PayPal's debit card offers 5% cash back, regardless of credit score.

PayPal's revamped debit card offers a 5% cash-back reward in a category of your choice, making it a strong contender for your wallet if you can't qualify for a 5% cash-back credit card or prefer debit spending.

How does the PayPal Debit Card work?

To obtain a debit card from PayPal, you must first have a PayPal Balance account, which is a PayPal account that holds some funds with PayPal, rather than just being used for sending and receiving money from linked third-party accounts.

If you have a PayPal Debit Card, your account balance is deposited in FDIC-insured partner banks, providing protection of up to $250,000 per person, per account. This ensures that your money is secure, just like with most traditional banks.

How to earn rewards

With the PayPal Debit Card, you can earn 5% cash back on a monthly category of your choice, whether you're shopping in-store or online. The available categories are:

• gas
• restaurants

You must log into your PayPal app every month to renew your selected category, even if you choose the same category.

You can earn an additional $50 each month by maximizing your spending within the $1,000 limit set by PayPal in your chosen category.

How to combine your rewards

You can increase your rewards by combining them with merchant offers in the PayPal app when you check out.

You can combine your rewards with a cash back offer from a restaurant when you use your PayPal debit card at checkout.

Other features

The PayPal Debit Card comes with an auto-reload feature that automatically transfers money from a linked third-party account to your PayPal Balance whenever your balance falls below a certain amount or when a certain amount of time passes.

You can schedule a $50 transfer from a linked bank account or debit card on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Additionally, you can set a minimum balance of $25 and have $50 transferred automatically whenever your balance falls below that amount.

You can add your card to both Apple Pay and Google Pay for online and in-store purchases if you prefer to pay with your phone.

Alternatives to the PayPal Debit Card

We have plenty of other options for you to explore if not every card suits your needs.

The Discover it® Cash Back card offers 5% cash back on rotating categories throughout the year, up to $1,500 in purchases each quarter after activation. After reaching the limit, you'll still earn 1% on all purchases. Maximizing spending in these categories could result in $75 cash back per quarter, in addition to unlimited 1% on all other purchases.

The Citi Custom Cash® Card offers 5% cash back on your top spending category each billing cycle, up to $500 (then 1%), 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal until 6/30/2025, and unlimited 1% on all other purchases. Additionally, you can receive a bonus of $200 cash back after spending $1,500 in the first six months.

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