Personal Finance Tips

PayPal Access Card replaced by PayPal Business Debit Card

Hannah Conway

10.12.19 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 2 minutes

PayPal offer online accounts for users to manage their money, but many also want a way to spend the money that they hold, via a debit MasterCard.

PayPal no-longer provide a debit MasterCard to personal users, so if you do not have a PayPal Business account, you’ll need to consider alternative providers - such as Wise.

Get a Wise debit MasterCard

PayPal Access Card

PayPal Access Card has been replaced with the PayPal Business debit MasterCard. This means that you won’t be able to renew it, but would need to apply for the new business card separately.

PayPal Access Card was a game-changer for many people, allowing them to spend their PayPal balance offline as well as online. It was a handy way for businesses to pay suppliers and expenses, but also crucially – personal customers could also use it to spend.

Information correct at the time of writing.

PayPal business account - do you need one?

You need to have a PayPal Business account and be a UK resident, in order to get a PayPal Business debit MasterCard – which should function just the same as the Access Card.¹

If you use PayPal for business, you can apply for a PayPal Business Debit Mastercard, but what does the change mean for personal customers? It means that you'll need to sign-up for a business account with PayPal, or look for an alternative.

Personal customers can get a debit MasterCard with Wise

Get a debit MasterCard with Wise and you’ll be able to spend anywhere in the world from a multi-currency account.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Receive money for free with your own US, UK, EU, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand bank details with your multi-currency account. Then use the debit card to spend whenever you need to with zero transaction fees. You’ll also get:

Free ATM withdrawals up to £200 per 30 days.
Only pay a small conversion fee when you convert - between 0.35% and 2%.
Automatically convert your money at the real exchange rate.

How to get a PayPal Business debit card?

If you use PayPal for Business and you’re a UK resident, then the PayPal debit MasterCard may be for you - but you may want to check out the PayPal fees for business before you make a decision.

The process to apply for a PayPal MasterCard for UK customers seems to be pretty simple. This is unlike PayPal Access Card eligibility, which was invite-only in many cases. You can get perks like cashback on your spending and like the PayPal Access Card, fees are only applied for certain transactions (like foreign ATM withdrawals).

To apply for the PayPal Business Debit Card:

Login to your PayPal Business account.
Go to Summary.
Select PayPal Business Debit Mastercard.
Select Agree and Continue to complete your request.

Once you’re application is approved, your card will be delivered in 7 to 10 days by post.²

How does it work?

You can use the card online and instore - anywhere Mastercard is accepted in the world. You can also make cash withdrawals at an ATM, with a fee of £1 withdrawal fee per withdrawal.

Although it’s possible to hold multiple balances in your PayPal account, you won’t be able to use these pre-existing balances to fund a payment via your card, if they are in a currency other than GBP. But what does this mean?

As an example:

If you have a pre-existing EUR balance in your PayPal account, and you want to make a payment with your card to a merchant in Spain - PayPal will not use this balance to fund your payment.

Rather, they will charge the payment from your GBP balance and convert it to EUR. So, you need to maintain a sufficient balance in GBP to cover all transactions.

If a payment or cash withdrawal involves a currency conversion, PayPal will convert the funds held in your GBP balance to the currency of the transaction or withdrawl.³

As the Access Card is no-longer available, if you’re a personal customer you may want to consider an alternative. This is where Wise can help!

Wise debit MasterCard allows you to easily spend the money that you hold in your multi-currency account whenever you want to - in any currency you need to.

What could be easier? Check out how Wise can help you.

Sources used:

PayPal: Will my access card become a PayPal Business debit MasterCard?
PayPal: How do I request or apply for the PayPal Business debit MasterCard?
PayPal: Business Debit Card Terms and Conditions

Sources checked 08-December 2019.

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.