PayPal lets you link all major credit cards in Canada to your PayPal account. This includes Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards. You’ll still earn rewards when you make purchases with your card through your PayPal account – just be prepared to pay an additional fee on your PayPal credit card for making certain types of transactions.
| Credit card type | Accepted at PayPal |
|---|---|
| American Express | ✅ |
| Visa | ✅ |
| Mastercard | ✅ |
PayPal accepts credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express. You can link these credit cards to your PayPal account, which allows PayPal to draw from your card to pay for authorized purchases. This option lets you earn PayPal credit card rewards as you make purchases. You won’t be able to top up your PayPal account balance with a credit or debit card.
You can only use the money from your PayPal credit card transactions to make micropayments – such as to send small amounts of money to a friend or to purchase goods and services at an online store. It’s not possible to use the funds to send a mass payment.
You also won’t be able to use your PayPal credit card to load funds into your account, transfer money to your bank account or withdraw money from an ATM or as a cash advance.
You won’t need to pay PayPal credit card fees for normal transactions with PayPal. There are only two instances when drawing from a PayPal credit card in Canada might cost you more:
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You can still earn credit card PayPal rewards when you link your credit card to PayPal. The only issue is that you may not get accelerated rewards for certain purchases. This is because your statement will usually list your transaction under PayPal instead of the actual company name.
For example, you could lose points on travel purchases or bill payments if they come listed under PayPal rewards rather than a travel agency or a subscription service.
With most PayPal rewards credit cards, you’ll earn points when you buy clothes, mobile devices, makeup, music or for any other retail purchases. You may not earn credit card PayPal rewards for purchases such as gambling transactions, foreign currency purchases, gift cards and any other transactions that may be processed as cash advances.
Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of using PayPal vs a credit card:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
|
You’ll need to link your credit card to PayPal if you want to use it to make purchases through PayPal. You won’t be able to load funds into your account or top up your account balance with a PayPal credit card.
Linking and confirming your PayPal credit card helps protect your account and increase security within the PayPal community. Confirming your PayPal credit card in Canada also makes it much harder for someone to carry out fraudulent transactions on your account.
You can link your credit card to your PayPal account by following the steps below:
Once you’ve linked your account, you may notice a charge of around $2 on your credit card. This is a temporary authorization that PayPal uses to make sure your card is valid. The charge appears on your card statement with a 4-digit code and the word PAYPAL.
Once you get this code, you need to click on your PayPal wallet. You then select the PayPal credit card that needs to be confirmed and enter the 4-digit code when prompted. Once your account is confirmed, the charge will be refunded to you.
It’s fairly easy to remove a credit card from PayPal if it’s expired or you’d like to move it over to a different PayPal account. All you have to do is open your PayPal wallet, select the card you want to remove and click “Remove card”.
Just be aware that you may not be able to remove a card if you have a pending transaction or a negative balance on your account.
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PayPal accepts major credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express. You can link a credit card to your account to make payments directly, but you won’t be able to use your credit card to load funds into your PayPal account balance. Find out more about how you can link and confirm a PayPal credit card in Canada.
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