HSBC ATM | Philippine’s Best ATM

I’ve chronicled about my difficulties with finding a good, reliable ATM in the Philippines while visiting on my short trips. At times I’ve had such a hard time getting my money that I had worried my cards would be locked for failed attempts. In fact, that seems to have happened to me previously.

After doing a lot of research, both online and at physical locations, I’m happy to say I feel I’ve found the best option for travelers to the access their money via the ATM while visiting the Philippines.

During my most recent visit to Davao, just last month, I had an opportunity to try the HSBC ATM that I had targeted as a potential best ATM. The biggest detriment to this ATM is that there is only one in Davao (Manila has about 18), so it may not be as convenient as others for you to access, depending upon where you are visiting. If convenience is your goal, than you may want to try the various other options, particularly those at the malls.

The problem with those other options, as I’ve stated before, is the P200 fee that they are all charging, the unknown amount of Peso that you can withdraw, and whether or not they will even work for you. Between being offline and/or rejecting your card altogether, it is sometimes a crapshoot.

I’m happy to report that the HSBC ATM performed without issue. There were no lines any of the three times I went there, and true to what I had read, there was no P200 charge applied to my withdrawal. Your bank’s card fees will still apply, in my case 1% (I found a better card than last time), but in one instance my bank did not even charge me that 1%. Maybe it was a fluke, or maybe it was the amount, as that was the largest of the three withdrawals I made.

Speaking of withdrawal amounts, the most I took out was P15,000, but it is widely reported that HSBC’s ATM will allow you up to P40,000, if your bank’s card limit will allow you that. That alone is worth the extra effort to get to HSBC, if you are in need of a larger amount of cash than the typical P10,000 or P20,000 allowed from the other ATM.

Once I move I expect that I will not have a great need to withdraw in this manner very often. For the most part I’ll use the ATM of my Philippines bank, or an ATM of convenience and still use my local bank’s debit card. HSBC’s usefulness, as I see it, is as the ultimate ATM for those foreign travelers that need to get the most bang for their buck on an ATM withdrawal in the Philippines. Of course, if you wish to get your money in this matter while living in the Philippines, this also seems to be your best option.