Just recently, GCash has announced a new convenience fee for all cash in transactions using
Visa/MasterCard bank cards with no minimum amount. This new fee will be implemented on July 6, 2020,
and will amount to 2.58% of the total amount being cashed in for all transactions.
Pass-on fees by GCash’s Card Payment Partners
Do be informed that these new fees are pass-on fees, charged directly on customers by GCash’s card
payment partners, and said fees will also go directly also to said partners. And thus, GCash does not earn
from this new fee. These new fees are the result of changes in card payment partners’ policies.
Not to worry though! Users of GCash can still cash-in without these new fees on their accounts, provided that
these accounts are linked with BPI and/or Unionbank accounts. On-top of being free, other benefits of
directly linked bank accounts are, on top of being free: the ability to cash-in anywhere, anytime; and
convenience.
GCash users can also cash-in for free using bank apps or websites powered by InstaPay.
Card Linking and Account Linking
There are also some crucial definitions that need to be clarified, namely the difference between card linking
and account linking. For one, card linking is just for your bank’s card, usually, you find Visa and MasterCard
logos on these cards; while bank account linking is for directly linking your bank account to GCash, these are
first-party networks directly between the partner bank and GCash.
GCash is Still the Most Competitive Mobile Wallet on the Philippine Market
One should consider, however, that even with these new fees, GCash still is the most competitive mobile
wallet on the market; the new fee is actually lower than most fees on other mobile wallets for one, with P30
flat rates being the norm for cash-in transactions for said mobile wallets. Another thing GCash has going for
it are its 70,000 and counting partner merchants nationwide. There are also other services on GCash such as
GCredit, GSave, and GInvest.
And who can forget the free cash-ins for customers with linked bank accounts or those who cash-in via the
InstaPay network? Not to mention convenient bill payments via GCash Pay Bills, and rapid bank money
transfers using the aptly named GCash Bank Transfers.