Does paypal have to be linked to a bank account

PayPal is one of the most popular payment platforms today. You can make money transfers and international payments incredibly easily.

To start accepting payments and sending money on PayPal, you need to link your bank account. Can you get away with just linking a credit card? How do you link your bank account to your PayPal account?

Find out in today’s in-depth guide.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

Why Do You Need to Confirm Your Bank Account?

How Do You Confirm Your Bank Account on PayPal?

Key Takeaways

Why Do You Need to Confirm Your Bank Account?

Technically you can use PayPal without linking your bank account. You can link a debit card and that will operate your account. It’ll be a pure digital wallet and payment processor. However, not having a verified bank account on PayPal means you’ll have certain limits on your account.

PayPal puts withdrawal limits and sending limits on accounts that don’t have verified bank accounts.

How Do You Confirm Your Bank Account on PayPal?

You can connect any type of American bank account to your PayPal account. Online bank accounts, business bank accounts and personal bank accounts all link to PayPal. As long as you can accept and send payments from your bank, it will work with PayPal.

Method 1: Instant Bank Confirmation

1. Log into your PayPal account. This could be your personal account or merchant account. The method is the same.
2. Click the “Wallet” tab at the top of the page
3. Find the “connect instantly” button on the confirm bank page.
4. Enter your user ID and password for your online bank account. PayPal will verify these details with your bank. The confirmation process only takes a few minutes.
5. If the details are confirmed, your bank account will be linked instantly to your PayPal account.

Method 2: Random Deposits Method

1. Log into your PayPal account.
2. Click the “Wallet” tab at the top of the page
3. You’ll see “Link a payment method”. Click that link
4. Click “bank account”
5. Select the type of bank account
6. Enter your bank account details
7. Read the terms and conditions
8. Click “agree and link”
9. PayPal will send two random deposits to your account. They are typically a couple of cents. It takes up to 6 business days to appear in your account depending on your financial institution. You’ll find them listed on your bank account statement. The sender is listed as “PayPal”. There is no transfer fee – the deposits are at PayPal’s expense.
10. Once you see the two random deposits on your bank statement, you need to confirm them. Log back into your PayPal account and head to “my wallet” again.
11. Click the bank account you are confirming.
12. You’ll be prompted to enter the exact amounts that were deposited into your account. Enter them and click “submit”.
13. You’ll get a confirmation that your bank is linked via email.

Key Takeaways

As a payment processing service, PayPal is very powerful. Most major banks and payment providers link seamlessly to your PayPal account. We hope this article was helpful in showing you how to confirm your bank details. Now incoming money can go directly into your checking account at the click of a button!

PayPal is an online payment system that's been around since 1998, making it easy to send and receive funds to people located anywhere in the world for a small fee — or no fee at all if the money is going to or coming from a friend or family member in the US. 

The service has made it secure and easy to buy and sell things online and is heavily integrated into sites like eBay and other e-commerce businesses. 

If you don't yet have a PayPal account, but would like to set one up, doing so is free and should only take a few minutes. Once you're set up, you'll be able to add banking information to make sending and receiving money easier than ever. Here's how to do it. 

How to set up a PayPal account

1. In your computer's internet browser, navigate to https://www.paypal.com 

2. In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click "Sign up." 

3. On the following screen, choose whether you're setting up a business or personal account. If you're simply using this to buy and sell on eBay for instance, or to send money to a family member or friend, you'll want to choose "personal" here. Click "Next."

4. On the next page, you'll be asked to enter your legal first and last name and your email address as well as to create and confirm a password. When finished, click "Next." 

Next, you'll need to enter your mailing address as well as your phone number. When you've completed this information, which is mandatory, click "Agree and create account" and your PayPal account will be created. 

How to add a bank account or credit card to your PayPal account

In order to make use of PayPal's ability to send and receive money, you'll need to connect a bank account and/or credit card to your account. To do so, log into your account and then follow these directions. 

1. On the summary screen, click the "Wallet" option in the menu bar running along the top of the screen. 

2. On the menu running down the left side of the screen, click the "Link a credit or debit card" if that's what you'd like to use with your account. Alternately, if you want to connect your bank account itself, click on the "Link a bank account option." Note that it may be worthwhile to do both to create a source of backup funding in future. 

3. Enter the card or bank information you wish to link to your PayPal account and click "Link card" for debit cards or "Link bank account" if you're using that option. 

Note that if you're adding a bank account, it will take two to three days for the process to complete as PayPal will deposit small amounts into your account that you will have to enter via the PayPal website to confirm you own the account. 

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