Holiday Budgeting with GCash

It’s almost the middle of November and we’re counting down the days to Christmas. And we all know what the season comes with lots and lots of eating out. The holidays are a time for reunions and get-togethers with family and friends, so the weeks into Christmas see packed restaurants everywhere.

And of course, this comes with a cost. We usually make holiday dining extra-special- we choose better restaurants than, say, our regular weekend meals or payday treats- and so we spend more.

One thing we can do to make sure we don’t break the bank is plan our spending around our eating. The best way to do this is to go cashless. Mobile wallet GCash may just be the tool you need to ensure you spend responsibly while enjoying dining out.

For instance, if you have two night-outs scheduled for the week, you can set a cap of P1,000 in your GCash account, or P500 per meal. You could cash in ahead over-the-counter at 7-Eleven branches or by linking your bank account, which could be easily done on the app.

Next, make sure you stay within the budget. Do stick to cashless, do not bring cash except for the emergency. And then choose a meal that would satisfy your cravings but is still reasonably priced.

When it’s time to pay, use GCash’s scan-to-pay, a convenient payment feature offered in over 50,000 establishments, including restaurants and coffeeshops.

To use this upon getting the tab, open your GCash app, and tap pay via QR Code. Most use this, while some, like Starbucks, use a bar code. Upon opening the screen, just scan the restaurant’s QR Code at the counter, then input the amount. Payment is instantly confirmed.

Then you can track your payments on GCash’s transaction history feature, which you will see on the page after login. You can set the period of time you wish to include in the history. Once you set this and confirm, GCash will send you an email with the file of your transaction history.

This will help you easily keep track of your spending. Whether its dining out, grocery shopping, or retail therapy, the app helped us live within our means with such ease and convenience.

Learning to be a college kid’s mommy

I’m a mom of young kids, and while they drive me crazy sometimes, I tell myself that they will not be this young forever, and I should cherish every precious moment with them.

I was reminded of this again when, during one of those rare mommy me-time with friends (which, like all mommy activities always end up being about our kids), someone shared how nerve-wracking it had been for her to send off her child to college a few months ago.

She was overjoyed that her kid got into the University of the Philippines, but her daughter’s course took her to the Los Baños campus, which was a long way away from their home in Quezon City. We told her that was probably part of the plan—to move away from mommy and daddy so she could be independent. She laughed it off but admitted that was true—weren’t we all like that once?

One thing I wasn’t ready for was my friend’s admission that seeing her child so independent and capable of taking care of herself made her feel less useful as a mother. I wondered if I’d feel that way when my children are grown up.

Anyway, she told us how one time, when her daughter could not come home for the weekend because their class had an urgent project that required everyone to stay, her mommy worries surfaced: what about her allowance, her food, her clothes, etc. She had always replenished her daughter’s needs when she spent the weekend at home. My friend did not know how to send money on a weekend.

Thankfully, there was another child home, who was techie enough to teach her about GCash. Apparently, that’s what her daughter’s classmates use, too, to receive allowances from their parents. My friend immediately downloaded the app and navigated her way through its features with the help of her younger kid.

I was surprised that she had never used the app. Many of us in my mommy circle use it already to pay bills, buy prepaid load, get groceries, etc. Anyway, easily enough, she learned how to cash in at a nearby convenience store and immediately sent money to her daughter’s bank account. That simple thing of being able to attend to her daughter’s need made her feel like a valuable mommy again, she said.

Now, my friend is not only at ease with using the app for sending money, she has also discovered the convenience of using GCash’s money transfers for shopping! I think she’ll snap out of her sentimentality soon, what with the frequent buzz at the door for her shopping deliveries.

GCash powers biggest mobile app summit in PH

GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, sponsors the biggest and most anticipated mobile app summit and expo in the country—the SIGN UP! SUMMIT 2019 on September 23 at the World Trade Center, Pasay City.

