Planning a trip

My cousins are planning a surprise trip for their parents on their marriage anniversary. I think it’s a rather sweet way of wishing your parents on their special day. They saved money from their pocket money but are falling short of a few peso. I was so touched by their warm gesture that I thought of helping them out. I told them that I’d sending some cash for them. They hesitated for a while but when I told them that their parents are dear to me too they agreed.

I thought of sending some cash but since none of my cousins have a bank account in the country I was in two minds about going about this. A friend of mine told me about Remit2Home’s Cash pick up facility which is available at various bank branches across the Philippines. Hence the receiver need not have a bank account to receive the remittance. I was relieved to learn this because I didn’t want to shatter my cousins’ hopes.

My cousins received the money and thanked me for helping them out. All I could think of was why such a great idea never crossed my mind when I was in the Philippines?

Calling up my folks back home

Last night I was missing my family like anything. I was dying to hear their voices and I couldn’t resist calling them up. Other than inquiring about the money that I had sent for her we discussed all sorts of things. My sister and younger brother had a tough time believing that I could spend more than half an hour speaking with them over the phone. They were worried about my phone bill but I told them not to get anxious because the call was free. I told them that for making a transaction via Remit2Home one gets a 50 mins free calling card. My family was surprised on hearing this. They did not believe me at first but when I finally managed to convince them they were relieved because they don’t have to wait for weeks to hear my voice anymore, I can call them quite frequently.

I am really glad because hearing the voices of the loved ones is something every OFW like me cherishes in a foreign land.

Got a call

I met a Filipina this weekend. It was great to speak to some one who had a lot of knowledge about the world around us. In short, she appeared articulate. She asked me about my work and life here in the US. I tried to give good answers but wasn’t sure if any of my answers had any good impression on her. I told her about the clubs, food joints and housing rents but she seemed to know it all. So I changed the topic and spoke about remittances. That did the trick for me! She appeared interested and asked me more. She wanted me to recommend an online money transfer service provider. I told her about Remit2Home. I told her about their unique schemes and great services which interested her. But when I told her that one gets to win a 25 mins free calling card upon registering with them, she gave a look of disbelief. I just told her to sign up for it and see it for herself. She took my advice and signed up last night. As I said, she got a 25 mins free calling card and the first thing she did with it was to call me up. I was happy that I could help!

The world is paperless now

I went clubbing with some of my friends this weekend. I did it after many months and I must say I had a great time out. It wouldn’t really have been possible had it not been for some free time that I got thanks to the online ACH facility offered by Remit2Home. This paperless remittance service is totally web-based. It is an instant facility which saves the time that remitters tend to waste waiting for the US bank account verification for transferring money. It is carried out via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) facility whereby, I directly debit my existing US bank account and credit the Remit2Home account. All I need to do is provide my bank account details and book a transaction. The moment my account gets verified, money gets transferred automatically, thus saving my time and effort. All my remittance related worries have been put to rest and I can take a break with all the time I have in hand.

Getting better with time

I’ve been using my credit card for all sorts of transactions. Apart from paying bills, I use it to buy various other things. So when I came to know from a friend that Remit2Home also provides a credit card option for sending money I thought of trying it out. It actually turned out to be quite simple, so I thought of sharing it with my friends here. To go for the credit card option, the user needs to select Credit card from send money options, next one has to enter the dollar amount one wants to send and afterwards one just has to select the beneficiary and the enter the credit card details. That’s it! It’s actually that simple and hassle free. So all you plastic money users if you are looking for something easy and convenient for remitting you know where to click!

Times’ money

I think I set a record of sorts today! Guess how long did I take to transact money to 3 different people? It took me less than 5 minutes! In my previous posts I’ve mentioned how life’s got simpler ever since I signed up for Remit2Home. The procedure is fast, simple and hassle free. But this time I’ve found something even simpler and it’s Remit2Home again which has come up with this amazing power tool called the Address book. The address book helps me not to bother about filling in the beneficiary’s details every time I remit money. I just fill in the details once in the address book and use it to send money subsequently. It allows me to enter the details for multiple beneficiaries which is a double treat.

I think it’s a great solution to the problem that I was facing previously while entering the details every single time I had to make a money transfer. What do you say?

My online passbook

Last month I remitted money back home at least 22 times! Yes, That frequently. There were different occasions which required me to send money back home but what surprised me the most is that I had no idea who all received how much amount from me? I keep a diary for all this but since my work has doubled in the past few weeks I have been unable to keep a proper track of all the transactions I made.

