sending small amounts of money to the Philippines?

Question

What will be the best way to send $25 to a friend in the Philippines? These funds will be sent
occasionaly, perhaps once a month from myself in San Jose, CA.
My family does not have a banking account in the Philippines at this time, is one needed?

Answer 1

You can try the following links for more information. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Your family in the Philippines doesn't need a bank account to receive your remittances. I could wonder how they've managed w/o one in the first place, but I won't ask.

For the fees charged to send just $25/transaction, you might be better off lumping your remittances to less-frequent larger amounts.

That said, I've used Western Union, PNB Remittance, and xoom.com. Western Union is really good on instant transfers, but they're expensive. PNB Remittance was a good option since they were just in the neighborhood, but not anymore. Xoom's fees are cheap and they get the money there in reasonable time.