BPI express online – Rich Money Habits

Ever since I’ve opened my CitisecOnline (COL) account, I’ve been doing fund transfers from my BPI express online savings account to my COL account whenever I want to fund it and buy some stocks. Recently, I was having trouble doing fund transfers for some reason. I wasn’t sure whether the problem was with BPI Express Online or with CitiseOnline since I have never encountered this problem before.

While thinking whether to call BPI or COL, I asked my wife whether she was having the same problem. She simply answered, no. I then asked her how she funds her COL account and to my surprise she was not doing a fund transfer but instead uses BPI expressonline’s Bills Payment facility. I tried it out and in just 15 minutes, I was able to enroll my COL account into BPI expressonline Bills Payment and do a bills payment transaction to fund it.

Here are the 3 steps I did.

Step 1 – Enroll Your COL account into BPI Express Online Bills Payment facility

Log on to www.bpiexpressonline.com
Enter your username and password
Under Payments & Reloading, click Bills Payments, click Enroll all other Bills
Enter your BPI account number and Joint Account Indicator No. (this is the 2-digit no. located at the lower right hand corner of your ATM card right across your name)
Under Bill information, select CITISECONLINE.COM INC. (COL) as the enrollee merchant
Enter your CitisecOnline account number (8-digit code username) on the space under Reference Number (I entered mine with the dash in it xxxx-xxxx and it worked fine)
Click Submit

Step 2 – Fund Your COL account by doing a Bills Payment transaction

Under Payments & Reloading, click Bills Payment, click Pay Bills Today
Under Pay, choose your CitisecOnline Account
Enter the amount
Choose BPI account from where payment will come from
Click Submit

Step 3 – Verify that Your COL account is funded with the correct amount

You should receive a confirmation once your COL account has been enrolled
You should receive a confirmation email from BPI if payment was successful.
You should receive a confirmation email from COL once they’ve received the amount and credited it into your COL account.

It only took me 15 minutes to set this up but the time savings and convenience of not having to wait in line at the bank just to fund my COL account brings a smile to my face.

Hope the above tips make your stock investing convenient and hassle-free!

While opening my BPI payroll account a couple of months ago, I asked the customer service rep how I can enroll to a BPI Express Online account. She replied, “you can do it online through the BPI website.” I was pleasantly surprised because I thought I’d need to fill up another form and then perhaps come back again to the BPI branch a couple days after, which has been my experience dealing with Philippine banks before. To me, this was good news.

Here are 3 simple steps I did to enroll my BPI Express Online account.

Step 1: Go to BPI Express Online website

Go to the BPI Express Online website at http://www.bpiexpressonline.com/. Click the “Enroll Now!” button at the right side of the screen, in between the “personal login” and “business login” buttons. A message will pop up saying “To enroll in Express Online, you must have a BPI, BPI Family Bank or a BPI Direct Deposit Account.” Click the ‘Continue’ button and follow the next steps accordingly.

If you’re in the Philippines, you need to visit any BPI Express Teller ATM within 20 banking days to activate the enrollment. If you’re out of the country, you need to print, sign and mail the enrollment form.

Step 2: Fill up the form, and submit

Fill up the form by entering your Account Number, Joint Account Indicator (JAI) and Type of Account. Your account number is the number at the back of your ATM card. The JAI is a 2-digit no. located at the lower right hand corner of your ATM card right across your name. Lastly, the type of account is either savings or checking.

After submitting the form, it will ask you to create a login name and password. Remember the login name and password you entered because you will use it to access your BPI express online account later on. Once you’re done, you will receive an email confirmation and instructions to activate your enrollment.

Step 3: Go to any BPI ATM machine and activate the enrollment

Go to any BPI ATM machine. Insert your ATM card. Go to Special Services -> Activate Enrollments –> Express Online. The ATM will give you a receipt to confirm the activation of the online enrollment.

You can then log in to your BPI express online account 1-2 days after enrollment activation.

Once you’re able to login to your BPI Express Online account, you will now be able to access your account’s details, check your balance, pay your bills, transfer funds, reload a prepaid phone 24/7, any day of the year, whenever and wherever there is internet connection.

Now, that’s hassle-free banking in 3 simple steps!

Rich Money Habits Notes:

The last step is certainly better than having to go to the branch and “wait” for quite some time before being able to speak to a customer service rep and activate your enrollment.
This is also good because it allows the bank to authenticate the enrollment by having the customer insert his ATM card and PIN, and manually confirm the enrollments’ activation through the ATM machine. This may be inconvenient, but I’d rather wait 1 to 2 days to enjoy the benefits of online banking, than worry whether my account is hacked by someone else.
Perhaps someday BPI can think of a more convenient authentication, like what Maybank did in introducing a new level of additional security by sending a real-time TAC (Transaction Authorization Code?) SMS message to your mobile phone. When that happens, we’d be one step closer to a “pure” online banking system in the Philippines. 🙂
You may call BPI hotline 89-100 for if you need assistance on how to enroll you account to BPI express online.