PinoyMoneyTalk.com

For the past few months, HSBC has been running a promotional campaign to push their credit cards to the market.

From February 1 to May 31, for example, they are giving away a free Kenneth Cole Reaction Wallet and Key Fob to qualified individuals who apply for an HSBC credit card. Previously they offered free Mango and Timex and Dunlop watches.

But some cardholders are complaining that although it’s been months since they qualified, they are still waiting until now to receive the gift items. Read on.

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A popular discussion among members of the PMT Forum is the one on high-interest accounts or double-your-money offers.

What makes these types of products attractive is the fact that they are offered by banks and, as such, the deposit is protected up to P250,000 ($6,250) per account holder, following the rules of the deposit insurance agency Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).

The credibility of these banks and the genuineness of their offers have been the subject of a lot of discussion in the past and, in this article, we just post a list of known banks with high-interest account offerings.

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Dear Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI),

Here are two of your clients with two separate concerns.

One tried to withdraw cash in your ATM, got nothing because the machine did not dispense any but is still waiting, after two long weeks, for the amount to be credited back to the account.

The other allegedly got victimized by one of your very own bank managers. The client was expecting a remittance from another country, was told there were delays because of numerous problems, but discovered that the branch manager himself apparently took the money. Now, after four long months, the money has not yet been returned.

Pray, tell, BPI, why does it take you a long time to act on the following complaints?

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The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is inviting BPI, BPI Family Savings Banks, and BPI Direct clients who are users of the online banking facility BPI Express Online to join its Customer Satisfaction Survey where they can win one of three (3) iPod Shuffles.

If you are a BPI Express Online user, log on to www.bpiexpressonline.com and click the "Express your thoughts and get a chance to win an iPod Shuffle" link on your Accounts Page to join. The survey, which can be finished within 10-15 minutes, is about your opinions on various services offered by BPI's online banking system.

The survey must be finished on or before August 15 in order to qualify for the raffle. 

I already joined the survey and told BPI what I think about their online banking services. I especially mentioned the improvements I was looking for which I mentioned in the article BPI Express Online now shows detailed transaction history.

The Legacy Financial Group and the Rural Bank of Paranaque (also called Banco Paranaque) of the famous double-your-money time deposit programs are now being thrown into the limelight following recent news articles that mention the bank's supposed involvement in swindling, fake certificate of time deposits (CTDs) and extortion. The bank has come clean and denied all accusations.

Who between the accused and the accusers is telling the truth? How will this affect the high-yield time deposit placements of the bank's depositors? Read the news stories below which were published in some local dailies and judge for yourself. Discuss the issue in related threads in the PMT Forum:

• Rural banks under the Legacy Financial Group offering 20% p.a. (Part 3)
• Rural banks under the Legacy Financial Group offering 20% p.a. (Part 2)
• Rural banks under the Legacy Financial Group offering 20% p.a. (Part 1)

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One hot topic in the PMT Forum these days is the discussion of double-your-money programs or 20%-per-annum time deposits offered by a few rural banks in the Philippines. In the article  Double-your-money investment schemes — are they for real? we mentioned that these "investments" are actually time deposits and, as such, are covered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) up to P250,000 (US$5,300).

The discussion centers on whether this high-yield investment program is virtually risk-free due to the PDIC coverage. Consequently, some members have endorsed this double-your-money time deposit program while several others have raised issues against it.

After the jump you can read experiences posted by some PMT members who directly placed money into these offers.

Post your own experiences or join the discussion in the Rural banks offering 20% per annum thread.

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Here are some useful tips provided by Equitable PCI Bank to help you prevent identity theft when doing online banking.

Electronic Banking Consumer Protection Tips
from Equitable PCI Bank

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Several rural banks in the Philippines are offering time deposits that pay as much as 20% interest per annum, effectively doubling your money after five years. Because these are time deposits, they are supposedly covered by the PDIC up to P250,000.

So does that make it a high-yield but virtually risk-free investment?

Let us know by posting your thoughts in the Rural banks offering 20% per annum thread in the PMT Forum.

Here's what a few PMT members have to say about double-your-money time deposit investment offers:

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Early this month, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) announced in BPIExpressOnline.com that users of its online banking facility will soon be able to see additional details of their transactions in their account history.

Today I logged in to my Express Online account and saw that BPI has already started implementing this. I’ve long waited for this one and even sent them last year a suggestion regarding this, so I’m glad they have finally adopted this.

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The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) recently issued a warning to users of BPIExpressOnline, its online banking facility, against phishing emails. Phishing — pronounced “fishing” as in “fishing for information” — is a type of deception designed to steal one’s personal data such as credit card numbers, passwords, and account login information.

How to check whether an email is a phishing email or not and how to protect oneself from phishing is discussed in the What is Phishing? article.

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