How to Shop and Pay Safely in the Philippines after COVID-19

The Philippines is still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most serious health crisis to hit the world in over a century. Millions of Filipinos have had to undergo quarantine, and regular business has ground virtually to a standstill. And from the look of it, things may never go back to the way they were before 2020.

While COVID-19 has made life complicated for everyone, the crisis has given lots of people stuck in their homes a reason to get on board with the country’s growing eCommerce trend. If anything, the trend will continue even after the pandemic. With people seemingly unaware or unconcerned with proper social distancing and mask-wearing etiquette, no one can be sure how safe it might be to go to malls, restaurants, and other public places even when the lockdown ends.

Good thing Maya is here to help make shopping and paying much safer in the post-COVID-19 world.

Maya Makes Paying Safer

A leader in contactless payments, Maya has been at the forefront of making safe and convenient online shopping and payments accessible to all.

Don’t want to get a credit card but still want to shop online? The Maya app gives users a secure virtual prepaid card that could be used for shopping, bills payments, and much more.

The virtual card that you get with Maya is either Visa or Mastercard, two of the most widely recognized payment card networks in the world. The app lets you load cash at thousands of partners, including major department store chains, convenience stores, pawnshops, and more. This gives you access to items and services from local and international sites that require a major credit card. The app could also be used to buy tickets, book flights, and even send remittances all over the Philippines.

If that wasn’t enough, you could also get a physical Maya card. This allows you to pay in places that normally accept credit cards and also makes it simpler to load cash into your account. It’s also an awesome thing to have when traveling, as it can also be used abroad, just as you would any Visa or Mastercard card. If you have an upgraded Maya account, you can even withdraw cold, hard cash at any foreign or domestic ATM.

Your Maya virtual prepaid card can be used exactly like you would use any Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. You can load as much cash as you need into your card from an extremely wide selection of partners in the Philippines.

Here are some of the instances where Maya contactless payment solutions can make paying for products and services safer.

Opt for Safer Payments With a Virtual Credit Card

Don’t want to get sick from shopping at crowded malls? The Maya app makes it incredibly simple to pay for goods and services from virtually any eCommerce site in the world. Popular online shopping sites such as Lazada, Amazon, Zalora, Shopee, eBay, and countless others often require purchases to be done with a credit card for the protection of their merchants.

Maya cards can be used exactly like you’d use any credit card. The best part is, you can’t overspend or get into credit card debt because you can only spend the money you put into your account.

Maya isn’t just great if you don’t have a credit card either. Maya’s physical and virtual cards are a smarter way to track your online spending, even if you’re already a credit cardholder. The app makes it incredibly simple to keep tabs on your online activity and makes it easier to stick to a budget.

Skip the Lines and Pay Bills Online

One of the least-liked rituals of adulthood is lining up at payment centers to pay for utilities, insurance premiums, and other mundane essentials. While lining up for anything can be bad enough, being in such close contact with other people for long periods in a post-COVID-19 world is something we would all like to avoid.

Thanks to Maya, you can do just that. You can use Maya to skip the lines and pay your bills without ever going to a payment center. Simply go to your Maya app, select “Pay Bills,” and select from a list of billers. Select the biller you want to pay, enter the needed amount and account information, and hit continue. From there, you can confirm your details and tap “Pay” to complete the process. You’ll also receive a notification on whether or not your bill was successfully paid. That sure beats lining up at a payment center for 30 minutes!

Buy Mobile Load Anywhere

Many Filipinos still rely on prepaid mobile phone accounts to stay connected. Unfortunately, leaving one’s home or workplace to buy a prepaid card or to get load at a crowded load center isn’t just inconvenient, it can be an unnecessary risk in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thankfully, you can use Maya to purchase mobile phone load for yourself or someone else. When you send load to someone, you can even include a short message. If you stick with a prepaid account for budgeting reasons, using Maya to buy load is even more convenient. as you can easily call up your transaction history for smarter and simpler load budgeting.

Book Flights and Withdraw Cash from Foreign ATMs

The world will eventually recover from the pandemic, and Maya will be there to help put it right at your fingertips. The Maya app can be used to book local and international flights and the physical Maya card can even be used anywhere in the world that accepts credit cards.

If you have an upgraded account, you can even use your Maya card in any ATM to withdraw money — even when you’re abroad! This can be extremely handy in emergencies and can help you reduce the amount of paper money you need on you, which recommended for safer travels in many parts of the world.

