Insights for BDO ATM Debit Card Errors and Issues in Online Transaction

What is happening, why are there errors when you use your BDO atm debit card online? Why can’t you cash-in with GCash using your BDO debit card? When in fact, you have been doing this previously with no problem?

These were my questions for more than a week now. I have been trying to use my BDO atm card to cash-in to GCash but no luck. I get this error “Sorry, your Cash-In transaction via debit card cannot be processed.”

I have tried uninstalling Gcash on my phone then reinstall, no luck still. I have also tried unlinking my BDO atm card to GCash then relink or re-enroll, but there is always this error “Sorry, your card enrolment cannot be processed.”. 

I’ve done the re-enrollment route multiple times before I finally gave up and contacted GCash official account via Facebook messenger. Their FB admin replied with “Kindly contact your issuing bank first regarding to this matter.”

GCash official Facebook page. Reach out to them for concerns and suggestions.

My next move was to contact Banco De Oro. I reached out to BDO using their domestic toll-free number 1 800 10 6318000. These are the salient points from my chat with the BDO call center representative:

1. Mastercard has put-in a new layer of security for online transactions, hence, those online transactions which were okay previously for BDO debit cards affiliated with Mastercard now results to error. 

You can’t cash-in, can’t load, can’t use the card for online payment for specific apps.

2. There are identified “hot” apps or “high risk” apps. And recently, these “hot apps” are automatically blocked from online transactions. The reason given by BDO’s csr is the high potential of fraud transactions that may come from these apps. Because of this, further security measures are implemented now by BDO and Mastercard, which is the ‘app blocking’.

The apps which are being blocked are Google Play, GCash, Paypal, Netflix, Airbnb, Grab, Paymaya. All these apps I am using frequently save for AirBnB, lol. 

This figures why I also encounter errors when I try to use my BDO debit card on Paypal and when I load GrabPay. 

*I am not sure if BDO okays Agoda, Lazada, Zalora, Shopee for online transactions or if they are blocked too. I’m transacting with these apps from time to time so I really want to be able to easily cash-in or load or pay for transactions within these platforms using my BDO atm account.

*I have not faced issues using my BDO issued credit card. The encountered issues and errors are only for my BDO atm debit card. 

I understand that the automatic blocking of these high-risk apps is for the security of the bank’s client but the banks should at least make things easier for their clients who have expressly requested to have these apps whitelisted for her/his account. This brings me to the third point.

3.  APP AUTHORIZATION or WHITELISTING. There is a way to still continue using the BDO atm debit card for these high-risk apps like GCash, Grab, Paypal, etc. Account holder needs to call BDO hotline and request the bank to whitelist or authorize the app(s) so you can use use your atm card on these platforms. But there is an issue. 

Whitelisting / authorising of apps is only good for 24 hours. 

During the call the BDO rep says that she will coordinate my case with the proper department handling the whitelisting of apps. After a few minutes, she’s back on the phone informing me that I can now use my atm debit card for GCash. She advised me further that I should do the GCash – BDO cash-in transaction within 24 hours. 

I asked why? She said that whitelisting or app authorization is only good for 24 hours. My follow-up query was… ‘ Are you saying that if I want to cash-in again to GCash using my BDO atm card two days from now, that I should call the bank’s hotline again before I can do that? The rep answered ‘yes’.

🙁 Therefore, gone are the days when it is easy and convenient to use BDO debit Mastercard to cash-in or load a GCash account or to do online payments and transactions on the ‘high alert’ apps for that matter. 🙁

After our call, I immediately proceeded to cash-in to my Gcash via my linked BDO atm card. The transaction was successful. I put in a bigger amount than my usual cash-in because I don’t want to go through the hassle of calling the bank’s hotline anytime soon, again.

I shall try two days from now to cash-in to GCash without calling the bank’s hotline just to test and confirm if the 24-hours whitelisting is really in-effect.  I’ll update this post if I am able to do it successfully or not. 🙂

I did a separate test today. Since I have called BDO to authorize my debit card for online transactions, albeit I specifically requested to authorized Gcash, I tested if I can load my GrabPay using the same BDO card. Unfortunately, transaction wasn’t successful. The whitelisting is app specific. 

My advise is now this: If you will call the hotline to request authorization so you can transact online using your BDO ATM debit card – Mastercard, make sure to request the customer service representative to authorize all the apps that you intend to use your debit card with. Be specific but list all. I only said GCash, so it was only GCash that was authorized. Lol. 

UPDATE May 1, 2019

3 days after calling BDO, I again cash-in to Gcash using my BDO debit ATM Card. The second cash-in was last April 30, 2019.

I didn’t call BDO again and yet I was still able to cash-in, transfer fund from BDO to GCash successfully. I hope this will continue and the Gcash app authorization will not be revoked unless I specifically request BDO to cancel the whitelisting of GCash.

So there. 😉