Schwab with the subject line “Your account(s) will be restricted“.

Here’s the text of the email:

Accounts for clients located in the Philippines will be restricted. Read below to learn more.

After a recent review, we have decided that, starting 06 December 2022, all accounts for clients residing in the Philippines will be restricted.

What this means for you.

We will place your accounts in a restricted, liquidations-only status. This means that you will be limited to closing existing positions, and you will not be able to open new positions or deposit new funds.

Your next steps.

You may liquidate or transfer your account assets to another firm.* Here is how:

  • To liquidate your investment positions and request a wire transfer, contact us at one of the numbers listed below.
  • To transfer your account(s) to another firm, request an account transfer form from the receiving firm. Once you have initiated a request, contact us at one of the numbers listed below, and we can help the receiving firm facilitate the transfer.

You can maintain your account(s) if you reside in a non-restricted country or have a U.S. Military & Diplomatic mailing address (APO/DPO/FPO). Contact us to update your address.

We regret any inconvenience this change may cause you. If you have questions or need help, please reach out to our Global Investing Services Team at 800-992-4685, 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday to 5:30 p.m. ET Friday. Clients of Charles Schwab, Hong Kong, Ltd., call +852‐2101‐0500. For others outside the U.S., contact us at +1-415-667-8400.

As you can see, no explanation for this action is given. Needless to say, this is very unfortunate and inconvenient and I will have 60 days to find another brokerage to transfer to.

Using my Schwab card at an HSBC Philippines ATM in 2022

Personal Finance,

I haven’t used my Schwab Visa debit card to take out cash from an HSBC Philippines ATM since December 2019 (when the USD-PHP exchange rate was around PHP 50.82 to USD 1) until last Friday. Since end-2019 we’ve had a global pandemic, the USD-PHP exchange rate reached a low of around 47.53 and, in recent weeks, the rate reached a record high of around 56.54, and my usual go-to HSBC Ortigas Center branch moved from its ADB Avenue location to the nearby Shangri-La Plaza mall.

Anyway, last Friday, I decided to take out some cash to take advantage of the high exchange rate and also to see whether HSBC still does not charge any fee for using a Schwab ATM/debit card and whether the applied exchange rate is still competitive.

On one of the screens, the ATM warns that some fee may be charged by my card issuer (Schwab), but the HSBC ATM itself still did not add any explicit fee to my PHP 25,000 withdrawal. One screen that I don’t remember seeing before is an offer by the HSBC ATM to apply the HSBC exchange rate with enough warning that a 3% mark-up is included in the rate.

HSBC ATM offers to apply its own exchange rate

Every savvy traveler should know that these conversion rate offers should generally be avoided, especially if one is using a card that does not have any forex surcharges/fees. Depending on how one calculates the mark-up (x*1.03 or x/0.97), the implied rate without markup would have ranged between 56.018 and 56.069. The entire range is lower than the rate quoted by Google at the time which was 56.33:

Google USD-PHP Exchange Rate on 22 July 2022

After a couple of days, the withdrawal posted and $443.74 was debited from my account for an equivalent USD-PHP exchange rate of 56.339, which is slightly better than the Google rate, and obviously better than HSBC’s rate with or without mark-up.

Key Points

  • Using a Schwab ATM/debit card at an HSBC Philippines ATM is still fee-free.
  • Don’t use HSBC’s own conversion rate to take advantage of Schwab’s competitive rate.

Using my Schwab card at 7-Eleven (7-11) Japan ATMs

Personal Finance, Travel, , , , , , ,

Last time I traveled to Japan in March 2019, I use my Capital One 360 Mastercard ATM card to withdraw cash from 7-11 ATMs. Capital One 360 does not charge any foreign transaction fees and at at that time 7-11 ATMs did not charge any ATM fee. In addition to my Capital One 360 card, I now have a Charles Schwab Visa ATM card which promises to refund ATM fees. Recently, I’ve read reports that 7-11 ATMs have started charging fees to international ATM card holders. I returned to Japan last week and found out out for myself if the reports are correct.

Continue reading Using my Schwab card at 7-Eleven (7-11) Japan ATMs →

Charles Schwab vs Capital One 360 ATM Exchange Rate

Personal Finance, Uncategorized, , , , , ,

As a follow up to my previous post comparing effective ATM exchange rates for withdrawing Philippine pesos from US dollar accounts from Charles Schwab and Transferwise, I now compare Charles Schwab and Capital One 360.

Continue reading Charles Schwab vs Capital One 360 ATM Exchange Rate →

TransferWise vs Charles Schwab Exchange Rate at a Philippine ATM

Personal Finance, , , , ,

TransferWise is an online money transfer fintech company. What’s great about them is they try to be transparent with their fees for transferring money internationally. They promise the best exchange rate possible, but they do charge fees for ACH bank transfers that are otherwise free for regular banks. In most cases they are cheaper than using wire transfer through your bank or services like Western Union or MoneyGram. They also offer a product called the Borderless account which allows you to have multiple currencies in your account. It also comes with an ATM/debit card you can use internationally. This service seems to be popular with so-called digital nomads. I guess this is also a good account for getting cash when you are travelling internationally.

Continue reading TransferWise vs Charles Schwab Exchange Rate at a Philippine ATM →

Opening a Charles Schwab Brokerage Account from the Philippines

Personal Finance, Stocks, , ,

In the process of moving from the US back home to the Philippines, I had to make certain arrangements with regard to my financial assets in the US. I maintained taxable equity accounts with Wealthfront and Robinhood, both of which do not cater to non-resident aliens. While I was a “resident alien for tax purposes” while I was living in the US, I am now properly classified as a non-resident alien after returning to the Philippines.

Many such brokerages in the US do not cater to non-resident aliens and even US citizens living abroad because there are a lot of regulations to comply with (FATCA, among others). Fortunately, the bigger online brokers like Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and Interactive Brokers do make their services available to non-resident aliens.

Continue reading Opening a Charles Schwab Brokerage Account from the Philippines →