Payments company PayPalโs threat to expand its speech restrictions (which it later claimed was an โerrorโ after facing mass pushback) and its growing levels of censorship have led to many people deciding to cut ties with the company and delete their PayPal accounts.
Follow these steps to delete your PayPal account.
Preparing to delete your PayPal account
Before you delete your PayPal account, youโll need to make sure youโve withdrawn your money, canceled or redirected any pending payments, and downloaded a copy of all the records you need.
1. Withdraw your funds
PayPal offers both โInstantโ withdrawals (which usually complete within minutes) and โStandardโ withdrawals (which can take up to three business days). It may also apply fees to some withdrawal methods. You can avoid fees and get the fastest withdrawal by choosing a withdrawal option thatโs listed as โInstant (free).โ
To withdraw from your PayPal account:
1a. If youโre using the PayPal website, click or tap โTransfer money.โ
1b. If youโre using the PayPal app or the PayPal Business app, tap on your balance and select โTransfer Money or โWithdraw Money.โ
2. Select the bank account or card to which you want to withdraw.
3. Enter your entire available PayPal balance as the amount you want to withdraw.
4. Confirm the withdrawal by clicking or tapping โTransfer [amount] Nowโ or โTransfer Now.โ
2. Cancel or redirect any pending payments
If you currently have pending payments going to or from your PayPal account, youโll need to cancel or redirect these payments.
The exact process will depend on how you currently use your PayPal account but it will generally involve reviewing all of the incoming and outgoing payments, deciding which payments to cancel, and deciding which payments to redirect.
Some of the incoming payments you may want to review include individual payments (such as one-time payments from your contacts) and recurring payments (such as affiliate commissions or subscription payments for any products or services that you sell).
Some of the outgoing payments you may want to review include individual payments (such as payments to your contacts or one-time payments for products or services) and recurring payments (such as subscriptions to streaming services).
Reviewing your recurring payments
You can review some of your recurring payments on PayPalโs pre-approved payments pages on the PayPal website and in the PayPal app.
To review pre-approved payments for a personal PayPal account on the PayPal website, click or tap the settings cog and select โPaymentsโ > โManage automatic payments.โ
To review pre-approved payments for a personal PayPal account in the PayPal app, tap โWalletโ > โAutomatic payments.โ
To review outgoing pre-approved payments for a PayPal Business account on the PayPal website, open your account settings and select โMoney, banks and cardsโ > โManage pre-approved payments.โ
To review incoming pre-approved payments for a PayPal Business account on the PayPal website, open your account settings, select โWebsite payments,โ and click or tap โUpdateโ in the โMy Pre-approved Paymentsโ section.
Reviewing your other payments
You can review other payments to and from your PayPal account by browsing your transaction history.
The PayPal website and PayPal app contain a full log of your transaction history while the PayPal Business app provides a limited log of your previous transactions.
To browse the transaction history for any PayPal account on the PayPal website, click or tap โActivity.โ
To browse the transaction history for a personal account in the PayPal app, tap the โShow allโ link in the โRecent activityโ section.
To browse the transaction history for a PayPal Business account in the PayPal Business app, tap the โView allโ link in the โActivityโ section.
Canceling payments
To cancel an outgoing recurring payment on the PayPal website, click or tap on the payment and select โCancel.โ
To cancel a recurring payment on the PayPal app, tap the payment and select โRemove PayPal as your payment method.โ
Redirecting outgoing recurring payments
If you want to stay subscribed to any of the services associated with your recurring payments, youโll need to set up an alternative payment method before canceling the PayPal payment.
To do this, log in to the associated service and set up an alternative payment method. Once this alternative payment method has been set up, you can cancel your PayPal payment.
Redirecting incoming payments
If you want to keep receiving one-time or recurring payments, youโll need to set up an alternative method for receiving the payments, let the payees know that youโre closing your PayPal account, and give them your updated payment details.
3. Download your records
You can use the PayPal websiteโs โActivity downloadโ tool to download up to seven years worth of historical PayPal transactions.
To access this Activity download tool, click or tap โActivityโ > โAll transactionsโ > โDownload.โ
Then set โTransaction typeโ to โAll transactions,โ adjust the โDate rangeโ to include the full seven years of transaction history, choose your preferred โFormat,โ and select โCreate Report.โ
PayPal will email you when your report is ready. Once the report is ready, you can download it from the โActivity reportsโ section of the Activity download page.
Deleting your account
After youโve completed all the preparatory steps, you can go ahead and delete your PayPal account by either deleting it directly or requesting that PayPal erase your personal data when they delete your account.
Requesting personal data deletion when deleting your PayPal account
If you want PayPal to erase your data when deleting a personal account, youโll need to submit a request by contacting PayPal.
If you want PayPal to erase your data when deleting a PayPal Business account, open your โProfile settingsโ and select โData and Privacyโ > โCreate requestโ to start the process.
Note that PayPal may ask you to submit identity verification when you request personal data deletion. This page contains more details on PayPalโs verification process and its legal data retention obligations when erasing data.
Deleting your PayPal account without requesting personal data deletion
If you want to close your personal PayPal account without making a request for PayPal to delete your personal data, you can do so on PayPalโs website or in its mobile app.
To close your personal account on PayPalโs website, click or tap the settings cog and select โClose your accountโ > โClose Account.โ
To close your personal account in the PayPal app, tap your profile icon and select โClose your accountโ > โClose account.โ
To close your PayPal Business account on PayPalโs website, open your โProfile settingsโ and select โClose account.โ