As sponsor of the SIGN UP! SUMMIT 2019, leading mobile wallet GCash took part in educating more than 12,000 entrepreneurs on how to grow businesses online. From left: SIGN UP! 2019 program chair Josephine Romero, Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, GCash president and chief executive officer Anthony Thomas, and GCash chief corporate affairs officer Ney Villaseñor.

SIGN UP! SUMMIT 2019 aims to support aspiring online businessowners in establishing their own companies and enterprises. It targets to educate around 12,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) about the essential elements in growing and expanding an e-business.

“By far, SIGN UP! is the biggest gathering of mobile platforms and mobile applications in the Philippines. We want to empower more Filipinos to go digital and help them improve their livelihood,” said Ney Villaseñor, chief corporate affairs officer of GCash.

As the biggest digital alliance in the country today, SIGN UP! attendees can expect to familiarize themselves with various mobile applications, platforms and solutions, as well as be inspired by success stories of other e-preneneurs who are going to be featured at the event.

“GCash is known by many for buying mobile load, paying bills, remitting money and the like, but GCash is more than just these financial services that it offers,” explained Villaseñor. “You can actually do more with your business by expanding it through the app. There’s so much opportunity for GCash when it comes to growing your online shop. Because with GCash, what can’t you do?”

The SIGN UP! SUMMIT is open to anyone, from students to stay-at-home parents. In addition, GCash has prepared a lot of surprises that the attendees can look forward to.

Interested participants can sign up for free and be part of the biggest mobile app summit and expo in the Philippines at www.signup.ph.

CIMB Bank Announces 500,000th Customer

CIMB Bank Philippines (CIMB Bank PH) announced that it has garnered 500,000 customers, approximately six months after opening its doors for business in the Philippines. The milestone was reached anchored on a strong proposition of co-creation and partnership between CIMB Bank and GCash.

The all-digital, mobile-first CIMB Bank PH, was launched in early 2019 with a goal of bringing a unique and differentiated banking proposition to Filipinos. Anchored on a DNA of strong strategic partnerships and solving customer pain points digitally, CIMB Bank PH had forged a partnership with GCash, to allow GCash’s customers direct, paperless and seamless access to savings account services, a product termed GSave. GCash is an epayments platform owned by Mynt, the revolutionary fintech startup of Globe Telecom, Ayala Corporation and Ant Financial, an affiliate of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group.

Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group CEO, CIMB Group, who was in Manila to celebrate this milestone said, “CIMB Bank PH is surely the fastest growing bank in ASEAN, a wonderful achievement, and a strong testament of things that can be achieved in the regime of digital-only banks. We are motivated by this and will continue to innovate for our customers. Well done to the teams.”

In line with this, CIMB Bank PH and GCash also announced that the GSave bank account will be exclusively offered only on the GCash platform. The companies also said they will be working together to make added suites of financial services products available to GCash customers in the future. These services will be announced in due course.

Zafrul added, “The partnership with GCash was central to us achieving this milestone. It is a live case study of bank-tech partnerships, a combination of banking expertise and technology platform plays, and the opportunities it allows both parties to access. I look forward to developing more propositions with GCash to further establish our mobile banking presence in the Philippines.”

Anthony Thomas, President and Chief Executive Officer of GCash affirmed its shared mission with CIMB Bank to increase accessibility of financial products and services for all Filipinos. “The acquisition of 500,000 users is a clear testament that the partnership between GCash and CIMB Bank through GSave is a success. We welcome this achievement and the deepening of our collaboration with CIMB Bank, and assure our users that we will continue to provide more innovative services to address the banking and financial needs of Filipinos who aspire for financially better lives for their families.”

The 500,000 GSave users are now enjoying the benefits of CIMB’s savings account, which is available as the Save Money feature on the GCash app. GSave offers an interest rate of 3 percent per annum, which is more than ten times higher than those interest rates offered by most Philippine banks.

Additionally, GSave does not require an initial deposit or maintaining balance, nor does it impose service charges for transactions—greatly reducing the barriers for ordinary Filipinos to open and maintain a savings account.