How to withdraw from PayPal to your Philippine ATM almost instantaneously, for free

This is a short guide I earlier shared on Facebook with solopreneurs and freelancers from the Philippines, particularly those who accept payments via PayPal.

For the most part, you can easily withdraw your PayPal funds to your local bank, but this usually takes at least 1 day (overnight with Unionbank, or sometimes same-day if you can initiate the withdrawal before 8 AM on a banking day).

Editor’s note: There are now other almost-free instant ways to withdraw to your local account, but it will depend on your bank and account type. GCash provides a way for the unbanked/underbanked to connect to PayPal and receive money quickly. The only drawback is the PhP100,000 monthly transaction limit.

What you need:

1. PayPal account, with funds
2. Verified GCash account
3. Smartphone with the GCash app
4. Philippine bank account

What to do:

1. Link your PayPal to your GCash account.
2. Make sure your PayPal funds are in Peso. Convert to Peso if not.
3. Within GCash app, tap cash-in, under the “My Linked Accounts” tap PayPal.
4. Enter the desired amount to cash-in your desired amount from PayPal.
5. Once funds are in GCash, you can transfer to your local bank (you may want to save your bank details for future use). If you have a GCash Mastercard linked to your account, you can use it to withdraw the funds from any ATM using your GCash PIN.

Don’t have a GCash card yet? Get it for only P150 from Robinson’s customer service, or order it from the GCash app.

For succeeding transfers, you can skip step 1.

The bank transfer is done via InstaPay, and GCash currently does not charge (other banks might charge a nominal 5 or 10 peso for sending to other banks, in contrast). I believe there is no minimum transfer amount, although cash-in amount has a minimum of P500.

I might expand this post in the future with screenshots and more detailed instructions. For now, enjoy free and near-instantaneous PayPal-to-bank transfers.

Image: Unsplash