E-wallets such as GCash and PayMaya have made it easier to accomplish financial transactions at the comforts of your home. People don’t need to go and risk going out since both platforms allow users to send money for their loved ones, pay bills, transfer funds on bank accounts, and top-up cash on the e-wallets. Unfortunately, these digital payment solutions require additional fees before fulfilling transactions. To help you gauge which one is ideal for your needs, we’ve compared the service fees of GCash and PayMaya for cash-ins, bank transfers, and sending money.
UPDATE (July 8, 2020): We recently obtained new information about Globe and PayMaya’s fees and services. We have updated the article to reflect said new information and adjusted our recommendations as well.
Author’s note: We’ve based the fees found from the official websites of PayMaya and GCash.
| Transactions | GCash | PayMaya | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send Money to same platform | Free | Free | ||||||
| Send Money to Smart Padala | --- | 1.5% service charge | ||||||
| Send Money to remittance center | 2% service charge (via Villarica Pawnshop) | 1.5% service charge (via Palawan Pawnshop), currently unavailable until further notice | ||||||
| Bank transfer and other e-wallets | Free until further notice | Free until further notice | ||||||
| Cash-in via Online Banking | Free (BPI and UnionBank) | Free (BDO ATM, mobile and online; BPI) | ||||||
| Cash-in via Instapay | Free until further notice | Free until further notice | ||||||
| Cash-in via PESOnet | Free until further notice | Free until further notice | ||||||
| Cash-in via PayPal | Free | Free (for amounts above PHP 7,000) PHP 50 charge (for amount below PHP 7,000) | ||||||
| Cash-in via partner payment and remittance centers | • Free for any over-the-counter cash in that is below PHP 8,000 per month (Cebuana Lhuiller, Villarica, Tambunting, Palawan Pawnshop, Globe Store, Bayad CenterECPay, Bayad Center, ECPay, select branches of Western Union, Expresspay, Digipay, PERA HUB, TrueMoney, Posible, GrowSari, 7-Eleven, LBC Express, TouchPay, eTap / Pay & Go, Shell Select, Puregold, Savemore, SM Hypermarket, SM Supermarket, SM, Robinsons Department Stores) A 2% convenience fee will apply if cash in exceeds the PHP 8,000 per month limit. | • Free (Palawan Pawnshop, Tambunting Pawnshop, RD Pawnshop, POSIBLE!, and LBC (Ayannah), SM Store Business Centers, Robinsons Department Store Business Centers, Robinsons Supermarket, Shopwise, Gaisano Capital, 7-Eleven, Wellcome, Bayad Center, Pay&Go Self Service Kiosks in select outlets of Ministop, Mercury Drug, Super8, Lawson, Landers; Touchpay self-service kiosks, ExpressPay, DigiPay, BDO over the counter, Smart Stores) • Smart Padala Centers (1.50%) | ||||||
| Cash-in via Mastercard and Visa bank cards | GCash suspended cash-in via bank card services starting July 6, 2020 until further notice. | PHP 30.00 (no minimum amount required) | ||||||
Table of Contents
Sending Money
When transferring money to another account on the same platform, both do not charge fees to users. Since PayMaya is a sister company of Smart, it supports remittance through Smart Padala with an additional 1.5% service charge that must be shouldered by the sender. Its exclusive partner for remittance is Palawan Pawnshop which also adds a 1.5% service charge per transaction. Do note that the service is currently unavailable until further notice.
Globe’s GCash, on the other hand, has a slightly higher additional fee at 2% with Villarica Pawnshop as its partner. Unlike its competitor, it didn’t suspend the Send Money feature for its partner remittance center.
Bank Transfers
For transferring funds to other bank accounts and e-wallets via Electronic Fund Transfer services such as InstaPay and PESOnet, both have waived their fees as the country continues to fight with the coronavirus pandemic.
Cash-In
GCash has an in-app feature which makes topping up of credits free and easier for those who have online banking accounts on UnionBank and BPI. It also offers free cash-in via PayPal for international accounts, via InstaPay for most banks, and via partner payment and remittance centers. Users can cash-in via partner payment and remittance centers of up to PHP 8,000 per month for free, but once they reach the monthly limit they would need to pay a 2% convenience fee on top of the amount they would want to reload on their GCash account. Among its over-the-counter partners are the following: Cebuana Lhuiller, Villarica, Tambunting, Palawan Pawnshop, Globe Store, Bayad CenterECPay, Bayad Center, ECPay, select branches of Western Union, Expresspay, Digipay, PERA HUB, TrueMoney, Posible, GrowSari, 7-Eleven, LBC Express, TouchPay, eTap / Pay & Go, Shell Select, Puregold, Savemore, SM Hypermarket, SM Supermarket, SM, Robinsons Department Stores.
