After a bazillion years of trying to get GCash to respond properly to my concern, I finally got the answer I’m looking for. I don’t want to go into the details of how frustrating it is to deal with GCash support kasi ayoko ma-highblood so let’s just get into the details of why I wasn’t able to link my Paypal account smoothly.
Root causes:
1. My Paypal acount type is business
2. My first name in Paypal is wrong (it included my middle name)
So yeah, before you attempt to link your Paypal account to GCash, make sure to take note of the following prerequisites:
- Your first and last name on Paypal must be identical with your first and last name on GCash
- Your Paypal account must be setup in the Philippines
- Your Paypal account type must be personal (not business acocunt)
- Your GCash account must be KYC-ed (fully verfied)
When I first tried to link my Paypal account, I kept on getting this error:
“We are unable to link your account. Please make sure your credentials are the same in both your PayPal account and GCash wallet”
The error message was followed by two emails. The first was a preapproved payments plan registration notification, and shortly after — its cancellation.
I kept asking GCash support about it. I’ve gone throught Facebook, Website, and InApp support.
They’re all trash.
I told them that I’ve checked my details and they all match. And if they could just provide me which details don’t match, then I’ll work on it. But hey, they just can’t do any more digging. I was convinced that my details were perfect, but I still don’t get what’s wrong. They kept on resending the steps and guidelines and it was getting frustrating having to deal with their very incompetent support group. Eventually I took my problem with Paypal, but the answer I got was as dismal. The verification part is made on GCash’s end so they’re the one’s who can answer my question.
Then I found this thread on Reddit discussing the issue. OP found out that his first name in Paypal included his middle name so he requested to have it changed. I figured it must be the same case with me. I just need to validate if my first name really included my middle name.
But heck, there’s nothing on my Paypal dashboard that says this is my first name. I have no welcome banner when I log in, and my profile simply states my full name, as in <first> <middle> <last>. I was wondering where I could see a clue of what my actual first name is.
Until one day, GCash responded to one of my many emails with yet another set of steps and guidelines. But this one’s longer and more detailed. It included the prerequisite that your Paypal account must be PERSONAL type and not BUSINESS.
I felt pretty hopeful! So okay, I requested to downgrade my account. From business to personal. No biggie, my Merch by Amazon account got terminated anyway so there’s no reason for me to run a business account.
When my request got approved, I logged into Paypal and noticed this change:
