I am someone you may call stingy. I count down to the cent when I compare prices. Shampoo A is more expensive by P2.25 than Shampoo B? Then B it is.
When it comes to my banking activities, it’s the same. Given the choice between a long queue on my bank’s ATM and no queue at another bank’s cash machine, I always opt to fall in line to avoid the withdrawal charges.
I’ve brought this habit to my online transactions. Over the past year, I’ve found myself relying more and more on online shopping: it saves time and spares me the trouble of traffic. From clothing to personal hygiene items, I buy what I need—and what I occasionally want—from social sellers and online shops.
Thing is, the merchants I deal with use different bank accounts, while I only use one for online shopping so for a while it was a problem; I was incurring bank charges! I have long been a BPI user, and fund transfer to other banks costs P50 each. That could cover the shipping fee! The frugal/practical side of me ached every time I made fund transfers to merchants.
Around summer time, I heard that GCash had developed an app which made it easier to use! I used it manually before and later via *143# but having it as an app made it cooler! At first, I thought the mobile wallet was exclusive for Globe, but it works in all networks! So I downloaded it immediately and checked how it could help address my issue. And you know how much it charges for bank transfers? ZERO. Nil. NADA. I couldn’t be happier!
I did the math. It’s good I kept my online receipts. In the first four months of the year, I had a monthly average of four online purchases that involved payments to banks other than BPI. That meant I was charged P50 16 times. That amounts to P800 over months.
If I had kept it up for the rest of the year, that would mean paying P50 for 48 times over 12 months. This means an extra cost of P2,400! That’s a decent pair of shoes or jacket!
I was just so thankful I found out about GCash app. Now, I can make bank transfers without spending extra money I could use elsewhere. This frugal mama is happy—and hunting for a new pair of boots for our autumn trip!
