Maya Stops Supporting Instant Transfers from Paypal

Many Maya users have been frustrated by the recent changes to the platform’s support for instant transfers from PayPal. Previously, users could easily transfer funds from their PayPal accounts to their Maya cards. However, this is no longer possible.

It is possible that this issue is due to changes on Maya’s end, such as new regulations or security measures that make it difficult for them to support instant transfers from PayPal. It is also possible that the issue is on PayPal’s end. I am using the PayPal to GCash cash-in instead.

Maya Non-Dispense 2023

I haven’t posted on this blog in a while as I wasn’t using my GCash and Maya e-wallets as much as I used to. However, since departing Vietnam in July 2023, I have resumed using my Maya card as a backup. I use it to withdraw cash from ATMs and make purchases online. You may almost certainly expect a non-dispense issue while withdrawing cash from ATMs at least once or twice a year if you use your Maya or GCash frequently abroad, as I believe I said previously in another non-dispense issue article. For the year 2023, I did have a non-dispense issue with Maya.

As expected, the money was refunded after 14–15 days. Normally, there would be a two-week waiting period, however there was a bank holiday at that time.

For the Maya non-dispense issue, the error message “your transaction cannot be processed” or a similar one is typically displayed on the ATM. When this occurs, DO NOT TRY to withdraw money from an ATM operated by a different bank, nor should you take out your card and try again at the same machine. The machine won’t dispense money, but the balance will still be subtracted. I made that error in a rush, as you can see in the picture above, only two minutes apart. The money will not be refunded to you until two more weeks.

I’ll say it again: if you use your Maya or GCash card to make ATM withdrawals outside of the Philippines, expect this to occur once or twice a year. Usually, I pay with the physical cards for my purchases to avoid having to withdraw money. Additionally, there are Filipinos that operate GCash money exchange services; I think you may locate them on Facebook groups. You can ask in such groups which GCash money changers are reputable and can convert your GCash pesos into local currency.

PayMaya To GCash and GCash To PayMaya Transfer

There was a short period when PayMaya to GCash transfer was disabled in the PayMaya mobile app but it has become available again for a while now. I have tried the PayMaya to GCash transfer thrice and the good news is I didn’t have to wait more than a few minutes for my beneficiary to receive the funds.

In your PayMaya app, tap on Bank Transfer.

The option for GCash appeared as G-XChange, Inc when I used it a few weeks ago but the PayMaya app update has changed it to GCash.

If you have updated your PayMaya app, you should see GCash under the list of banks

Enter the amount and recipient details. The part where I entered 0966 is the Bank Account number field. In this case it is your recipient’s GCash mobile number. You’ll have to enter that number again under the mobile number field.

Make sure you got the details correct. The app does require you to fill in the purpose field.

The funds should be in your recipient’s GCash account in a few minutes.

GCash to PayMaya transfer also has the same steps. In your GCash app, tap on Bank Transfer.

You’ll have to tap on the bottom left in order to choose from the complete list of banks in the drop down menu.

Fill in the required details and you will be taken to the confirmation page.

GCash Wallet Cap Exceeded

A GCash user would encounter the “Wallet Cap Exceeded” message when attempting to transact in the GCash mobile app beyond his or her monthly limit. There would also be a corresponding text message notification from 2882 which would appear to be something like, “Sorry, you will exceed your transaction limit. Please try a smaller amount.”

A Basic Member level in GCash has a transaction limit of PhP50,000 monthly while a Fully Verified Member can have incoming and outgoing transactions of up to PhP100,000 monthly. One person can have multiple GCash accounts, but GCash may as well mean the transaction limits apply to one person nothwithstanding the number of GCash accounts.

My GCash account shows up as Fully Verified in the GCash mobile app.

But every time I check my transaction history after the third week of the month, I would find my online purchase/ATM withdrawal/send money to another GCash user attempts would be halted when the amount hits PhP50,000.

Few years ago my sister had inquired about this with the support team at a Globe center and she was told my Fully Verified account is good for a PhP100,000 monthly transaction limit.

I recently am having this problem again and decided to send an e-mail to GCash Support earlier today to clarify.

Here’s what my GCash MasterCard and GCash AmEx statements currently looks like:

Hope GCash support can clarify.

UPDATE: MAY 14, 2019

GCash Support could not give me a clear answer at first until I pestered them to stop sending me templates which does not address my question properly.

