How to open BPI savings account without maintaining balance (requirements & steps)

In 3 Steps, I’ll show you how to open BPI savings account without maintaining balance! 🙂

Step 1: Prepare the following for your BPI savings account

• Information such as:

  • TIN number
  • SSS or GSIS number
  • Employer’s/Business’ address and phone number
  • Home address (kabisado mo ba? 😆 kung bagong lipat baka hindi, diba?)
  • Phone number and mobile number
  • Full name of father and mother

  
  I didn’t have my TIN number, SSS number, and employer’s phone number with me when I tried to open a BPI savings account, but the business manager was kind enough to just let me text her those details later that day so she could process my application. So, prepare these details to avoid delays in your application! 🙂

• Two (2) 2×2 or 1×1 ID photos

  The BPI business manager asked for only 1 photo, but try to bring 2 photos to be sure. She asked for 1×1, but she accepted the 2×2 photo that I brought.

• Two (2) valid IDs

  I presented an unexpired passport and my SSS UMID. View list of accepted valid IDs in Step 2. Please scroll down a bit to view the list.

• 200 pesos for initial deposit (Add 50 pesos for ATM card)

  Initial deposit of 200 pesos is required to open BPI Easy Saver account. When your account is activated, that amount should be part of your account balance. I chose to have an Express Teller Card (ATM Card) instead of passbook, and that card costs 50 pesos.

• Utility Bill reflecting address

  Examples of utility bills are Meralco or Maynilad billing statement. Bring the latest statement to prove validity of your address. I heard that only the bill’s address should match yours, and the name may be someone else’s. BPI actually didn’t ask for any utility bill when applied for a savings account, but that might be because of my home address’ proximity to the BPI branch — it’s like 5 minutes of walk away from BPI. 😆

Step 2: Visit a BPI branch near you to open an account

• Tell a BPI staff you want to open an account

  Approach a banker and tell him/her that you want to open an “Easy Saver” account — that’s the name of the BPI savings account without maintaining balance. See the tables in the bank where BPI bankers accomodate people with their concerns? That’s where you go, not to the counter where you find bank tellers processing deposits and withdrawals. 😉

• Fill out forms completely

  This, my friends, is when the information I advised you earlier to prepare comes in handy. Double check what you write down, okay? The banker will let you know if you missed anything.

• Present your valid IDs

  I brought 2 IDs: passport and my SSS UMID. I forgot to ask the BPI business manager if only one is actually required. When I search online though, I read that BPI requires one primary (with picture and signature) and one secondary, like in this list from BPI Trade FAQs:
  PRIMARY
  Click to show/hide PRIMARY ID list

  • Alien Certification of Registration/Immigrant Certificate of Registration
  • Driver’s License
  • Government Office and GOCC ID, e.g. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP ID), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF ID)
  • Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS) e-Card
  • OFW ID
  • Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) ID
  • Passport (mandatory requirement for foreigners)
  • Postal ID
  • Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) ID
  • Senior Citizen Card
  • Social Security System (SSS) Card
  • Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID)

  SECONDARY
  Click to show/hide SECONDARY ID list

  • Certification from the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP)
  • Company IDs issued by private entities or Institutions registered with or Supervised or regulated either by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commission or Insurance Commission
  • Integrated Bar of the Philippines ID
  • Seaman’s Book

  List taken from: BPI Trade FAQs

  BPI Direct Savings bank is a bit irrelevant to this article’s topic which is BPI Easy Saver Account, but their website lists the following IDs as accepted valid IDs, so I’m listing them down too as reference. And oh, they only require one (1) valid ID. Please still try to bring 2 valid IDs though. Here is BPI Direct’s list:
  Click to show/hide BPI Direct’s list

  In opening a new account, please present any one (1) of the following IDs:

  • Passport (including those issued by Foreign Governments)
  • Driver’s License
  • Social Security Systems (SSS) ID
  • Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) ID
  • Government Service and Insurance (GSIS) e-Card
  • Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) ID
  • OFW ID
  • Seaman’s book
  • Alien Certification of Registration / Immigrant Certificate of Registration
  • Government Office and GOCC ID (e.g. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) IDs
  • Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) ID
  • Company IDs issued by private entities or institutions registered with or supervised or regulated either by the BSP, SEC or Insurance Commission
  • IDs issued by an official foreign authority (e.g. foreign passport, foreign driver’s license, etc)
  • For Students: School ID duly signed by the principal or head of school
  • For Non-Philippine Residents: Similar ID issued by the foreign government (e.g. foreign passport, foreign driver’s license) where the customer is a resident or a citizen.

  The I.D. should be:

  • in original copy
  • photo-bearing
  • unexpired
  • issued by an Official Authority (e.g. Local or Foreign Authority that is duly authorized to issue the specified ID type)

  List taken from: BPI Trade FAQs

• BPI staff will process your application

  This is the point when the BPI staff will tell you if you can get your ATM card or passbook on the same day. If picking up another day, please bring at least one (1) valid ID with you to prove that the owner of the card/passbook is you. Mine’s not available until 1 or 2 days after application, being told by the business manager that it depends on the availability of the machine that produces Express Teller cards. Besides, I was a bit late in submitting my TIN number, SSS number, and employer’s phone number. hehe.

  

  Also, if necessary, you can request that you pick-up the Express Teller ATM card from another BPI branch. In my case, I applied for a BPI Easy Saver account in a branch near my house on a week day when I was on leave from work. I need to pick it up the next day but I need to be in another city by then for work. So, BPI asked me to choose a BPI branch near my workplace and told me they will forward my Express Teller ATM card to that branch so I could get it there instead.

