Maya Savings is the digital bank account built into the Maya app, separate from the everyday Maya Wallet you use to pay bills or send money. Because it runs on Maya's BSP-licensed digital banking arm (Maya Bank, Inc.), money parked here earns real interest and carries deposit insurance the same way a savings account at BPI or Metrobank would — but the setup takes about five minutes on your phone instead of a branch visit. This guide walks through opening the account, funding it, understanding how the interest tiers actually work, and what taxes and limits apply so you're not surprised later.
Open Maya Savings from the Maya app's Savings tab, fund it by cashing in or transferring from your Maya Wallet, and let Maya's daily missions push your rate toward the 15% p.a. boosted tier on your first ₱100,000.
- Maya Savings is a BSP-licensed digital bank account, not just an e-wallet feature — deposits are separately PDIC-insured
- Base interest is 3.0% p.a. (lowered from 3.5% starting April 1, 2026), boostable up to 15% p.a. on your first ₱100,000 by completing missions
- PDIC insurance covers up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, raised from ₱500,000 effective March 15, 2025
- No maintaining balance or minimum deposit is required to keep the account open
- Interest is credited daily but paid out monthly, minus the standard 20% final withholding tax on bank interest
Step 1: Confirm You Have a Verified Maya Wallet First
Maya Savings lives inside the same app as your Maya Wallet, so you need an existing, fully verified Maya account before the Savings tab will let you open a deposit account. If you haven't used Maya before, download the app from the Play Store or App Store, register with your mobile number, and complete the KYC (Know Your Customer) verification step, which asks for a government-issued ID (such as a UMID, driver's license, passport, or PhilSys National ID) plus a selfie for facial matching. Verification is usually approved within minutes but can take up to 24 hours if the ID photo is unclear, so don't wait until the last minute if you're trying to move money before a specific deadline.
Step 2: Open the Savings Account From the App
Once your Maya Wallet is verified, open the app, tap 'Savings' on the home screen, and select 'Start saving now.' Maya creates a distinct 12-digit savings account number for you automatically — this is a real bank account number, separate from your wallet balance, and it's the number you'd give someone sending you money via PESONet or InstaPay directly into your savings rather than your wallet. No additional paperwork or maintaining balance is required to activate it; the account opens immediately and starts earning interest as soon as it holds a positive balance.
Step 3: Fund Your Account by Transferring From Your Wallet or Cashing In
The simplest way to fund Maya Savings is an in-app transfer from your Maya Wallet balance, which is instant and free. If you're starting from zero, cash in first through a linked bank account, over-the-counter partners (7-Eleven, Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Pawnshop, and similar Maya cash-in partners), or a payroll deposit, then move the funds into Savings. You can also receive money directly into your Maya Savings account number via PESONet (free, but follows a bank cutoff schedule and can take up to one business day) or InstaPay (real-time, but carries a small transfer fee, roughly ₱15, charged by the sending bank in most cases).
Step 4: Understand the Base Rate vs. the Boosted 15% Tier
Maya Savings pays a base interest rate of 3.0% per annum as of April 1, 2026 (reduced from the previous 3.5% p.a.), applied to your full balance regardless of size. On top of that, Maya offers a boosted rate of up to 15% p.a., but this higher rate only applies to your first ₱100,000 in the account and only kicks in when you complete specific in-app 'missions' for the month — these typically include cashing in a minimum amount, paying at least one bill through Maya, and making a minimum number of QR or Maya Card purchases. Any balance above ₱100,000, and any month where you don't complete the missions, simply earns the 3.0% p.a. base rate instead. Check the current mission requirements inside the app's Savings section before assuming you've qualified, since Maya adjusts mission criteria periodically — see Maya Bank's official high-interest savings page for the current terms.
Step 5: Know How and When Interest Actually Gets Paid
Interest on Maya Savings accrues daily based on your average daily balance (ADB) for that day, but it isn't credited to your account daily — it's calculated throughout the month and then paid out in a single lump sum on the first day of the following month. This means moving large amounts in and out frequently will lower your effective interest earned that month, since days with a low balance drag down your average. If you're saving toward a specific boosted-rate target, it's more effective to keep the qualifying balance parked for the full month rather than topping it up right before checking your earnings.
Step 6: Factor In the 20% Final Withholding Tax
Like every peso savings account at a BSP-regulated bank, interest earned in Maya Savings is subject to the Philippines' standard 20% final withholding tax on bank interest income, a rule that's applied automatically before the interest hits your balance — you don't need to file or pay this separately. This tax applies only to the interest you earn, never to your principal deposit, so a ₱50,000 balance earning ₱100 in monthly interest would have that ₱100 taxed, not the ₱50,000. The Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA), effective July 1, 2025, standardized this at a flat 20% across most deposit types, removing the old preferential rates that used to apply to certain long-term time deposits.
