Checking out the new Maya app for the first time!

If you’re into e-wallets, then you have certainly heard of or used PayMaya. You can keep your money there, send funds to other PayMaya users, make bank transfers, pay bills, and most recently, buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Starting this week, the app is getting a huge upgrade as it rebrands to Maya. This transformation is not just a change of name and logo – the app now has a new look and features as well.

The Maya team said that they started rolling out this new all-in-one money app last Monday. Soon, more users will be able to access this too.

We were one of the lucky ones who got the first dibs on this new Maya app. Here are our first impressions.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the Maya app is the redesign. The new Maya looks so much cleaner and sleeker compared to PayMaya, and even other finance apps we’ve seen locally.

The app interface is mostly black and white with some green accents. This minimalist design also applies to the app’s logo. The company got rid of the bird wings, and now just features the simple ‘m’ with the same green theme.

Maya uses a more modern interface with the main categories placed at the top. With this, you can swipe seamlessly from one major feature to another – including Wallet, Savings, Crypto, and Credit. It’s also notable that this is first time we’re seeing these features integrated in just one finance app.

The Maya team also said that soon, users will be able to access the app in dark mode – which is a nice touch, especially when capturing a younger market.

Overall, the new Maya app’s modern and minimalist design feels world-class. It also looks very appealing to the Gen Z market.

Maya Wallet

PayMaya’s wallet feature is still with Maya – which means users can still enjoy the app’s trusted features in this new experience. You can still send money, transfer to banks, do transactions with over 1,500 load items and billers, pay via QR, and most importantly, cash in for free to over 90,000 touchpoints nationwide.

Maya Savings

Next, let’s take a look at one of Maya’s new features: Savings. As you might have heard, Maya Bank has received its digital banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in September 2021 last year. This means that this savings account feature in the Maya app is directly powered by Maya Bank, and not by another app or provider with a different set of requirements.

With this, we’re expecting the experience to be more seamless, as the feature is backed by the company’s affiliate bank.

This feature is already available on Early Access on the Maya app. This means that for now, only limited users will be able to open a Savings account with Maya so you may need to wait for your turn to be part of the rollout However, the Maya team told us that this feature is being deployed progressively in the coming days.

We weren’t able to try out the Maya Savings feature yet – but from what we saw on the app, it offers an initial savings interest rate of 6%. This is pretty exciting because this looks like the highest offered by a bank in the country.

Deposits are also insured by the PDIC for up to PHP 500,000USD 8,520INR 722,300EUR 8,115CNY 62,050.

Maya Credit

Another new feature that will be made available in the Maya app is Maya Credit which is a low-cost credit line that you can use to pay bills, buy load, shop, and more.

It offers up to PHP 15,000USD 256INR 21,669EUR 243CNY 1,862 credit limit with a service fee of 5% based on credit used within the billing period.

It doesn’t require the submission of additional documents and you can find out if you’re eligible in seconds. If you’re eligible, the Maya team says that you can access this credit line within a minute or less.

Maya Crypto

This feature was already launched by PayMaya earlier this month. It allows users to buy, sell, and hold crypto in just one app. Users are also able to spend their crypto earnings via PayMaya.

The crypto experience with Maya is similar. What makes this feature remarkable is the easy experience – especially for those trying our crypto for the first time.

Cashing in is easy because of Maya’s wide cash-in touchpoints, with more options offering it for free. Spending one’s crypto earnings or transferring them to another bank can also be easily done in the app.

Other services

If you’re wondering where you can find other services that were available in the PayMaya app, you can easily access them by tapping on the third icon in the sticky bar. Maya organized them into four categories for easy discovery:

• Essentials – contains send/receive money, bank transfer, cash in, cards, and pay with QR.
• Money Makers – for savings, credit, and crypto.
• Lifestyle – for travel, food, shop, mall, retail, merchants, play, and Pitmasters
• Payments – for bills, load, insurance, donation, and government transactions
• Rewards – for Missions, Vouchers, and Deals.

And that concludes our quick overview. So far we’re liking the changes and the new interface. It looks sleek and it almost feels like one of those international apps. What excites us most is its integrated features – that can make one’s money transactions seamless.

Having said that, the app is still in the early stages of its rollout so there are still some points for improvement. We’re reviewing this soon so tune it for new updates.