Step 3: Change the PIN of your ATM / Express Teller card to activate it

Within 48 hours, you need to change the pin of your ATM card! You should have been given instructions on how to do that. No? Okay, here are the instructions on how to activate your BPI Express Teller ATM Card:

1. Change your Temporary PIN within 2 banking days from getting your card. ATM transactions are not allowed until you have changed your PIN.
2. To change your PIN, go to any BPI ATM and choose “Change PIN” on the menu. Enter your new PIN when instructed. You can start using your card 1 banking day after changing your PIN.
   Click to show/hide instructions for changing temporary PIN
   • Insert your Express Teller Card in the ATM
   • Choose the language English or Taglish
   • Select “Change PIN” from the ATM Menu
   • If you want a receipt, select “Yes”; If not, select “No”
   • Enter your temporary PIN found in this card carrier
   • Wait for the confirmation that you have successfully changed your PIN.
3. If you do not change your Temporary PIN within 2 baking days, you will not be able to use your card until you reactivate it through any BPI branch. Please present your Express Teller ATM card and this letter.

Good luck! Make sure no one’s watching as you enter your new pin, alright? And remember, the number on the front of your card is your “card number” while the number at the back is your BPI account number.

This concludes the 3-step application for a BPI savings account without maintaining balance. 😉

Other information on BPI Easy Saver account

• Daily withdrawal limit for BPI Easy Saver account is 20,000 pesos
• You can only withdraw 6 times per day
• Daily EPS purchase limit is 100,000
• Cut-off time is 10:00 PM daily.
• You can start using your card 1 banking day after changing PIN

Update (Aug. 5, 2016): Got my BPI Easy Saver ATM Card!

As instructed, I texted BPI Legaspi-Gamboa branch today, and I was told that my ATM card is available for pickup. Yay!

The BPI staff asked me to take a seat for a few minutes and then came back with an envelope containing printed instructions and the Express Teller ATM card. Then she handed a form to me to fill up details such as Cardholder name, account number, ATM card number, and my signature.

To activate ATM card transactions on my new account, I only had 48 hours to activate it starting from when I received my card. How to activate BPI’s Express Teller ATM card? Change your pin. 🙂 I brought my new ATM card and a note with my temporary pin, and headed to the nearest BPI ATM, and changed my pin.



I am wondering though, why my total balance is 200 but available balance is only 195 pesos. Does it have something to do with the 5-peso charge per withdrawal from BPI Easy Saver accounts? But I haven’t withdrawn any amount yet. 😮 My best guess as of now is that the available balance is always the Total Balance minus 5 pesos, 5 pesos being the “allowance” or “padding”, which is reserved for any debit/withdrawal transaction that you may want to do with your BPI Easy Saver Account.

Update (Aug. 4, 2016): 2 days after application for BPI savings account without maintaining balance

I visited the branch I chose to pickup my Express Teller ATM card in the morning. The BPI manager at the branch where I applied told me it should be available yesterday, Aug. 3, if everything goes smoothly i.e. no problem is encountered by their machines. However, my Express Teller ATM card was not yet available 2 days after application because according to the BPI staff, there’s been a delay in processing all new ATM cards this week. She gave me the phone number and mobile number of their Branch so that I could check with them tomorrow. Contact phone number of BPI Legaspi-Gamboa is 822-5375 and mobile number is 0917 554 4164.

Why I chose a BPI savings account without maintaining balance

The business manager that I talked to at BPI told us about 2 types of BPI savings account: Type A is without maintaining balance but has extra charge per debit, and TYPE B has 3000-peso maintaining balance but withdrawals are free.

There is one disadvantage that I know about when one chooses to get a BPI savings account without maintaining balance: the charge for withdrawals. There’s the 5-peso charge per debit. By debit, I mean any deduction of account balance that’s initiated by the account owner. For example, withdrawal via ATM or debit transaction at a shopping mall. There’s also 100 pesos charge if you withdraw money over-the-counter in any BPI branch. Eek!

So why did I choose this over the other type of BPI savings account?

It’s because of that 3000 pesos “Required Minimum Monthly ADB” for the Type B savings account at BPI. By the way, ADB stands for Average Daily Balance, which is defined as the sum of the daily end-of-day balances in the account for a month divided by the number of days in that month. That 3000 pesos is not a small amount of money for me, and it just sits idly there in the savings account. Nope, you can’t use it! It’s the maintaining balance, remember? 🙁

My purpose for this account is for budgets, and I expect that there will be times when this account will run out of funds. Having a maintaining balance of 3000 pesos is a hindrance to my purpose.

So yeah, I’m really happy that there’s a BPI savings account without maintaining balance available because it’s very convenient for people who actually need to use up all funds in a bank account sometimes… you know, those bad times. 😆

Why we failed to open a BPI “joint” savings account

The person (let’s call her Ella) I planned to open a BPI joint savings account with had 3 IDs: her birth certificate from NSO, an expired passport, and expired NBI Clearance. BPI is very strict with account opening requirements and does not accept expired IDs. The business manager at BPI told us that when Ella has renewed valid IDs, we can then open a BPI joint savings account and transfer our current BPI Easy Saver account funds into it.

BPI Easy Saver gives clients a worry-free option when it comes to saving.

Open a BPI Easy Saver account today! Visit a BPI or BPI Family Savings Bank branch near you.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

Account opening for as low as PHP 200.
NO maintaining balance.
For a minimal fee, withdrawal transactions are made convenient.
Fees
– PHP 5* per withdrawal in any BPI Express Teller ATMs.
– PHP 50 for the Express Teller Card fee.
– PHP 100 for withdrawals done over-the-counter in any BPI Branch.
*other customer-initiated debits (OTC, EPS, and/or 24/7 banking channels)

Source: BPI Easy Saver Account

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