Majority of Philippine banks practice the charging of handling fee for deposits made in territories outside the area where the account was opened. For example, if you opened a bank account in Metro Manila, and someone tries to make a cash deposit to that account from Cebu, that person trying to deposit will be levied a handling fee. The fee varies from bank-to-bank but generally falls in the range of PHP50.00 to PHP100.00.
Metrobank and its savings bank, PSBank, charges PHP50 for provincial handling fee. Strangely, check deposits do not get charged any fees even if deposited in the province. Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Landbank charges PHP100. Chinabank charges PHP50. Banco de Oro (BDO) charges PHP50. Security Bank also charges PHP50.
The more progressive banks do not charge this fee, and rightly so. Unionbank and EastWest Bank do not charge provincial handling fees. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has also decided to forego this fee recently. RCBC does not charge handling fee for its larger branches, but charges PHP100 ~ PHP110 for its smaller, remote branches.Dragonpay accepts over-the-counter (OTC) bank deposit from banks with handling fees and those without. If the bank branch charges you a handling fee, do not deduct this from your total amount payable. Any handling fee should be borne by the customer. Dragonpay expects the exact amount due to the merchant to be deposited net of any charges.
If there is a BPI, Unionbank, EastWest Bank, or Sterling Bank of Asia branch near your area, choose those as your preferred OTC banks as they are sure not to have handling fees. Some UCPB branches waive the fee for the first provincial deposit of the day. Some RCBC branch also do not charge handling fee (but not all). It is best to ask the teller first whether they charge the fee or not before making a deposit.