The GCASH Convenience

The country has now embraced e-wallets or mobile wallets, and there are many flooding the market today like Coins.ph, PayMaya, BDO Pay, and so on. Its popularity is understandable as apps like this allows you to pay bills, buy load, send money, shop, and more—with just a tap of your fingers and at your convenience for as long as you are connected to the internet. Among the widely used one is no other than GCASH. It's not surprising as it's easy to open an account. One simply needs to have an active mobile number—it doesn't even matter if it is postpaid or prepaid, and it's even open to all networks—and one can easily link the mobile number to the GCASH app, which can be downloaded through Google Play store. Simply download  the GCASH app, follow the registration process to start enjoying cashless transactions.

GCASH, as a mobile wallet, is governed by the regulations of BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas). So just like any other financial institutions in the country, it requires user to perform a few simple steps to protect against financial crime and to ensure user's account security. In other words, GCASH will ask you to verify your account. Verifying your account will unlock GCASH features that's only available to fully verified accounts. At the basic level, it only means you have successfully registered with GCASH. To be fully verified, you will need to take ID photo, take a selfie, fill out information (similar to one you do when you open a bank account as part of the KYC, or know your customer, process), and then send application. GCASH may take up to 72 hours to approve your application, and they will notify you via SMS notification of the status of your application.

Verification Levels Determine Account Features and Account Limits

At the basic level, you can only buy a load, do offline cash-in, pay bills, pay through QR, and use AMEX virtual pay. Your wallet size can only be up to PhP50,000 and a monthly limit of PhP10,000 for both incoming and outgoing. On the other hand, if your account is fully verified, you can make use of all the features available to basic level and more—such as sending money, online cash-ins, bank transfer, open a savings account through GSave, take out loan through GCredit, transact international remittance, invest through GInvest, and so on. Your wallet size is also bigger up to PhP100,000 with the same amount for both monthly incoming and outgoing limits. If your account is fully verified with linked bank / GSave / GInvest and Enterprise, limit is much higher at PhP500,000. 

Features

Below are some of the features that GCASH have. Regardless of your network (Globe, Smart, TM, Dito, etc.), you can buy regular loads for your mobile; Globe broadband, Smart Bro & PLDT internet, game credits; KUMU; PayTV like Cignal; Tinder; even buy prepaid insurance like Maxicare EReady products, dengue coverage from Cebuana Lhuillier for only Ph450 and get PhP10,000 cash assistance benefit. These are just few of the things under the Buy Load feature of GCASH. Paying bills is made convenient also as you can pay practically anything from your electric utilities (Meralco, VECO, MECO, etc.) to water utilities, cable/internet, telecoms, credit cards, government like SSS contribution, PAGIBIG membership contributions, MP2, or housing loan, and to practically anything. It's also convenient when you're out shopping or dining with the use of the Pay QR feature. With GCASH, opening a bank account and starting your investing journey is also made easy through GSave and GInvest feature. GCASH also has partnered with Singlife for term insurance at affordable price through the GInsure feature. You definitely need to check it out.

GCASH has been truly a blessing especially in these difficult times. You can practically save a lot of time as you no longer need to go to your suking sari-sari store to buy load or sustain long queues just to pay up your bill. It has truly made the lives of Filipinos convenient. Funding your GCASH account is also very convenient if you have an online banking account. Using your bank, simply transfer funds through InstaPay and your GCASH will receive the sent money real time. Your bank may charge you for this fund transfer though. BDO and Metrobank, for example, will charge 25 pesos while UnionBank charges 10 pesos. That's a cheap price to pay for not having to go outside of your home, taking transportation that may set you back a hundred pesos at least if you take the taxi, and spending time away, not to mention getting tempted to eat out in restaurants if you stay out. More importantly, you minimize the risk of getting exposed to the coronavirus as you don't need to leave your house for your needed transactions.

If you are convinced of the efficiency and practicality of using the GCASH app, why don't you try it out? Download the GCASH app now. At no cost to you, I may even earn PhP50 if you click on the referral link. Thank you for the snacks, hehe :) Once you have your own account, you can also refer your friends and start earning yourself. It's a win-win. :)