PayPal is a mobile money service that allows users to send and receive money worldwide. PayPal operates in over 200 nations of the world. The majority of PayPal users are freelancers who receive payments from their companies. Companies such as Upwork, Guru, Writers Bay, Remotasks, and Appen, among others, require you to have a PayPal account to receive your Payments after working. The question remains, how long does it take for PayPal to transfer money?
Everyone would like to get their money within the shortest time possible. I will never wish to receive my payments several days later after withdrawing from my account since it will be hectic to wait. That is why I want to tell you the different periods that you have to wait to receive your payments from PayPal, either PayPal to PayPal or PayPal to a bank. The duration taken for the money to move from PayPal to a bank account varies from one bank to the other.
Despite the time it takes for money to move from one PayPal account to another PayPal account or from PayPal to a bank being long in some countries. The platform remains the best among others in terms of security, convenience, and ease of usage. Rarely can you hear cases of PayPal accounts being hacked. Furthermore, opening a PayPal account is easy as you can complete the process within a few minutes.
How do I open a PayPal account?
Opening a PayPal account is easy. There are two types of PayPal accounts.
- Personal accounts
- Business accounts
When signing up, you have to indicate the type of account you would like to open. The steps below will assist you to create a PayPal account.
- Go to the Sign Up page.
- Choose the account type you would like to open and click Sign Up Now.
- Enter the required information, such as your full name, email address, and maybe your phone number, and choose a password (it should contain at least eight case-sensitive characters).
- Click Next
- Click Agree and Create Account
You will also need to attach photos of your ID to verify your real identity. You can also add your bank account or a debit card that you can use to fund your transactions. Also, you will need a bank account or debit card to withdraw money from your PayPal account when the need arises.
Once your account signup is accepted, you will receive a mail confirming and directing you what to do next. Your PayPal email is the ID that others can use to send you money. For more information about opening your account, you can visit the PayPal sign-up page.
How long does it take for PayPal to transfer money?
The duration taken to transfer money from PayPal to PayPal or to other platforms varies from the time you initiate the transaction, the country you are sending the money to, and the bank you are sending the money to. Furthermore, it depends on the method you use to transfer money.
For example, when you want to transfer money from Venmo to PayPal, you Can decide to use the standard transfer method that takes between 1-3 business days. The process is free. You can also decide to use the instant transfer that attracts a fee. Let us see the time taken to transfer money to or from PayPal.
1) PayPal to PayPal transfers
PayPal to PayPal transfers takes a short time. In most cases, the transfers are instant, meaning that you can receive money as soon as the sender initiates the transfer.
When you receive money in your PayPal account, PayPal sends you a notification that you have received such and such an amount of money. The sender also gets a message that the transaction was successful or not.
2) PayPal to bank transfers
Once you receive money in your PayPal account, you can transfer it to your bank account. If you live in the US, you can either transfer money instantly (attracts some fees) to an eligible bank account or choose the standard transfer. However, the instant transfer does not apply to other countries of the world.
The standard transfers take around 3 to 5 business days to reflect the bank account. You have to wait for all those days for the funds to reflect. If the transfer is initiated on weekends, it may take longer to reflect.
3) Bank to PayPal
You can use a bank account to fund your PayPal transactions. It takes 3-5 business days to transfer money from a bank account to PayPal. If you plan to carry out a particular transaction with your PayPal account, you will need to initiate the transfer five days earlier just to be on the safe side.
4) Transfer of money from a debit card to PayPal
You can transfer money from a debit card to PayPal. For example, you can transfer money from Netspend to PayPal, of which it takes around 3-4 days for the transaction to reflect. The same applies to when you move money from PayPal to Netspend, as it takes the same duration.
5) PayPal to other mobile wallets
Other digital wallets work like PayPal. They include Payoneer, Cash App, Venmo, and Skrill, among others. However, most of these mobile wallets do not allow direct transfers to and from PayPal. So, for example, when transferring money from PayPal to Cash App, you will have to use a bank as a bridge.
It means that you will move money from PayPal to a bank account that links to Cash App. Once the funds from PayPal reach the bank account, you can then transfer them to your Cash App account. We all know that it takes three to five days for funds from PayPal to reflect in your bank account. From bank to cash app, it can take around three to four days. Therefore, you will have to wait for about 6-9 days for the funds to reach your Cash App account.
What currencies does PayPal support?
PayPal supports lots of currencies that ensure that you can move money to various destinations.
| Currency | Code |
|---|---|
| Australian dollar | AUD |
| Brazilian real | BRL |
| Canadian dollar | CAD |
| Chinese Renminbi | CNY |
| Czech koruna | CZK |
| Danish krone | DKK |
| Euro | EUR |
| Hong Kong dollar | HKD |
| Hungarian forint | HUF |
| Israeli new shekel | ILS |
| Japanese yen | JPY |
| Malaysian ringgit | MYR |
| Mexican peso | MXN |
| New Taiwan dollar | TWD |
| New Zealand dollar | NZD |
| Norwegian krone | NOK |
| Philippine peso | PHP |
| Polish złoty | PLN |
| Pound sterling | GBP |
| Russian ruble | RUB |
| Singapore dollar | SGD |
| Swedish krona | SEK |
| Swiss franc | CHF |
| Thai baht | THB |
| United States dollar | USD |
Can I use PayPal without a bank account?
You can use PayPal without a bank account. PayPal allows you to pay for goods and services online. Most online stores give you an option to pay with PayPal when you check out your account. Also, PayPal allows you to apply for the PayPal Cash Card that you can use to purchase goods and services at stores and service centers. You can even withdraw money for free using your PayPal Cash Card from over 25,000 MoneyPass ATMs across the nation.
However, it is good to add a bank account, even if it is a second chance checking account. PayPal will not know what kind of account you will have added. Some banks offer second chance checking with no opening deposit. Such banks include Chime and Varo bank.
Does PayPal charge fees for services?
PayPal charges fees for various services that you receive when you receive them as a customer. The following are the fees PayPal charges.
- Sending domestic personal transactions – PayPal charges 5% of the transaction amount with minimum and maximum fees of $0.99 and $4.99, respectively.
- PayPal to bank transfers costs zero fees.
- Expedited check-cashing ( for payroll and government checks) costs 1% of the transaction amounts.
- Expedited check cashing (for all other accepted check types) costs 5% of the transaction amount.
There are other fees that come with using the PayPal services, which you can find in detail on the PayPal fees page.
Why does it take long to transfer money from PayPal to a bank?
As I indicated earlier, it can take between 3-5 business days for funds to move from PayPal to a bank account. You may wonder why money has to take that long to reach a bank. The reason behind this is that the bank has to verify the source of the funds to find out whether the money is clean or not. Some criminals can easily transfer money via financial platforms if not checked.
Also, remember that it will take a similar duration when moving money from a bank to PayPal. Another reason why it takes longer for the funds to reflect in the receiving account is to ascertain that the sending account has enough balance to fund the transaction.
Although PayPal itself is not a bank, it is subject to most regulations that govern banks. If I may ask, how long does it take to transfer money between banks? The time is just the same as the one taken to transfer funds from PayPal to a bank account (3-5 days).
Bottom line
PayPal is a mobile money service that operates in the whole world. You can transfer money from one PayPal account to the other, PayPal to a bank account, or PayPal to a mobile money wallet. Opening an account is easy, and it is not a must to have a bank account. Most of the PayPal services attract some fees that are just a small percentage of the amount under the transaction.
