CIMB Bank Philippines Review
 |
| Image "Charity Donations (CIMB Bank Draft)" by liewcf is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 |
CIMB Bank recently setup shop as a digital only bank in the Philippines. In this article, I will walk you through my personal experience with this bank.
Deposit Offerings
Fast Account
A fast account is a deposit account with a maximum deposit of 100,000 and a validity of 12 months.
No foreign remittances can be made or received through this type of account.
Fast Plus Account
A Fast Plus account is a verified fast account that comes with a visa debit card. During the time I signed up, verification was done by providing an additional valid id and a selfie. This account does not have the deposit, validity, and remittance restrictions of the Fast Account.
Upsave Account
A High Interest bearing Savings Account not paired with a visa debit card. You can, however, easily transfer funds from one type of account to another.
Gsave Account
A savings account you can open directly through globe's GCASH app.
Note: If you have already signed up for an account through the CIMB app, you can no longer sign up for this type of account using a Gcash account with the same mobile no.
Review Summary:
What I like:
Ease of Account Opening
Open an account directly from the app without leaving home.
High Interest Rates
Currently the interest rates on savings accounts of leading banks in the Philippines are usually set at 0.25 percent per annum (0.20 percent after tax). CIMB's current rates are set competitively at the following rates per annum, up to a maximum of 16.40 times the standard rate of 0.25%.
| Balance Amount | Fast Account | Fast Plus Account | Upsave Account | Gsave Account |
| below 100,000 | .50% | .75% | 3.00% | 3.10% |
| 100,000 or more | .50% | .75% | 4.00% | 4.10% |
No Maintaining Balance
On all deposit products, there is no required minimum balance to open an account and earn interest. In order to receive your visa debit card for a fast/fast plus account, however, you have to accumulate a deposit amount of P1,000.00 which you can withdraw should the need arise.
Edit: As of 9/5/2020, this amount has already been increased to P5000.00. It may also take them 2 days from account opening in order for them to verify your ID. Your account is opened immediately upon signing up, but before you can request for your atm card for a fast/fast plus account, you need to deposit the said amount(which you can transfer back to your other bank accounts immediately, should you want to do so via PESONET/Dragonpay or withdraw via Bayad Center) as well as wait for them to complete their verification of your id.
Expansive and Convenient FREE Deposit Options
| Over the counter Cash-in/Deposit | Cash in via Online Fund Transfer |
7-Eleven Bayad Center Cebuana Lhuillier Palawan RD Pawnshop Robinsons SM Retail Asia United Bank BDO BPI Chinabank EastWest i2i Rural Banks Landbank Metrobank PNB RCBC Security Bank Unionbank UCPB | BDO BPI Chinabank Landbank Maybank(not working) Metrobank |
In my case, I have only used online cash ins via BDO, it was a quick and mostly hassle free cash-in. After verifying the payment through Dragonpay, the amount was deposited immediately in my account. If you do deposits, however, in the wee hours in the morning, your deposits may take longer to be verified and reflected in your account.
Please also note that for online cash in, you are not necessarily limited to the banks listed above, you may still be able to cash in using PESONET, it may, however, take longer for you to receive the funds in your account.
FREE Withdrawals from any BancNet ATM
Unlike most banks which charge you a fee for cash withdrawals from atm machines not owned by the bank, CIMB does not charge you any such fee. You also receive a text notification for any withdrawal made.
Just like any visa debit card, you can also use your card to purchase online and in stores without carrying cash.
Good Travel Card
The Visa debit card that comes with CIMB's Fast Plus account is advantageous compared to the offerings of brick and mortar banks, in that, CIMB's exchange rates are a lot lower than other banks. In fact, CIMB's rates are so low that they are almost equal to the exchange rates published in search engines like Google and Bing. Typically, other banks charge a currency conversion fee which they embed in the exchange rate.
Please note, however, that I have only used CIMB's card to transact in Korean Won and US Dollars. This may not necessarily be the case for other currencies.
Edit: Apparently, it seems CIMB uses Visa's exchange rates which is usually still a lot lower than what other banks and virtual money service charge. For more info visit:
Visa's currency exchange rate calculator here and set the bank fee at 0 percent
FREE transfers to Philippine Bank Accounts
Should you need to transfer funds to a friend or family member with accounts in other banks, you can easily do so for free through PESONET or Dragonpay. Transfers are usually reflected in your recipient's account within 1 to 2 days. Currently, CIMB, however, does not support instant or INSTAPAY transfers
What I don't like:
Not so responsive customer service
When I first signed up for CIMB 9 months ago, they were offering a chat-based customer service line which I used to try to reach them at least four times. In those four occasions, I have only received a response once. It seems, however, that they have already removed this chat based customer support facility.
I have also called CIMB Bank PH four times and on those four calls, I was only able to talk to a customer support representative twice. On the last two calls, the same agent picked up the call but she didn't talk to me. I could, however, hear her talking to someone else over a non-CIMB related issue. She was probably abusing her newfound work from home freedom during COVID-19 to gain a salary without working. This may, however, simply be be an isolated case.
Please also, note, however, that I have not experienced any significant issue during my nine months of using CIMB Bank PH. Being a digital bank, however, with no brick and mortar branches besides the one in Manila, it is important, for CIMB to ensure their reachability and the quality of their agents in order to assure customers, their money is in good hands.
Others:
Is CIMB Bank PH a scam?
No, CIMB Bank PH is not a scam. I have been using CIMB for the past 9 months and all my transactions have been going fine. Furthermore, CIMB's Balance sheet is published at BSP's website. CIMB Bank PH has also been featured in numerous articles from reputable publications like Inquirer.net and CNN Philippines.
Please note, however, that there may be many sites, social media accounts, and apps posing as CIMB Bank PH, the official CIMB Bank app may be found here. The Official CIMB Bank Philippines Website can also be found here.
Is CIMB Bank PH safe?
Generally, it is as safe as having an online banking account for a brick and mortar bank, without the recourse of branches, however, unless you live in Manila. Your account is only as safe as your phone and how you take care of your pin, card, and password. Ensure that your phone is free from malware by installing reputable antivirus apps and buying your mobile phones from reputable manufacturers.. For your atm debit card, use a pin that you can easily remember and only you know. Do not use your birthday and do not tell others your atm pin no. Set a strong password, do not use personal information like your name and birthday. For more about setting a strong password, read here. Should you lose, your atm debit card, immediately block it through the app. You should also monitor your account regularly and contact the bank for any unauthorized or unrecognizable transactions as you should with other banks. The more promptly you report any unauthorized transaction, the likelier it is for you to recover your funds.
Can I use my card with paypal?
Yes, I've been using it with paypal for a while now.
Disclaimer: Everything I wrote here is provided to you free and without any form of guarantee. I wrote this on a best effort basis to provide you the most accurate and relevant details that I can. I may, however, have made a mistake or missed out on some issues. Information in this article may also change and may no longer be valid as time goes along.
You agree that by reading this article, that you will be responsible in verifying the information that I have provided and that I will not be responsible for any damage you may suffer as a result of your reliance in this article.
Also, I am in no way affiliated to CIMB Bank Philippines except as a customer. I receive no incentive from publishing this article. Thank you.
Comments
Post a Comment