How To Use Your Prepaid Card With PayPal

If your prepaid card has account and routing numbers that support ACH transfers (like FamZoo cards do), you can link it to PayPal just like a typical bank checking account.

Why is that useful? You can:

• Pay for items using PayPal and have the funds drawn from your prepaid card. Paying with PayPal can be more secure and flexible than paying with your card directly. Also, some merchants don’t accept prepaid cards for payment.
• Move funds between PayPal and your prepaid card. You can load your card with funds sitting in your PayPal account, or you can pull funds off your card into your PayPal account.
• Move funds between your checking account and your prepaid card. If you also link your checking account to PayPal, you can use PayPal as a connecting hub for money movement between your checking account and your card. This is useful when your bank or credit union does not support free direct transfers between your checking account and your prepaid card.
• Send and receive payments from friends using your prepaid card as the source or destination of funds. You can designate your card as the source of funds when sending money to a friend. Or, when you receive a payment, you can move the funds from PayPal to your card.

Linking Your Card To PayPal

The first step to using your prepaid card with PayPal is to link your card as a bank checking account. Here are the steps:

1. Sign into your PayPal account.
2. Click on Wallet at the top of the page.
3. Click on Link a bank account. (Do not click on Link a debit or credit card.)
4. Search for a nonexistent bank name — something silly like “foo bank” — because we want to add the bank manually.
5. Click on Enter Your Bank Details when the search box indicates it can’t find the bank.
6. Select Checking.
7. Enter the routing number and account number associated with your prepaid card. For FamZoo cards, see here.
8. Click Agree and Link.
9. Click Request Deposits. (Do not click on Confirm instantly instead. Instant confirmation requires being able to sign into a personal account at the bank associated with the card’s routing number. That isn’t possible for prepaid cards with centralized bank transfer handling.)

At this point, PayPal initiates a first-time only security dance. After a couple days, two small deposits will appear on your card followed by one withdrawal of the combined amount. If you turn on card activity alerts, you’ll know as soon as they’re delivered.

Note the amounts of the two deposits, and complete the linkage to PayPal as follows:

1. Sign into your PayPal account.
2. Click on Wallet at the top of the page.
3. Click on the bank entry corresponding to your card.
4. Click on Confirm bank.
5. Click on Enter random deposits. (Do not choose Confirm instantly.)
6. Enter the two small amounts that PayPal deposited on your card, and click Confirm.

With the linkage to your card confirmed, you can perform any of the operations below.

You can also link your FamZoo card as a debit card (instead of a bank account) for making purchases and performing instant transfers.

Make Purchases On Your Card Through PayPal

Making purchases with your linked prepaid card through PayPal is useful when:

1. You don’t want to enter your prepaid card information on a site. You may have security concerns about the site, or you may just wish to avoid having to update billing info in multiple places in the future when your card expires or is replaced.
2. You need to pay a merchant who doesn’t accept your prepaid card directly but does accept PayPal. As a classic example, my older kids have used this workaround effectively for Uber.

If your card is the only payment method listed on the PayPal Wallet page, and you don’t carry a balance in PayPal, your card will be the source of funds when making purchases.

If you have multiple payment methods linked, you may want to set your card as your preferred payment method. To do so, click on your card on the Wallet page, and click on Make this preferred when paying online.

Load Your Card From Your PayPal Balance

If you have money sitting in your PayPal account, you can load funds onto your linked prepaid card for free as follows:

1. Sign into PayPal.
2. Link your prepaid card as a bank account if you have not already.
3. Click on Wallet at the top of the page.
4. Click on Transfer Money.
5. Click on Move money out.
6. Specify the amount, select your linked card account as the destination, and complete the transfer.

The money should arrive on your card within 1 to 3 business days.

You must open a PayPal Balance Account before you can accumulate funds in your PayPal wallet. If your PayPal Balance and a Transfer Money link are not visible when signing into PayPal, please see here.

If you want to perform an instant load for a fee instead, see here.

Move Money Off Your Card To Your PayPal Balance

You can move money sitting on your linked prepaid card into your PayPal account as follows:

1. Sign into PayPal.
2. Link your prepaid card as a bank account if you have not already.
3. Click on Wallet at the top of the page.
4. Click on Transfer Money.
5. Click on Add money online.
6. Select your linked card account as the source of funds, fill in the amount, and complete the transfer.

The money should arrive in your PayPal account within 1 to 3 business days.

Load Your Card From Your Checking Account

In most cases, the best way to load your prepaid card from your checking account is with a direct transfer from your bank or credit union’s online banking. However, some institutions still charge a fee for ACH transfers. If you’re willing to wait twice as long and deal with a two-step operation, you can avoid that fee by using PayPal as a middleman. Here’s how:

1. Link your checking account to PayPal using the same steps you used to link your prepaid card above. Just use the routing and account numbers for your checking account instead of your prepaid card.
2. Move money from your checking account into PayPal using the same steps you use to move money from your prepaid card into PayPal. Just pick your checking account as the source of funds instead of your prepaid card.
3. When the funds arrive into PayPal, load them onto your card as described above.

Move Money Off Your Card To Your Checking Account

This is just the inverse of the previous recipe.

1. Link your checking account to PayPal.
2. Move money from your prepaid card into PayPal using the the steps here.
3. When the funds arrive into PayPal, move money from your PayPal balance into your checking account using the same steps you use to move money from PayPal to your prepaid card. Just pick your checking account as the destination of funds instead of your prepaid card.

Send Money From Your Card To A Friend

You can send funds on your linked prepaid card to a friend through PayPal as follows:

1. Click Send & Request at the top of the page.
2. Pick the appropriate Send to... option
3. Enter the recipients email address or mobile number.
4. Enter the amount.
5. Select your linked card as the payment source and complete payment.

Receive Money To Your Card From A Friend

Tell friends to send you money via PayPal using your email address, mobile phone, or PayPal.Me link.

When the money arrives in your PayPal account, follow the steps here to move the money from your PayPal balance to your linked prepaid card.