Globe’s e-wallet will also start to collect a 2.58% convenience fee per transaction for cash-ins done through MasterCard and Visa debit and credit cards. GCash suspended cash-in via bank card services starting July 6, 2020, until further notice.
Meanwhile, PayMaya offers free top-up via BPI and BDO online and mobile banking. The former also allows funding through its ATMs. It also offers customers over-the-counter cash-ins through the following channels free of charge: Palawan Pawnshop, Tambunting Pawnshop, RD Pawnshop, POSIBLE!, and LBC (Ayannah), SM Store Business Centers, Robinsons Department Store Business Centers, Robinsons Supermarket, Shopwise, Gaisano Capital, 7-Eleven, Wellcome, Bayad Center, Pay&Go Self Service Kiosks in select outlets of Ministop, Mercury Drug, Super8, Lawson, Landers; Touchpay self-service kiosks, ExpressPay, DigiPay, BDO over the counter, and Smart Stores. Adding money from PayPal is free for PayMaya users who regularly transfer money above PHP 7,000. An additional PHP 50 is added for cash-ins below PHP 7000.
Those who choose to reload on Smart Padala Centers are required to pay an additional 1.50% from the total cash-in amount. For adding money via bank cards, PayMaya charges a flat rate of PHP 30 regardless of the add money amount.
Reloading of money from online banks via Electronic Fund Transfer services such as InstaPay and PESOnet are currently exempted from additional charges until further notice.
Which one to choose?
We’ll break it down easy for you. We recommend using GCash if you need to send money to Villarica Pawnshop, send money through a remittance center with more branches occasionally, transfer funds not more than PHP 1,160 from bank cards transfer funds of any amount from a PayPal account, and cash-in via InstaPay, UnionBank, and BPI for free.
But if you need to cash in via partner payment and remittance centers of more than PHP 8,000 a month, send money via Smart Padala centers, cash-in via MasterCard and Visa bank cards for a flat rate PHP 30, go for PayMaya. Additionally, you can also opt for PayMaya for free PayPal transfers for amounts above PHP 7,000.
To enjoy the best of both worlds, it’s advisable to have accounts on both GCash and PayMaya to help you move your funds around. Not to mention, you can move funds between GCash and PayMaya for free.
Sources:
GCash Help Center 1, GCash Help Center 2, GCash Help Center 3, PayMaya Terms and Conditions
Gcash is GARBAGE. They keep asking me to send id and pic holding Id which is fine once but they keep asking me again. Now they want me to take out my SIM and take a picture of it. I don’t have that needle used to take out the SIM and how cheap are they that a call to prove can’t be done? If i didn’t have money inside, i will uninstall immediately. Dumb app.
Paypal charges 1% fee for Paymaya now regardless if the transferred amount is above or below 7k.
Hope there’s an update for October 1 changes for GCash, thanks!
pangit na gamitin gcash.. remitances ba ginawa nila cash in masyado magastos.
2%
The PayMaya card costs P50 more than GCash. Costing @ P200 while GCash card is only P150.00.
Receiving InstaPay transfer is always free as per BSP mandate. Only sender’s fee applies, in this case the bank sending fees and not GCash/PayMaya’s receiving fees. Currently some or almost all banks have free InstaPay transfer while pandemic until further notice. So I suggest to add info to clearly state this fact.
Reloading of money from online banks via Electronic Fund Transfer services such as InstaPay and PESOnet are currently exempted from additional charges until further notice.
> Receiving InstaPay transfer is always free as per BSP mandate. Only sender’s fee applies, in this case the bank sending fees and not GCash/PayMaya’s receiving fees. Currently some or almost all banks have free InstaPay transfer while pandemic until further notice. So I suggest to add info to clearly state this fact.
Paymaya’s customer service is TERRIBLE! GCash wants us to use FB messenger. That’s bullcrap too. So, neither has good CS. Hey. Run by pinoy. Can’t expect too much. 3rd world thinking.
Incomplete thought?
“But if you need to load money more than PHP8000 a month, send money via Smart Padala centers, and save yourself from paying additional fees for reloading your account through various partner payment and remittance centers.”
Last time I checked, Cashing in via BPI is free for PayMaya.