PayMaya, GrabPay & GCash : E-Wallet Guide

Best Digital Payments in the Philippines

During the epidemic, in addition to having to hold meetings online to keep up with classes, another phenomenon that has changed is that more and more people are beginning to use contactless electronic payments. The spread of the internet and technology applications has been unexpectedly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to GCash and Paymaya of local telecommunications companies, GarbPay, the largest online car-hailing application, has also joined the battle for mobile payment in the Philippines. In addition, many stores provide RMB payment, so Alipay and WeChat Pay have supporters. Now if you want to use mobile payment in the Philippines, you may have to join the ranks of GCash, Paymaya or Grab Pay to use digital payment.

PayMaya

PayMaya is currently the fastest growing mobile payment user. It is a subsidiary of Voyager Innovations, which is also a subsidiary of Philippine fixed-line telecommunications operator PLDT and mobile communication SMART.

In addition to paying online shopping and living bills, PayMaya can also directly book airline tickets, buy games, movies or concerts. You can use the PayMaya mobile application to scan the QR code of the merchant to complete the payment.

Advantage:

• Payment can be made by scanning the QR code.
• There is no handling fee for the payment process.
• Can send and receive funds to other Paymaya users.

Grab Pay

The company of Grab Pay is Grab, which has many users and is used in many countries in Southeast Asia. Make rapid breakthroughs in the highly competitive third-party payment market. GrabPay can be used to pay for own rides and deliveries. , and now it can be used for payment in more and more stores. The goal is to popularize it in everyone’s life and make everyone more and more dependent on GrabPay.

Advantage:

• There is no need to install a separate payment app, it is built into the Grab Super APP that many people already have installed.
• When calling a car, you can store value directly through the driver.
• Earn Grab rewards with GrabPay.
• Direct payments for Grab rides, GrabMart, Grab food delivery, courier purchases and more, all in one.

GCash

GCash is a company owned by telecom giant Globe. It is one of the first mobile payments in the Philippines. Almost all stores that accept electronic payments will support GCash, and its position is quite solid.

There are already many Globe users who can join GCash to deepen stickiness. Even the CIA language school is promoting GCash payments within the school. Not only is the stored value on campus free, but it is also safe and convenient to use on and off campus. In addition to general daily consumption, GCash can also be directly used to pay mobile phone bills, so even SMART and DITO Telecom users love to use GCash.

Advantage:

• Support scanning QR code.
• There is no handling fee for the payment process.
• Send funds to and receive funds from other GCash users.
• Make a variety of transactions, including paying bills, ordering movies or storing value, and earn rewards for each transaction.

Binding Method

No matter what kind of mobile payment, the most basic threshold is to have a local mobile phone that can receive SMS verification codes to bind and log in.

Stored Money

Penetration of personal bank accounts or credit cards is not high in Southeast Asian countries. When binding a bank account to deduct money, a copy of the passport or a copy of the locally recognized certificate must be provided. You can choose to store value directly like cash. There are many places where you can store value in the APP. The simpler and more convenient method is to recharge at 7-11 and pay a 1% handling fee.

More and more restaurants and stores support mobile payments. A pile of annoying change is no longer a burden, and you don’t have to worry about the wrong money from the clerk anymore. However, you still have to use cash sometimes when GRAB cannot call a ride. Some cash would be safer.

Choose the E-Wallet that best suits your needs

The mobile payment market in the Philippines is not divided among the three countries, but is in an era of separatism. Some niche payment apps are difficult to access, but having one of these three payment systems is very convenient.

Especially GCASH with the highest penetration rate. Grab Pay is built into the Grab SuperAPP, which can be used for recharging. Paymaya is suitable for friends who like to try new technologies. Only by installing according to your own needs can you enjoy exclusive discounts and rewards.