I was then told that as a Fully Verified member I am allowed the PhP100,000 monthly transaction limit. What this means is if I cash in PhP50,000 plus worth in a month, I would have already reached my monthly transaction limit if I spend or transact away all of that amount from ATM withdrawals, bank transfers, money transfers to other GCash numbers, online purchases, shopping, etc. PhP50,000 cashed in and PhP50,000 cashed out equals PhP100,000.

I wish they would rectify the transaction limit table. Wallet Size makes it confusing as it can be misinterpreted as PhP100,000 allowable cash-in.

That clears up the GCash wallet cap exceeded issue. It’s still a good idea to either have multiple GCash accounts and get a PayMaya account, too.

 

GCash Mobile App Errors

On Tuesday night my App Store prompted me for the latest GCash mobile app update, Version 5.11.1. When I opened the app the next day, I was greeted with several errors. I shouldn’t really be surprised as GCash mobile app update tend to bring a slew of bugs with it especially in connection with account verification issues.

Even when it clearly says my account is fully verified, the app still prompts me to verify when I tapped on PayPal to attempt a cash-in.

Thinking that tapping through the verification process would quickly take me to the cash-in page, I waited and waited and waited. I logged in and logged out of the app but I would still see the same message to wait 30 minutes.

An hour passed and I wondered if the Android version had the same update. I opened the GCash mobile app on my Android phone and luckily for me I was able to proceed with my PayPal to GCash cash-in.

Five or six hours later, I decided to check on my GCash app on my iPhone and I didn’t encounter the verification prompt anymore.

The lesson here is to make sure to open your GCash mobile app right after you finish the update. Or better yet keep an Android phone just in case.

 

 

GCredit by GCash

It has been a while since I started seeing “Beta version” and “For selected users only” whenever I would click on the GCredit tab in my GCash app. Few of my friends and relatives who have GCash have had their GCredit working for them when they do QR shopping. I had better GScore on my GCash mobile app than they did but I was quite late to the party. I thought it probably has something to do with the fact that my Globe number has been on international roaming for close to a year now.

Then last week I got a text notification that I have been approved for GCredit.

My sister and cousin had been approved for P2,000 but I had not expected mine to be P5,000.

GCredit is not without its disadvantages – some GCash users who have been known to have regular cash flow coming into their GCash accounts might suddenly stop using it once they can no longer afford to fund their GCredit interest. I have heard a few unpleasant stories about GCash users’ balance being automatically deducted because of their unpaid GCredit interest. As with credit lines, moderation is always key.

For the meantime, its advantage for me is the pay bills part. I can pay my Smart postpaid bill with GCredit. It’s a measly P999 monthly plan which I have not really utilised for 10 months straight. Sending money to other GCash users is not available with GCredit.

How does one get approved for GCredit? Just keep using GCash to pay your bills, buy groceries with the QR Code shopping or top up mobile numbers with it and in no time your GScore or trust score will move up.

GCash Account Suspension

GCash does monitor its users’ transactions and if the GCash team detects a slight suspicious activity, they will notify the users via email. I received a comment on one of my articles about his or her account being suspended so I thought I would address this.

If you find that you cannot log in to your GCash mobile app. you would get this kind of error message:

 

I immediately went to GCashCare on Messenger and that was a mistake –  a waste of time because even though GCashCare is preset to send automated responses once you send them a message, you would not be able to get to chat with a live person as soon as you deliver your response. Chances are, you would have already been e-mailed about your GCash account suspension so you should first check the email account you registered with GCash instead of going to Messenger.

True enough, I did receive an e-mail from GCash informing me of transactions they tagged as suspicious and they wanted me to confirm if I was the one who performed them on the mobile app.

 

Without hesitation I responded to the e-mail that I was the one who made the transactions they listed. The account suspension was lifted shortly after they received my response so no worries there. Even if your account gets suspended, it is temporary.

 

GCash Non-Dispense Dispute

As you all know I have been writing about the technical issues I have had with GCash and all of them have been resolved. In this article I am going to write about the GCash non-dispense issue I had with an ATM machine outside the Philippines.

As I have written in a previous article, withdrawing cash in ATM machines overseas can be tricky as some cards may not be accepted in all banks and you run the risk of trial and error as to which bank’s ATM machine would accept your card. Even if the ATM machine lists all the logo, it’s not an assurance that it would work. I have a GCash MasterCard and even though the bank in Hanoi I tried transacting with listed MasterCard on the ATM machine, I still encountered an error and the card ejected my card along with the transaction slip bearing the words “Issuer or Switch Inoperative”.

