In recent years, PayPal has started to offer customers a very tempting 0% deal for certain purchases. But if you don’t pay it off within a set period, the interest can become costly. So, can you transfer the balance over to another card?
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with PayPal. I used to love how they made everything so easy and when I sold regularly on eBay, it stopped the need for me to head to the bank and pay in cheques.
But they do seem to have cornered the market and there are very few alternatives. And to drum up even more business, they’ve created a new scheme called PayPal Credit.
What is a PayPal Credit account?
This is an unsecured credit account and it gives you four interest-free months when you make one purchase worth £99 or more. It can be used at any online retailer that accepts PayPal and can be used multiple times until you reach your credit balance.
Once the four months have passed, you will need to start paying interest for that purchase, typically 21.9%.
Stoozing
Now, that might sound great, but life often gets in the way and we can’t always pay off our bills when we plan. And if that’s the case, the interest can become quite expensive.
But there is a popular method that can help you to avoid paying costly interest fees called Stoozing. This involves transferring debt from one credit card to another that offers a 0% deal, meaning you can avoid paying interest.
In some cases, there are people that do this as a form of extra income. They transfer money from a 0% card and put it into a savings account to make a small amount of cash.
Stoozing may sound tempting to do with your PayPal credit balance, but there’s one small issue… you can’t. Because of how PayPal works and because it’s not a credit card, you can’t do a credit card balance transfer.
A balance transfer alternative?
All is not lost. If you want to get rid of your PayPal balance, there is one method you can use.
There are 0% money transfer cards available. These work in a similar way to a balance transfer credit card. But instead, you’ll receive cash in your bank account. You can then use this cash to pay off your PayPal balance.
In most cases, you will need to pay an initial fee of around 3-4% for your money transfer. But any balance should be 0% for the next 12-24 months.
You can find some decent money transfer cards over at uSwitch. Just select:
- Personal finance
- 0% balance transfer cards
- Money transfer
If you’re approved for a card, you can then transfer a balance over to your bank account. From there, you can pay off however much you owe to PayPal.
A good credit rating…
Please note that this is all dependent on your credit rating. If yours is poor, then you may struggle to be accepted for a money transfer card. Take a look at how to improve your credit rating.
Can you transfer a credit card balance over to PayPal?
In some circumstances, you may find that the interest charged by PayPal may be slightly cheaper than that of your existing credit card. However, there is currently no way to transfer a balance from a credit card to PayPal.
Even if you could, it would still be better to look for a 0% offer anyway.