Best Guide To Cancel A Pending PayPal Payment

cancel a pending PayPal payment

PayPal is a payment platform that allows you to send and receive money online. The PayPal headquarters are in San Jose, California, in the United States. Despite being a USA-based company, PayPal operates in over 200 countries of the world. Although the major use of PayPal is to send and receive money, we shall see other ways you can use the payment service. You will learn how to cancel a pending PayPal payment later on.

Although it is always advisable to check your details properly before making any payment, sometimes you may make unexpected errors. The best option is to cancel the payment if the recipient has not yet claimed the money. Canceling a payment prevents you from losing money to the wrong recipient. PayPal payments that you can cancel include PayPal to bank transfers and PayPal to PayPal.

Usually, it is difficult to cancel PayPal-PayPal payments. However, systems may keep a transaction pending to warrant you to cancel before the transfers are effected. Since PayPal is an online platform, canceling a transaction becomes very easy as you only need to log into your online account, and you are good to go. You can use a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer to access your online account.

Open A PayPal Account – The Process

If you want to open a PayPal account, you need a secure internet connection and a smartphone, tablet, or computer. After that, you can visit the PayPal account opening page and begin your application. You need first to decide whether you want a personal account or a business one.

The personal accounts are usually for sending and receiving money from others and paying online, while the business account is for receiving payments for your business. The following is the process to open a PayPal account.

  • Visit PayPal.com and navigate to the account opening section.
  • Choose whether you want to open a business or a personal account.
  • Tap ‘Next’.
  • Enter your phone number.
  • Next, enter your name, email, and password in the form that displays.
  • Tap ‘Continue’.
  • Enter your nationality and type in your address and any other required information in the fields provided.
  • Tap ‘Continue’
  • Enter your bank or debit card details
  • Verify your email address by clicking the link sent to you.

You also need to verify your PayPal account to unlock the numerous features of PayPal. With a verified account, I can transfer money from PayPal to my bank account without any limitation.

Verification Of A PayPal Account

cancel a pending PayPal payment

Verifying your PayPal account is very important if you want to secure your account further. An unverified account is prone to hacking, and you can quickly lose your money from the said account.

You only have to link your bank account, credit, or debit card to verify your account. You need to visit PayPal and begin the account linking process. Click on the Pay & Get Paid tab and select Bank & Cards under Wallet. After that, choose the bank account or card you need to verify. For a debit or credit card, you will need to check on the charge on your card statement. It is usually a four-digit code that you have to use to verify the card.

Alternatively, you can check the charges live on your bank’s app. You have to go to Banks & Card’s, choose the card you need to verify, input the four-digit code, and click Confirm. By just following the above simple instructions, you will have verified your PayPal account.

When verifying your bank account, you need to log into your bank account online to allow the account linking. Alternatively, you can allow PayPal to send small payments to your bank account, after which you will need to enter the amounts in the field provided to verify your account. The small amounts are usually between $0.01 and $0.99.

The following is a summarized process to verify your PayPal account.

  • Go to PayPal.com to log into your account.
  • Tap the ‘Pay & Get Paid’ tab.
  • Select ‘Banks & Cards’ under wallet.
  • Select the card or bank account to verify.
  • Check your bank account or card activity for PayPal’s deposit.
  • You can also use the small deposit system or the automated process to link your bank account.
  • Confirm your PayPal account using the 4-digit code (for cards) or the deposit amounts (for banks).

Ways To Use PayPal

There are various ways you can use your PayPal account. They include the following:

i) Send and receive money from others

One can send money through PayPal to friends and family within a few minutes. PayPal allows you to even transfer money to international recipients by using various currencies of the world. To send money to others, you can follow the procedure below.

  • Log into your PayPal account online.
  • Hit on ‘Send & Request’.
  • Choose from the three options.
  • Enter the recipient’s email or phone number.
  • Enter the amount to send.
  • Click ‘Continue’.
  • Review the information on the screen to confirm the transfer and click ‘Send Money Now’.

If you are transferring money to a recipient not registered with PayPal, they must follow the link on their email or phone number to claim the money. To receive money from others, you need to share your PayPal email address or phone number with the sender.

ii) Pay for goods and services

With money in your PayPal account, you can pay for goods and services with just a few taps. You only need to log into your account online and follow the procedure above about transferring money to others. However, you will need to select the “Pay for goods and services’ ‘instead of the “Send & Request” option. Most online stores are now accepting PayPal payments with ease as long as you have sufficient balance.

iii) Transfer money to a bank account

You can easily withdraw money to a bank account if you have already added it to your PayPal account. It allows one to withdraw funds from your bank account to use for various purposes. The following is the process to transfer money to your bank account.

  • Open the PayPal application on your mobile phone to log in.
  • Tap your PayPal balance.
  • Tap “Transfer” and then “Transfer Money.
  • Choose the bank account to transfer money to and tap “Next.”
  • Enter the amount of money to transfer, then hit next.
  • Confirm the transfer by hitting the Transfer $xxx Now.

If you are using a browser, you can use the following procedure.

  • Open PayPal.com and log in.
  • Click “Wallet” on your screen.
  • Select “Transfer Money.”

Procedure To Cancel A Pending PayPal Payment

Some transactions spend several days waiting for approval by PayPal. If you transfer money from your PayPal account to a bank account, transactions can remain pending for 1-3 days. During that period, you can cancel the transfer if you feel like making some changes. A pending payment means that a recipient has not accepted the payments yet.

Someone may ask a question like, how long does it take for PayPal to transfer money for canceled payments back to the account. PayPal automatically cancels any pending or unclaimed payments after 30 days and then sends the money back to your bank account. The refunds to your bank accounts can take up to 5 days, while refunds to credit or debit cards take longer, up to 30 days.

The cancel of a pending PayPal payment may be due to the following.

  • If you send funds to a phone number or email that is not registered with PayPal.
  • The recipient’s PayPal account setting does not allow automatic receiving of some payments. These include payments not of preferred currency or from buyers with unconfirmed email addresses. However, the recipient has to deny the payment for the funds to return to your account.

To cancel a pending PayPal payment, you have to navigate to the “Pending” section, where you will see the pending and unclaimed transactions. You locate the pending payment on the summary page, then under the pending payments click Cancel and then click Cancel Payment.

Final Thought

PayPal is a payment platform that allows you to send and receive money from others. You can also transfer money from PayPal to a bank account. The platform also allows the international transfer of money using various currencies. You can cancel any payment you send by mistake if the recipient has not claimed the funds. PayPal also cancels any pending or unclaimed funds within 30 days.

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Spencer Tierney is a writer and expert on certificates of deposits at transfermone.com. His work has been featured by USA Today, MSN, SF Gate, the Los Angeles Times, NerdWallet and more. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English at UC Berkeley.