No cash came out, of course, so imagine my confusion when I tried withdrawing funds in another bank’s ATM machine and saw the error message on the screen that my funds were insufficient for the transaction. I did not bring my Android phone at the time which has my Globe sim inserted in it so I did not see the text message from GCash that the non-dispense transaction at Shinhan ATM machine got my GCash balance deducted.

 

 

I sent an e-mail to GCash about it and the customer service rep replied that it would take 7-14 business days for my funds to be reverted. My mistake was WAITING and doing nothing for the 7-14 days period. When I tried to follow up with them beyond the 14 business days period, I was told by the agent that she forgot to attach the Dispute Form for me to fill up. The reversal dragged on longer than expected because even when the second 14 business days period right after I submitted the Dispute Form, it took something like a week or so for me to see the funds back in my account and not without badgering GCash on Messenger, Twitter and via e-mail. Not to mention all my follow-up attempts were futile because their reps would not respond to me on time. Two weeks after I got my funds back was the only time when the replies from their customer service agents came in.

I know I have stressed this before in other GCash articles, but I am going to emphasize this issue one more time – please have a Dispute Form downloaded on your laptop or desktop computer to fill up easily in case you encounter any technical issues with GCash services, especially those that involve money reversal. You can download the Dispute Form here.

My second GCash non-dispense issue happened in January 16, 2019. Interestingly the ATM machine is also in Vietnam. Different bank and different city.

I emailed the dispute form to GCash support that same day and I got a response in 2 days. I got my funds back for this second non-dispense incident on February 19, 2019.

RCBC MyWallet to GCash Cash-in

Earlier today I got an alert on my iPhone to update my GCash mobile app and that the new update not only includes the RCBC-GCash and BPI-GCash cash-ins but also a list of their over-the-counter partners right within the GCash mobile app.

For a few months registering GCash within the RCBC Online Banking platform had been disabled. It’s a good thing they have brought the feature back. If you access your Globe sim menu and select GCash > Registration by dialing *119#, you will see the option to register your BPI and RCBC accounts. For a refresher, here’s the video for the registration for RCBC:

 

Update: June 11, 2018

Even though the RCBC to GCash option is available in the GCash mobile app, most of us encounter errors in attempting the feature. It probably works for RCBC accounts which are connected to a savings account but with the RCBC MyWallet Visa debit card (one can apply for this card at any RCBC branches without necessarily having a savings account at RCBC), it seems it’s been disabled again and it’s unclear when the RCBC to GCash cash-in service will resume. I would like to also emphasize that even though there is an option in the GCash mobile app to add your MasterCard or Visa Debit Card for cash-in, adding your RCBC MyWallet Visa Debit card is not allowed and you will only get a text notification that the attempt to add the card is unsuccessful.

There is an alternative, which I have tried for myself yesterday, but it would require you to have a Skrill account.

Requirements:

• You must have a verified Skrill account.
• Your GCash account must already be linked to your verified Skrill account. You can add your GCash mobile number under the Mobile Wallets tab.
• Your RCBC MyWallet, which is a Visa debit card, must be also added to your Skrill account. You can do this by clicking on the tab Cards and Bank Accounts. Even if you do not verify this particular Visa debit card, you can still send money directly via Skrill but there would be a limit.
• I would suggest you do the RCBC MyWallet to GCash cash-in on the web and not on the Skrill mobile app for the reason that “Philippines” does not appear on the drop down menu on the mobile app.  Skrill needs to update their mobile app for bugs.

Here are the steps to transfer or send your RCBC MyWallet funds to your GCash account:

1 – Under Account Overview and just right under Available balance, there are two buttons for Send Money. Click on Send Direct.

2 – Since this pertains to RCBC MyWallet, select Credit/debit card.

3 – Select the RCBC MyWallet Visa debit card to be debited from.

 

 

4 – Review the details.

5 – Wait for the confirmation.

GCash Follow-Up E-mail

Although I praise GCash for preoccupying themselves with their customers’ security, I still couldn’t forget how traumatizing it was to experience PayPal to GCash cash-in delays thrice.

On June 8th, I received a follow-up e-mail from GCash regarding the transaction I made on June 7th.

I replied to the e-mail and informed them I have done withdrawals in small batches for more than three weeks already, pointing out to them that in case the initial $15 does not go through, I only have a measly $15 to dispute with PayPal for 6 days instead of a hefty $278.

I hope my reply put things into perspective for them.