when i first started working at home as a freelance writer some few years back, paypal was initially available in the philippines only as a payment option for ebay and other online stores. i cannot receive money through the account. needless to say, many opportunities passed me by because a lot of companies accepting work-at-home projects sent payment only through paypal. luckily for me, write4pesos also used bank transfer.

perhaps realizing that filipinos are among the best source of freelance, online writers because of their facility with the english language (and cheaper labor), paypal philippines became fully functional within a few months of its launch here. this decision is an economic symbiosis of course. for me and for a lot of my kababayans it meant the opening of more work-at-home and freelance online opportunities, and for paypal, more source of earnings.

sadly, most are still wary, if not downright scared paypal. since this site is not technical, i will not go into the nitty gritties. i have been using paypal for over a year now. and while there are some downside: (transaction fees and lower currency conversion rates) the benefits (instant transfers, secure transactions) are worth it.

scenario: you have just received an email telling you that your paypal account has received funds. you breathe a sigh of relief because the few weeks that you have been working online as a freelance, crossing your fingers and praying while fending off the doubts of everyone around you, has paid off. so you sign in and see the figures, the question is how to get those virtual numbers into money you can actually touch and put inside your pockets?

when you have funds in paypal, you can withdraw them provided that you have an existing account with a decent bank that you can connect with paypal. to do that, all that paypal needs is your account information as well as your paypal bank code.

paypal bank code? this is the proprietary number that paypal assigns every bank here in the philippines. this is different from the bank's bic or swift code.

don't even bother calling the bank for it. most tellers have not been briefed on paypal or if they have been, did not bother to understand it (except for unionbank). they will tell you that their bank does not work with paypal - end of conversation. if you believe them, there goes your hope that that online money will ever get to your hands at all. there goes your hopes for a freelance life.

do not believe them. you can withdraw your paypal funds into your bank account, where it matters. it takes about a week, but it does arrive. my family and i have been living on this process for almost a year now.

get your paypal bank codes here.