No more Handling Fee for BDO Cebu and Davao OTC

Customers based in the province have long had to endure the disadvantage of having to pay extra for their over-the-counter payments.  This is because most Philippine banks still practice charging handling fees if the depositor is in a different provincial area from where the account is maintained.  The handling fee can range from P50 to P100 (or even more) depending on the bank and the amount.

While most newer, nimbler banks have already espoused the waiving of this fee across their branches, some of the older and bigger banks still charge this fee.  The biggest commercial bank, Banco de Oro (BDO), is no exception.  Customers depositing to Dragonpay's Metro Manila account have to pay P50 if they are in the province.

Starting today (Nov 17, 2012), customers in Cebu and Davao no longer have to pay this fee when depositing at BDO.  Just select the appropriate branch in your area from the list and deposit there.  Dragonpay will continue to expand its network to serve other areas in the near future and lower the fees to the consumer.

24x7 BDO ATM Payments

Too busy at work to go out and fall in line at the nearest BDO branch to pay for an online purchase over-the-counter?  Worry no more!  Dragonpay now supports 24x7 payments at any BDO ATM nationwide.

Just go to any BDO ATM machine and choose Bills Payment >> Dragonpay Corporation.  For a more detailed  instruction, visit our BDO ATM how-to page.

Paying Cash at M. Lhuillier Branches Nationwide

E-commerce never stops and Dragonpay recognizes the need to accept cash payments 7-days-a-week.  With all banks (except for BDO branches inside malls) closed on weekends, customers need alternative brick-and-mortar channels where they can make their cash payment.  Good news to customers of Dragonpay merchants -- all 1,400+ M. Lhuillier outlets can now accept payments for us!  Just follow these instructions.

Please note that M. Lhuillier charges a small service fee over-and-above the cost of the online purchase.  Refer to this link on how the fee is computed.  It should still come out much more cost-effective than traditional person-to-person money remittance (ie. Kwarta Padala, Western Union, etc.) though.  As a comparison, a PHP 1,000 person-to-person money remittance would normally have a service fee of PHP 80.  But a similar amount paid to a Dragonpay merchant will only have a service fee of PHP 20.  A PHP 15,000 person-to-person money remittance would normally have a service fee of PHP 300.  A similar amount paid to a Dragonpay merchant will still only have a service fee of PHP 20.

New Metrobankdirect Procedure

Metrobankdirect customers can now pay for their online purchases through Dragonpay more easily.  There is no more need to do the one-time fund transfer enrollment.  First-time users can proceed to Pay Bills and select "DRAGONPAY CORPORATION" from the dropdown list of special billers.  Just encode the Dragonpay reference no. in the fields prompted, enter the amount due, and click the button to pay.  Its that easy!

For more detailed instructions, visit our Metrobankdirect How-to page.

Maybank Philippines Now Supported

Maybank Philippines is now onboard with Dragonpay.  While Maybank may not be very popular household name yet with Filipinos, here are some surprising stats about the bank:

• 4th largest bank in Southeast Asia
• Ranked No. 52 largest and No. 11 strongest in Asia Pacific
• Global presence spanning 14 countries with over 1,700 offices worldwide
• Malaysia's flagship financial services group with over US$100 billion in assets

Maybank account holders may purchase from Dragonpay merchants using their Maybank2U Internet Banking account.  Account holders and non-account holders can also make over-the-counter payments at any Maybank branch or ATM.  Maybank does not charge handling fees even for provincial over-the-counter payments.  As of this writing, Maybank Philippines has about 50+ branches nationwide.

Sterling Bank of Asia Now Available

Sterling Bank of Asia is another new player in town.  It is a savings bank affiliated with the Bancnet consortium.

Sterling Bank of Asia is owned by the Tiu group whose other business interests include the Discovery chain of hotels and overseas remittance company, iRemit.  The group previously owned International Exchange Bank (iBank) which it sold to the Aboitiz Group-controlled Unionbank.

Sterling Bank of Asia account holders may purchase from Dragonpay merchants using their Internet Banking account.  Account holders and non-account holders can also make over-the-counter payments at any Sterling Bank branch.  The bank does not charge a handling fee for both over-the-counter and online bank payments.

RobinsonsBank Supported

RobinsonsBank is relatively new player in town.  It started out as Robinsons Savings Bank with the Megalink consortium, but have converted into a full-service commercial bank in recent years and switched to Bancnet.

RobinsonsBank is owned by the Gokongwei group whose other major interests include real estate (Robinsons Land), retail (Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Supermarket, Toys 'R Us), manufacturing (Universal Robina Corporation), and many others.  Until recently, it was a major player in the telecommunications industry through Digitel and Sun Cellular.  The group recently sold their telecommunications business to the PLDT group.

RobinsonsBank account holders may purchase from Dragonpay merchants using their Internet Banking account.  Account holders and non-account holders can also make over-the-counter payments at any RobinsonsBank branch.  Note that provicinal over-the-counter payments are charged with a handling fee as of this writing, but payments made through Internet Banking are not.

Unionbank ATM Now Supported

Unionbank account holders with an ATM card no longer have to queue in line to make an over-the-counter payment to a Dragonpay merchant.  One can simply go to the ATM to perform a payment via fund transfer 7-days-a-week.