Buy Legit Games, DLCs, and Gaming Hardware

Are you a gamer? Maya is highly popular with Filipino gamers for good reason. With more people set to work from home even after the pandemic is over, games will become a bigger part of our lives and your Maya card will be your partner in gaming better and smarter.

There’s no need to limit yourself to sketchy underground sources or whatever local stores have on hand. There’s no need to line up anywhere to get first dibs on cool new hardware either. You can use Maya to conveniently and safely pay for games, special DLCs, in-game items, and special gaming hardware and swag from virtually any international eCommerce site imaginable. You can even buy Steam credits with your Maya card. What’s more, the app automatically tracks your purchases so that you’re always on top of your gaming budget.

Stream and Download Your Favorite Music Safely

No one wants to hear ads between their favorite songs, and no one wants to get a virus on their phone or computer from trying to download songs off a questionable website. To get around these problems, you can use Maya to get access to your choice of streaming services.

Use the app to get a Spotify Premium account or to purchase safe and legal high-fidelity digital downloads from Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon, and countless other premium services.

No More Lines for Concert and Movie Tickets

Even before COVID-19, lining up for concert or movie tickets at a booth or a ticket outlet was already a major hassle.It remains to be seen if the pandemic will cause permanent changes to how we enjoy concerts, sporting events, and other public pastimes. But we can be sure that we will be having them eventually — along with the long lines for tickets that go with them. And in a post-pandemic world, you’ll probably want to avoid lines whenever you can.

Good thing the Maya makes it simple to skip ahead of the lines. The Maya app lets you pay for tickets and even reserve seats at partnered cinemas and venues. This means not only can you avoid the crowds, but you can also get the best seats in the house before anyone else does.

Send and Receive Remittances Safely

Have family members in a different part of the country? Need a safe way of sending them money that doesn’t involve a risky trip to the bank or a remittance center? As our recent experience during the lockdown shows, banks and remittance centers are not always easily accessible to everyone. Carrying a lot of cold hard cash on you can also potentially make you a target for criminals.

A much safer way to send and receive remittances would be through your Maya account. You can instantly send money from your Maya account to the account of another Maya account holder. Upgraded Maya accounts can also receive international remittances from partner remittance companies. Maya doesn’t just make sending and receiving remittances more convenient — it makes it much safer as well.

Send Money to a Bank Account Securely

Direct bank deposits are still an extremely popular way to pay for goods from online sellers. Unfortunately, everyone prefers different banks. There’s also no guarantee you’ll find a branch of the bank you’ll need to deposit in your area either. Of course, lining up at the bank the old-fashioned way is something you should avoid, especially in a world after COVID-19.

Maya gives you a safe, convenient, and contactless way to deposit cash in a bank account. You can use your app to instantly send cash to a bank account from a growing list of partner banks. This can make Maya a handy tool for paying freelancers or other people on your payroll. It’s also awesome for making quick deposits when you’re too busy to visit the bank as well.

Get Secure Payments Through PayPal

Freelancers rejoice! PayPal, the de facto international standard for freelancer payments, can be linked to your Maya. If you need a PayPal account but don’t have a credit card to link it to, you can link it to your virtual Maya card instead. Now you can easily get paid by clients from all over the world without making a trip to a crowded remittance center. Of course, if you want to use your Maya-linked PayPal account for secure online shopping, you can do that as well.

Avoid Physical Contact with Maya Scan to Pay

Whether it’s about reducing your risk of identity theft or keeping you from overspending Maya is serious about keeping you safe. Maya cares about your physical safety as well. The app has a Scan to Pay function that lets you scan QR codes from partner merchants to make contactless payments. It’s much faster and has no risk of errors compared to manually entering the merchant’s info into your phone. You won’t have to worry if the cashier has exact change, either.

Conclusion

Maya’s contactless payment options make it an indispensable part of safer living in a post-COVID-19 world. With the virtual card, you can skip virtually every payment line you need to, reducing your risk from direct contact with others. Not only that, but you can also even send and receive money through partner banks and remittances services through your Maya account.

Your Maya card also hosts a range of security features that not only reduce the risk of fraud but also the chances of unintentionally overspending. Maya virtual and physical cards follow the internationally-recognized EMV technical standard, making them resistant to identity theft. The app also tracks your spending and features an intuitive interface that prevents unintended purchases, making it safer from human error.

When you get the Maya app, you’re getting more than just a convenient way to pay and transfer funds online. In the world after the COVID-19 pandemic, having a Maya account can be an investment in your health and safety as well.