PayMaya and BPI Too, Why Are Transfer Fees All Coming Back on Oct. 1?

(UPDATE) PayMaya, like GCash, is charging a fee for fund transfers from mobile wallet to a bank or financial institution. Bank of the Philippine Islands also served notice on the reimposition of  a P50 fee. All take effect on Oct. 1. Why are these fees cropping up at the same time?

It's because as early as August, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced the duration of waived InstaPay and PesoNet fees for fund transfers between banks. These platforms facilitate transactions between different banks, say you want to transfer from your BPI account to a BDO account. Costs per transaction vary, up to P50.

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The transfer fees were waived between banks earlier this year at the start of the coronavirus quarantine.

Transfers from PayMaya to a bank account will cost P10 per transaction from Oct. 1, PayMaya said on its website. For cash-ins, a 1% charge will be imposed only if the P10,000 monthly threshold is exceeded. See an updated list of fees below.

GCash also released an updated fee matrix on Sept. 28.

InstaPay and PesoNet fees are waived until Sept. 30 for the following banks according to the Bangko Sentral. It will be best to check with your bank before the end of the month if they will extend the free transfers.

• BDO Unibank
• Metrobank
• BPI
• RCBC
• ChinaBank
• Bank of Commerce
• Robinsons Bank
• PS Bank
• PayMaya Philippines
• G-Xchange, Inc. (GCash)
• China Bank Savings
• PBCom
• Equicom Savings Bank

For the following, the fees are waived until Dec. 31. Again, this is based on an earlier BSP advisory:

• Union Bank of the Philippines
• Asia United Bank
• Land Bank of the Philippines
• Development Bank of the Philippines
• Security Bank
• Sterling Bank of Asia
• Standard Chartered Bank
• East West Bank
• United Coconut Planters Bank
• Maybank Philippines
• HSBC (waived for retail, reduced to P50 from P150 for corporate)