Three New(ish) Paypal Features: Instant Withdrawals, Money Pool, and Split the Charge

For those who don’t poke around their Paypal account as much as I do, Paypal has been releasing various features to keep up with the social nature of payments and our impatient culture.

As a side note it’s worth mentioning that Paypal has become more consumer friendly over the past year, both with regards to processing payments with fewer error messages, as well as less shut down stories.

Instant Withdrawal

Paypal now supports instant withdrawal via debit card. ACH transfer are never instantaneous, but crediting your Visa card can be done instantly. This feature was announced more than a year ago, and implemented a number of months ago – with a $.25 fee (a detail conveniently left out of the initial press release).

Personally, I find the free Paypal withdrawals to go fast – maybe the next business day (?) – and I haven’t used the instant withdrawal option. Could be useful for large sums of money or if you’re afraid your checking account is getting overdrawn.

Split the Charge

Paypal puts ‘Split the Charge’ next to most payments. Initially, I thought this would be a cool way of splitting the actual purchase with friends by putting part of the charge on your card and part on a friend’s, but when you click the option it brings you to a pre-filled Request Money page. Basically, it’s nothing new, just another way of requesting money. It’s surprising that Paypal uses up so much screen real estate for something like that.

Money Pools

Another new feature we’re now seeing in Paypal is a Money Pool option. You’ll name the pool and optionally add a goal and end-date, along with some other personalization options. The pool is something similar to a GoFundMe page, and is an easy way to share expenses with a group or request funds from friends for a cause. This nifty feature is only available on Paypal personal accounts, not business accounts.  More Details

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Dean
Dean (@guest_568968)
March 12, 2018 11:09

Is it possible to withdraw money from Paypal balance to shift card (shiftpayments)? And transfer money from USD card balance to btc coinbase wallet?

Dylan
Dylan (@guest_549246)
January 9, 2018 20:38

The instant withdrawal feature is kind of stupid. Google wallet also allows for instant withdrawal through a debit card, and google wallet charges no fees.

Jason
Jason (@guest_549095)
January 9, 2018 16:09

ScamPal is its name. P2P payment takes days if it’s more than $20 from bank account. Adding money to Paypal from bank takes a whole week. They can limit your account for whatever reason and once your account is limited your funds are frozen fro 180 days.

You only use Paypal when using ebay bucks certificate on purchase.

Ian
Ian (@guest_549042)
January 9, 2018 13:01

Can I use a paypal balance to pay directly to a visa credit card balance?

A M
A M (@guest_549085)
January 9, 2018 15:45

No, still can do that only with a regular bank account

LAD
LAD (@guest_549041)
January 9, 2018 12:55

Used PayPal yesterday and upon completion of sale there was a pop up about using PayPal on Facebook Messenger and if I wanted to have my receipt sent to FB Messenger. I do not believe I have ever linked my FB account to my PayPal account, but there was my FB profile picture there as where to send the receipt. There was a hidden link to abort so it was pretty aggressive in my opinion.