These things are important and I know I shouldn’t be careless but one has so many things to do that invariably a thing or two slips from the mind. I was telling this to an OFW friend today who looked at me in disbelief he asked me if I had heard of the Status Tracker. I said I hadn’t. he then went on telling me about this great power tool offered by Remit2Home which lets remitters like me conveniently track the status of their remittance online, so one gets to know exactly when the beneficiary has received the funds. It also enables to check the history of all past transactions. Once I reached home I logged on to my account to see if this was true and to my surprise I found all the details right before my eyes. I’ve thrown away the diary now because with status tracker in place I know what to do when I need to check the history of my remittances.

A new address

It’s finally done! I am talking about our new house that was my dream for so long. Dad told me that they are moving to the new house early next month. He has promised to take care of my room and once I get there I’ll have a space to call mine. It’s as good as having a new member in the family and why shouldn’t it to be like this? We spent years to plan what our house would look like. But there were times when I thought this dream wouldn’t be realised. My work here has kept me busy and I’ve had a tough time balancing everything. Remit2Home helped me to strike the balance. I didn’t have to keep a check on the EMI because the standing instructions facility allowed me to schedule the payments well in advance. This automatic service took care of everything and I just made the payments online.

I am feeling great and am thinking of taking a break to get back to my folks who I am sure are missing me like anything.

Feeling good

I just received a Thank you mail from Nan, my best friend in Manila. He thanked me for being thoughtful and surprising him on his birthday. Nan’s dad passed away last year. His mom, a cancer patient doesn’t keep too well and I am aware of all the problems that he is facing at the moment. I have offered to help him out but being a self respecting individual, Nan has always politely refused all my offers of help. I know he is never going to change and there’s no point in offering help because I fear it would affect our friendship. But when I checked my calendar last night I recalled that it was Nan’s birthday, a special day. I asked myself so what if I cannot help him out financially I can at least send him some cash on his birthday. I logged on to Remit2Home and availed the Account Credit facility to remit some cash to his bank account. The minute the money was deposited I was informed by a Mobile alert. I am happy that Nan has appreciated my love for him.

I got richer!

I think lady luck is smiling on me. Things have got really better in the past few months. Don’t believe me? Well, let me tell you that for the past few months I’ve indeed got very lucky. My boss has praised my work, Dad has been keeping good and Mom has also got a job at a local nursing home. Things have started to look up and I am really ecstatic. Last night I was pleasantly surprised to realise that I was richer by $10. Yes, I wasn’t expecting this and it was great to get a little richer. If you are thinking how I got the cash let me tell you that there’s no secret. It’s pretty simple actually, I referred two of my friends on Remit2Home and as a reward got the money that I was talking about. This is thanks to the Referral policy at Remit2Home which gives you $5 if you refer a friend. Since, I referred two of them I got the extra cash. Neat isn’t it? All you need to do is to refer a friend and grab some quick money!

Staying alert!

Ruben, an old school friend of mine had been out of touch for a long time. He was a very reserved chap and was quite popular in school. After shifting base to the US, I hardly got a chance to meet him. Life got busier and close friends were no longer in touch.

So when I got a call from another dear friend of mine yesterday all the good old days came flashing back. When I asked him about Ruben he sounded a little worried. His tone alarmed me. I kept prodding him, until he finally told me that Ruben had been in a financial mess. He needed money but was not sure of asking any of us.

I was touched, and wanted to help him out. I took Ruben's number and address from him. Without thinking twice I arranged some money to be sent to Ruben. I made the transaction, but had no idea whether the amount was transferred or not. However, I needn’t have worried. Remit2home, the online money transfer service provider I had used, sent me a message on my cell saying that Ruben had finally received the money.

I was so relieved after that. The mobile alert made my day. Now apart from getting updates on new products and offers I also get alerts on transactions that I make. Life's never been so good!

Getting started

I’ve finally managed to have a blog today and I am feeling really good. I was thinking of creating one for quite some time now because almost all my OFW friends have been telling me about it. They say it’s great to have a platform to share your day to day experiences with different people. So I am taking a cue from my friends and I promise I’ll try to make this blog interesting. When I say I interesting, I mean all my experiences here in the USA where I am based for the last few years. My family is in my country, Philippines and needless to say I miss them a lot. We talk over the phone and exchange mails regularly but there are times when I feel like catching the next flight home. Take yesterday for instance, I got a call from my dad who informed me that my mom is not keeping well for some time. My heart sank the minute I heard this. I asked dad not to worry and leave everything to me. I thought my words would comfort him but I also knew that mere words can not do anything I had to act fast. So without wasting any time I logged on to my Remit2Home account and remitted some cash for my mom. The Cash delivery option came to my rescue because my mom doesn’t have a bank account. This facility provides cash delivery facility across the length and breadth of the country. So Even if the receiver does not have a bank account in the country, he can receive the remittance. My job was done in no time and I had a sound sleep.