Step 7: Check Your PDIC Insurance Coverage
Maya Bank, Inc. is a digital bank licensed and supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and deposits in Maya Savings are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, per bank — a limit raised from ₱500,000 effective March 15, 2025. This coverage is separate from, and in addition to, protections on your Maya Wallet balance, since Savings and Wallet are technically different products under different regulatory frameworks. If you're keeping more than ₱1,000,000 in savings, spreading the excess across a different PDIC-insured bank keeps the full amount covered rather than leaving anything above the cap unprotected in the (unlikely) event of a bank failure.
Step 8: Use Personal Goals for Specific Savings Targets
Beyond the main Savings account, Maya offers 'Personal Goals,' a goal-based sub-account where you can lock away money for up to 180 days while it earns interest based on the same average daily balance method. This is useful for a specific target — a travel fund, an emergency fund, or a big purchase — since keeping the money in a separate goal makes it slightly less convenient to accidentally spend, without it leaving the Maya ecosystem or losing access to interest. Interest rates on Personal Goals can differ from the main Savings account and change periodically, so check the current rate inside the app before committing funds to a goal.
Step 9: Withdraw or Transfer Funds When You Need Them
There's no lock-in or withdrawal penalty on the standard Maya Savings account — you can transfer funds back to your Maya Wallet instantly at any time, or send them out to another bank via PESONet (free, next-business-day) or InstaPay (real-time, small fee typically around ₱15). Because there's no maintaining balance requirement, you can withdraw your entire balance down to ₱0 without the account closing or incurring a penalty fee, though doing so means you'll earn no interest until you fund it again.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Maya Wallet is the e-money account you use for everyday payments, bills, and transfers, while Maya Savings is a separate deposit account under Maya Bank, Inc., a BSP-licensed digital bank. They share the same app and you can move money freely between the two, but Savings is what actually earns interest and carries its own 12-digit bank account number and its own PDIC insurance coverage.
The 15% p.a. boosted rate only applies to your first ₱100,000 in Maya Savings, and only in months where you complete Maya's in-app missions, which typically involve a minimum cash-in amount, at least one bill payment, and a minimum number of Maya Card or QR purchases within the app. Balances above ₱100,000, or months where the missions aren't completed, earn the base rate instead, which is 3.0% p.a. as of April 1, 2026. Check the Savings tab in the app regularly since Maya updates specific mission thresholds from time to time.
Yes. Maya Bank, Inc. is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as a licensed digital bank, and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation up to ₱1,000,000 per depositor, the same statutory protection that applies to deposits at traditional banks like BDO or Landbank. If you're keeping a balance above that threshold, splitting the excess into a separate PDIC-insured bank keeps all of it covered.
The 20% final withholding tax that applies to all Philippine peso bank deposits is deducted automatically before interest is credited to your account, so you don't need to file or remit anything separately as an individual depositor. This tax only applies to the interest earned, never to your principal balance, and was standardized at a flat 20% for most deposit types under the CMEPA law that took effect July 1, 2025.
Yes, a physical Maya Card is not required to open or use Maya Savings — the account is created and managed entirely inside the Maya app once your wallet is KYC-verified. A Maya Card can help you complete the spending mission needed to unlock the boosted 15% p.a. interest tier, but you can also complete that mission through QR payments or in-app bill payments instead if you don't have or want the physical card.
You can withdraw your full balance at any time without a penalty fee or the account closing, since there's no maintaining balance requirement. The account simply stops earning interest until you deposit funds again, and your 12-digit savings account number stays active and ready to receive money whenever you're ready to start saving again.
Interest accrues daily based on your average daily balance (ADB) for each day, but it's totaled up over the month and paid out as a single deposit on the first day of the following month, minus the 20% withholding tax. Because it's based on your average balance across the whole month, keeping funds parked consistently earns more than moving large sums in and out right before checking your balance.
Yes, Maya's Personal Goals feature lets you create multiple goal-based sub-accounts, each holding money for up to 180 days while earning interest on its own average daily balance, separate from your main Savings balance. This is useful for keeping different savings targets, like a travel fund and an emergency fund, mentally and financially separate without needing multiple bank accounts.
Conclusion
Maya Savings gives Filipino users a legitimate, PDIC-insured bank account they can open and fund entirely from their phone, with a base rate that beats most traditional passbook savings accounts even before the boosted tier is factored in. The catch is that the eye-catching 15% p.a. headline only applies to the first ₱100,000 and requires actively completing monthly missions, so treat the base 3.0% p.a. as the realistic baseline and the boosted rate as a bonus you have to work for. For the most current rates and mission requirements, check Maya Bank's official savings page before making a large deposit.
