I used to do online banking, but that is now a secondary option because of GCash. I’m no longer confined to make an online transaction with one bank. I can transfer money to my account, and to other accounts of different banks as well. I shared in previous blogs that I have been a user of this service and saw its offerings grow to adapt to the ever-changing times and the demand of the Filipino consumer.
So far, my personal experience to deposit money to banks for free with GCash is with BPI and BDO. But the transaction can be done with over 30 banks. That’s like every major bank in the Philippines, and then some. And that means you can transact with any online sellers who require that you make a payment by depositing money to their account first. Or maybe sending money to family and friends who may need some financial help.
All you need is the account holder’s name and bank account number, and you’ll be able to deposit money to banks for free with GCash app. This service is powered by InstaPay, an initiative of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. It’s an electronic fund transfer (EFT) service that allows you to electronically transfer funds to and from banks in real time. Although banks can apply for Instapay to allow customers to make bank-to-bank transactions, not all banks have taken advantage of this initiative.
Take BPI, for example. They do allow fund transfer to 3rd party, but that’s limited to BPI account holders only. That’s why when the feature to deposit money to banks was made available on GCash, I never looked back ever since. And did I say that it’s free? Yes, senders and receivers don’t have to pay any service fee or convenience fee unlike similar apps or services I’ve encountered.
To get started and deposit money to banks for free with GCash, you first need to link your bank account with the GCash app. This will allow you to Cash-in. That means you can fund your GCash wallet directly from your bank. Once successful, you can now do a fund transfer to any banks anytime of the day.
Transferring money to other banks with GCash is pretty straight forward and will only take 3 minutes, longer if you’re like me who double-check every information I enter. But that’s even better than having to wait on the line to be called for a transaction that takes only less than 10 minutes.