PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods in the world. But not all countries can operate with it. Something similar happens with PayPal and its prepaid card. In Spain, for example, it is not possible to request a PayPal prepaid card because they literally do not exist.
Still, There are other countries in which they are operational, or at least you can order cards. And, according to the OCU, in 2019 the Bank of Spain revoked the authorization to operate prepaid cards and that is why we no longer have them available.
What is the PayPal prepaid card
If we focus on Spain, unfortunately The PayPal prepaid card no longer exists. Even so, there are still many people who have it and, because the Younique company disappeared, have not been able to recover their money.
In its day, this card served as a kind of virtual wallet with which to have money and be able to operate in physical establishments without any problem. As long as there was a balance, of course.
The two PayPal cards
You may not remember, because it was something that was only offered to business accounts, but apparently PayPal had two different cards. On the one hand, Visa PayPal credit card, which was managed by Cetelem.
On the other hand, there was the prepaid card, which operated under Younique Money.
The Bank of Spain, as I told you, revoked the authorization of prepaid cards. In reality, what it did was revoke Younique Money due to deficiencies and irregularities that had been detected and that put the customers of these cards at risk. Hence, at least in Spain it disappeared and for now no other similar action has been attempted again.
In fact, the Visa credit card also eventually disappeared. But a few years later a new one appeared: the debit card, which is the only one the company now has active.
How to order a PayPal card
Applying for a PayPal card is not complicated. But for get the debit, which is the only one that is still available from what I have read, it is necessary to have a business account. If yours is not like this, you will not be able to do anything, unless you pass it and therefore pay for this extra service. In the case of companies that use PayPal a lot, it can be interesting.
The characteristics of the card are that it does not have maintenance, it is paid in euros (and only in euros) through the balance you have available in the account. That is, if there is no balance, it will not be taken from the bank, so it is understood that, with zero balance, the card would not work. That would force you to keep part of the money paid to you by this method, or to deposit money in order to keep the balance above zero so that it remains operational.
to request it It is necessary to have your DNI and prove that you are a resident in Spain and of legal age.
With that ready, you just have to go to the Paypal debit card official page and click on the “Request card” button.
This will require you to log in to PayPal or create an account to do so. Next, you have to confirm your identity. To do this, they will ask you to upload an identification document such as a driving license, ID, passport... Be careful when uploading it because it should not weigh much and should be legible.
It will take a while to verify them. But when they do, you can move on to the next step, which is the authorization letter.
And now you will ask what that is. This is a document that must be signed. In PayPal gives you the template for this.
Obviously, you will have to upload it and wait for them to confirm that everything is fine. And once done, the debit card will be processed.
Why PayPal card is not recommended
When you go to the official PayPal card page, the first thing you read is that it is a card that gives you money back. Specifically, its message is:
«A debit card that gives you 0,1% back in rewards? Of course".
And, no matter how hard you look, there is no asterisk that tells you that this is under certain conditions. At least in that sentence, because in the next one, there is already a little number that warns you that there is fine print.
And, although they explain to you that what you will do will be use your PayPal balance to pay in physical stores and online, With an unlimited return of that 0,1%, they already warn you that it is for purchases that comply. And that number specifies that it is only for purchases from companies that meet a series of requirements. That is, not for everyone.
Apparently, although the account has a number of advantages, we must not forget about the negative. In this case, it will only be euros. If your balance is in dollars, although you can use it, PayPal's conversion cost is quite high, so you will lose.
Furthermore, and something that they also specify on the main page, is the fact that The cost of withdrawing money from ATMs will cost us two euros each time we do so.
There is not much more I can tell you about the card, since there is not much more information about it on the page and it will be when you are going to sign the contract that you should be careful to read it thoroughly and see if it really suits you or not.
Now it's up to you to decide whether or not you want the PayPal debit card. Taking into account that the balance can be transferred to a bank account, and from there operate with it, there are many that offer you free cards and may have better conditions than PayPal. What do you think of the PayPal prepaid card and now of the new one?