PayPal Cashback Mastercard
No annual fee · 1.5% on everything else · 3.0% foreign transaction fee
Earn rates · how we got this
| Category | Rate | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Everything else | 1.5% | uncapped |
| Online retail at PayPal checkout only — anywhere else in this category the card earns its base rate, so it is excluded from every ranking on this site |
3% | uncapped |
Non-cash perks
- Unlimited 3% cash back on purchases paid through PayPal checkout with this card selected (1.5% everywhere else Mastercard is accepted)
- Cash back earns as purchases post; redeem any amount, any time, to your PayPal balance or linked bank/debit card
- Stacks with PayPal merchant offers saved in the PayPal app
- Virtual card usable for PayPal purchases immediately on approval
- Up to 6 authorized users (they earn 1.5% only; their cards cannot be linked to a PayPal account)
- Mastercard ID Theft Protection and World Mastercard benefits per the Synchrony Mastercard Guide to Benefits
- Requires an active PayPal account in good standing
Does the fee earn out? · how we got this
No annual fee, so every point earned is pure upside. The question is only whether its rates beat the other cards already in your wallet — which depends on your spending, not the card.
Check the current offer on the issuer's site → Where a card link will appear once available — no link on this page pays us today.
Who this card is not for
Every point below is a term the issuer prints, read off this card's own row in our database — not an opinion about the card. two things on this card rule out a kind of spender:
- Anyone who doesn't spend at PayPal checkout. Its largest printed rate, 3% on online retail, pays only at PayPal checkout. Anywhere else it earns its base 1.5%, so the headline number is a loyalty rate rather than a category rate — which is why no ranking on this site counts it.
- Anyone who spends abroad. Every purchase in a foreign currency carries a 3.0% foreign transaction fee. On a card earning 1.5¢ per dollar at the base rate, that fee costs more than the rewards on the same purchase.
More from Synchrony Bank
Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →
Verified 2026-09-03 against issuer terms · sources: www.paypal.com · www.paypal.com · www.nerdwallet.com. Spot an error? Tell us.