GCash bank transfers to be charged by October

MANILA, Philippines — Mobile wallet GCash is set to charge a P15 fee per fund transfer or cash out transaction to a bank or Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) using the InstaPay network starting Thursday.

Effective Oct. 1, GCash said selected commercial banks and EMIs using the InstaPay network would begin charging a transaction fee when transferring fund into the mobile app.

GCash said the transaction fee varies depending on the bank or EMI up to P50 per transaction.

“To avoid paying a transaction fee, GCash advises its customers to link their BPI or Unionbank  accounts to their GCash App. These fund transfers will remain free of charge,” it said.

All GCash-to-GCash Send Money transactions, however, will remain free of charge, the company said.

GCash said all its other services, including Pay Bills and Buy Load, would also remain free of charge.

GCash, operated by Globe Fintech Innovations Inc., has become a financial lifestyle app that enables its users to tap into necessary financial tools and services to cope with the effects of the pandemic.

GCash customers may use their mobile wallets to buy airtime load, transfer money, transact with over 86,000 merchants, pay to more than 400 billers, and wire money to over 40 banks.

Users may also use their mobile wallets for savings accounts, to purchase affordable prepaid insurance, invest in money market funds, and utilize a digital credit facility.

As community quarantines were imposed in most areas in the country, GCash recorded a surge in activity, with at least over P100 billion in transaction value as of end-July.

GCash expects to handle at least P1 trillion in transactions by the end of the year.

As part of its continuing efforts to ensure customer protection, users can now login to the app via face recognition and fingerprint identification to further protect its customers from financial fraud and data theft.

While the MPIN and security questions already provide sufficient protection to their accounts, GCash said the new biometrics login feature adds another safeguard against unauthorized financial transactions.