Is it worth it to keep trying to verify a GCash account? I registered as a foreign resident living in the Philippines, verified my Philippine number, and uploaded the front and back of my ACR and a selfie, but it said the photos couldn't be verified. I tried again more than 20 times over two days, and every time I press "Submit" it sends me back to the first verification screen! When I contacted customer support, all I got was an AI bot.
I'm not sure it's worth the effort. The main reasons I wanted GCash were to easily split things with friends or my girlfriend (for example, when one person pays for dinner or a Grab ride) and to send rent to my landlord. Wise transfer fees are much higher, and I don't have a Philippine bank account.
Online payments would have been more convenient too. For in-store payments it doesn't matter much; I can use Google Pay, and if that doesn't work I'll just use cash.
Also, is it true that GCash requires you to manually top up money in advance? Can't it work like Google Pay or Apple Pay, where you link a credit card and the payment goes straight to the card?
Lastly, is Maya a good alternative, especially for sending money to individuals?
Not having GCash is a good excuse when people ask you to send them money.
Maya is pretty much the same. The only difference is that sending from Maya to GCash has a small fee (10 pesos). If you have a Philippine driver's license, you can verify very easily with that, even though it's not one of the IDs they list.
Wise was much easier than trying to get GCash verified. The process is really simple: 1. Top up your Wise account directly from a UK bank (just a regular bank transfer). 2. In the Wise app, set the currency to PHP, choose E-Wallet → GCash, then enter the recipient's name and their GCash mobile number. 3. Check the amount, look at the fees and exchange rate in advance, and then send. The money usually goes straight into the recipient's GCash wallet, and I've never had a problem with this method. For me, it was the easiest way to send money to friends, my girlfriend, and even a landlord who uses GCash, without fighting through the endless selfie/ID verification loop.
It's worth it. I don't care what people on Reddit say. They recently raised my limit to 1 million, and that's better.
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