GCash Convenience Fee For Fund Transfers Starting the 6th of July

by

The quarantine had all Filipinos wondering what to do with their spare time; and what most people resorted to is online shopping. With this came their knowledge in certain online and cash less payment methods; this included PayMaya, GCash, and other modes of transportation.

GCash Convenience Fee on Fund Transfers
This image was taken from GCash | Gcash.com

Just recently, mobile wallet giant GCash, made the announcement that starting July 6, 2020, there will be a convenience fee for fund transfers; and it’s not just a simple addition “on top” of your transactions.

Read: Grab Riders Will Not Shoulder the Expenses of Cash on Delivery (COD) Food Orders

GCash Convenience Fee for Fund Transfers

According to their advisory to their users, GCash will now have a fee for transferring many from bank cards using both MasterCard and Visa platforms. All card issuers in the country would be subject to this update or this change.

Technically speaking, when using Visa and MasterCard, a fee would be deducted. Yes, this will be on top of the amount of funds the user is looking to transfer to their wallet.

Read: Globe Data Promo — New Releases

Direct Charges

How GCash positioned it is that it’s considered as a direct charge from their payment partners. As per them, these charges would not be a part of the earnings of GCash. Furthermore, these charges will be charged on all transactions no matter what the amount is.

How will it work? Let’s take a look at the example below.

You plan on transferring P1,000 to your GCash wallet. Under the new GCash convenience fee for fund transfers, GCash will deduct a P25.80 fee. In addition to that, a P20,000 transaction will charge users a fee of P516.00.

Several users are reacting negatively to this. @kathlinAng, a Twitter user, shared her thoughts about this. She said:

Read: Bloggers, YouTubers Earning From Digital Ads Required to Register as per BIR

Cost and worth are two very different things. I’m okay with charging convenience fee sa GCash but I think the 2.58% is too high. So if i Cash-In P20K, that’s already P516.

Better if they will charge a fixed amount.

In addition to that, Jim Vincent C.M., a Twitter user with the handle @JimdVinci, said:

After Implementing a 2% fee in excess of P8K per month for over-the-counter cash-in, they’ll now charge a 2.58% for every cash in transaction via online banking other than the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and UnionBank of the Philippines (UB) effective 07/06/20. Just too much.

Goodbye, GCash!!!

Over-the-counter transactions

So how about over-the-counter transactions? Would they also be charged? As per their announcement, there was no mention of it. However, the over-the-counter transactions that are also going to be worth P8,000 would be charged a convenient fee of two (2) percent.

Read: Hotlines Broken, Users Complain Against PLDT and Globe

Everyone was not pleased about it — and it’s just the start

COVID-19 situation

Before the talks about the newest GCash convenience fee for fund transfers, GCash users were able to enjoy no charge for InstaPay bank transfers; and this was in light of the whole pandemic and COVID-19 situation.

Now, they will also be part of the convenience fee. However, it is imperative to know that BPI and UB depositors can still link their cards and accounts for free; they can still do it like how they do it now. This is one of the fewest ways to avoid the extra charges that the mobile wallet firm is charging.

Read: Apple COVID-19 Notification: New iOS to Update You if Someone With COVID-19 is Near You

Because of this, netizens and GCash users were continually discouraged to use it. One user, ris ‘ commissions OPEN!, with the handle @ahrtnyeongs, said that she has always recommended GCash to people because it’s free and it’s easy-to-use. Now, she might not be thinking of the same thing.

What can be the effect of this new convenience fee?

Other than it being a hefty amount of charge to users, the new GCash convenience fee for fund transfers can mean less patronization. Some people are already considering the switch from GCash to PayMaya and other mobile wallet firms.

As a matter of fact, a lot of people, especially GCash mobile wallet users are not pleased about the new convenience fee because this is another form of “cost” for them.

Read: Digital Jobs for Filipinos Sought by Angara

How about you? Are you a GCash user who have been using the facility in this dire times now? Or are you just one of the few people who are part of the demographics who tried it? Regardless of your experience, if you are using GCash, this will incur an additional charge to you.

This might not be helpful and it can still be a pain in the neck for all people. Let’s wait for further announcement on how all of these can go down.

Source/s: CNN Philippines

1 thought on “GCash Convenience Fee For Fund Transfers Starting the 6th of July”

Leave a Comment

Boklit