PayPal is set to introduce an annual fee of up to £12 for users whose accounts have been inactive for a year or more – but you can avoid the charge by logging into your account before the deadline in December.
PayPal defines “inactive” as an account where the user hasn’t sent, received or withdrawn money, or logged into their account.
From 16 December 2020, if your account has been inactive for over 12 months, you’ll be charged a fee which is the lesser of £12 or your entire PayPal balance. If you don’t have any money in your PayPal account, or your balance is negative, PayPal says you won’t be charged a fee (even if you have a credit or debit card linked to the account).
If you have a PayPal account but don’t regularly use it, you can avoid the fee by simply logging into your account (or making a transaction) on or before 15 December 2020.
This means you will have been “active” in the previous 12 months, so won’t be charged.
At this point, if you don’t use your PayPal account and don’t want to risk being charged in future, you can simply close the account (once you’re logged in, go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘Close your account’ at the bottom of the ‘Account’ tab – though note you’ll need to do this online, as you can’t close accounts through the app).
