What should I do if my balance is negative?

Review your recent payments in your Activity to find out why your PayPal account balance could become negative.

Here are some potential reasons:

• You paid with direct debit using your bank account, but there wasn’t enough money in your bank account to cover the payment.
• A chargeback was filed through the Credit Card issuer – more information.
• We issued a refund on your behalf to cover a dispute/claim from the buyer.
• You received a chargeback and didn’t have any available balance in your PayPal account.
• A payment that doesn’t qualify for Seller Protection has been reversed.
• An unauthorized payment was made from your PayPal account.

If you think your balance is negative because someone used your account without your permission, report it immediately in the Resolution Center.

For all other cases, you can add money to bring your balance back to zero. Here’s how to add money to resolve the negative balance from the web:

1. Click Add Money under the negative balance on your account dashboard.
2. Click Add Money.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Here’s how to add money with debit cards to resolve the negative balance from the app:

1. Tap the negative balance on the home screen.
2. Tap Add Money.
3. Follow the instructions to add enough money to cover the negative balance.

If you add money by direct deposit using your bank account, it may take up to 3 - 5 working days to reflect and restore your account balance. 

While your account balance is negative, any payments you receive in your PayPal account will be applied to the outstanding balance, and any refunds you attempt will be funded by your primary bank.

If you don't resolve the negative balance within 120 days, your account maybe locked or limited. You will need to log on to self-service. If you are unable to log on and resolve, Contact Us. 

Note:

• If you have multiple currency balances in your account and one of the currency balances becomes negative, we may resolve this by using the money you maintain in a different currency balance.
• If you’ve had a negative balance in another currency for 21 days, we’ll turn it into US dollars.
• You can always bring your negative balance to zero by adding money to your PayPal account.