A New Year, A New Beginning...

At New Year’s we often look back and reflect on the past year, but it’s even more important to look forward to the upcoming year. This is a time to make resolutions, to make plans. We start fresh with a new calendar, a new beginning...

Ever wonder what New Year’s resolutions others make? Here are some of the most popular resolutions.

• Spend more time with family
• Get in shape
• Lose weight
• Stop smoking
• Enjoy life more
• Get organized
• Manage debt
• Quit drinking
• Learn something new
• Help others

USA.gov, the U.S. government’s official web portal, has a great list of other popular New Year’s Resolutions. And each resolution is hyperlinked to resources on how to fulfill these resolutions. Get help with Managing Debt, Saving Money, Getting Fit, and Reducing Stress. For resources to help fulfill your New Year's Resolutions, click here.

 Exchange Rates: Wholesale and Retail
Third in a series of articles

What is today’s Philippine Peso/Dollar exchange rate? You look at this morning’s newspaper or check online. Wow, it has gone up! So where can you get that exchange rate?

Unfortunately, unless you are making multimillion-dollar transactions, you will not receive the high Peso/Dollar exchange rate you see online. The reason is that exchange rates quoted in the newspaper or online are wholesale interbank exchange rates, which reflect trades between large money center banks. These wholesale exchange rates are only available to banks, or to bank customers making multimillion-dollar transactions.

Unless you are in this very select group, you will receive a lower retail exchange rate. This will be true whether you are sending money home through a remittance service, buying Philippine Pesos at a foreign exchange kiosk, or even going to your local bank.

So, how much lower are retail exchange rates? It depends. Unlike the official government wholesale interbank exchange rate, which is reported daily after the Philippine foreign exchange market closes (around 5 PM, Philippine Time), there is no official retail exchange rate. Each remittance service, foreign exchange kiosk, and bank sets its own retail exchange rate. So it's important to compare exchange rates between different services to see which one offers the best rates.

For a description of how remithome sets its exchange rate, read the "Ask remithome" section of our November 2008 newsletter.

 Ask remithome: Scheduling Transfers and Recurring Instructions

Question: I want to send money to my niece when she graduates in March, but I will be out of the country when it’s time to send. And it seems too early to send money now. What can I do? I also want to send $500 to my family every month to cover their household expenses. Is there an easy way to schedule this so that I don't forget to send each month?

Answer: With remithome you can send money now or you can schedule the transfer for a
later date. Unlike other remittance services, you don’t have to wait for a specific date to send money. remithome offers an Advance Scheduling Feature that allows you to schedule a transfer to be sent on a future date. This is an easy way to make sure you don’t forget anyone’s graduation, birthday, or other important event.

And if you need to send the same amount of money to someone on a regular basis (for example, you want to send $500 to your family at the beginning of each month), you can set up a
Recurring Instruction. This saves you time – and it also saves you money! When you set up your transfer as a Recurring Instruction, a standard Philippine Peso transfer is only $8,
a 20% discount from the regular transfer fee!

If your situation changes, you can cancel a scheduled transfer, or even an entire Recurring Instruction, up until 2 PM (Pacific Time) on the day the transfer is scheduled to be sent. There is never a cancellation charge.

How to Schedule a Send Money Transaction for a Future Date

Login to your remithome account and go to the Send Money page. In Step 1, simply choose the date in the future when you want the money to be sent. After scheduling and confirming your
Send Money transaction, you can view your scheduled transfer on the My remithome page.

How to Set Up a Recurring Instruction

Complete Steps 1 through 5 as you would for any Send Money transaction. Then, in Step 6,
check the box to create a Recurring Instruction. Select how often you want the transfer to occur (weekly, monthly, or some other frequency), and an end date (if any). If you specify an end date,
be sure it is one day after the date of your last intended transfer. After scheduling and confirming your Send Money transaction, you can view both your Recurring Instruction and your next
scheduled transfer on the My remithome page.

If you have questions about how to schedule a transfer for a future date or set up a
Recurring Instruction, please contact remithome Customer Service at 1-800-919-0787,
Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, Pacific Time (California), or email us at customerservice@remithome.com.