BSP launches auto-pay for bills and lifts the InstaPay business cap to 500,000
The Bangko Sentral switched on three new payment services on Wednesday, including one that lets a biller charge you automatically on your due date. It also raised the business transfer limit tenfold, from 50,000 pesos to 500,000.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine Payments Management Inc. launched three new payment services at the BSP head office in Manila on Wednesday. They are called Direct Debit PH, InstaPay Cash-In, and InstaPay for Business.
Direct Debit PH lets you give a biller standing permission to pull a payment straight from your bank account or e-wallet on the due date, so you stop paying it by hand each month. InstaPay Cash-In turns a transfer around: you request money from someone, and they approve it and send it from their own bank or wallet. InstaPay for Business raises what a registered business can move in a single transfer from 50,000 pesos to 500,000.
Why it matters
The 50,000 peso ceiling is the one most people have actually bumped into. It is why paying a supplier, a contractor, or a month of rent often meant splitting one payment into four transfers, or falling back to a cheque. Lifting it to 500,000 removes that workaround for registered businesses. Direct Debit PH goes after a different chore, the bill you remember to pay only when it is nearly late.
Interoperability and lower fees do more than lift transactions. They bring in more people. This is what financial inclusion looks like.
The catch to watch
Neither the BSP nor PPMI said when these will show up inside your banking app, and no bank or e-wallet has been named yet as a participant. Wednesday was the system being switched on, which is not the same as the button appearing on your phone. Direct debit also cuts both ways. A standing permission to charge you is convenient right up until the amount is wrong, so before you set one up, find out how your bank lets you cancel it.