PayPal Friends & Family International Fees: US to UK, Card vs Bank

Sending money from the US to a friend in the UK: is a card or bank account cheaper? We calculated six transfers.

Suppose you are in the US and want to send USD 500.00 to family in the UK through PayPal. The payment screen offers a bank account or a credit or debit card. It looks like a simple funding choice, but the fees can differ quite a bit.

Here is the short answer: under the published US personal-account rates, sending USD 500.00 in USD with no currency conversion costs USD 4.99 from a bank account or USD 19.79 from a regular credit or debit card. The difference is USD 14.80. The sender pays these fees on top of the transfer amount, so the recipient still receives the specified USD 500.00, before any later conversion or withdrawal.

Scope and verification: a US-registered PayPal personal account sending to a UK-registered PayPal personal account through Friends & Family, using the US account fee schedule. We checked the official page on October 18, 2026; it states that it was last updated on May 19, 2026. Availability, exchange rates and the actual quote depend on the final payment screen.

MerchantFeeCalc Friends & Family calculator

Why does a card cost more than a bank account?

The US consumer fee schedule has two fee components. Here they are in calculation order.

First: the international personal-transfer fee. A US account sending Friends & Family to a personal account in another market pays 5.00% of the transfer, with a USD 0.99 minimum and a USD 4.99 maximum. This cross-border fee applies when using a bank account, PayPal balance or regular card.

Second: the card funding fee. A regular credit or debit card adds the US domestic personal-payment fee of 2.90% plus a fixed fee. For USD receipts, the fixed fee is USD 0.30. For GBP receipts, the official table lists GBP 0.20; you cannot simply reuse the USD 0.30 from the USD example.

For our consistent USD-only test with no conversion, we use these formulas:

International fee (USD) = min(max(transfer amount × 5.00%, USD 0.99), USD 4.99)
Bank / PayPal balance sending fee = international fee
Card sending fee = international fee + transfer amount × 2.90% + USD 0.30
Sender total = transfer amount + sending fee

One easy mistake: USD 4.99 caps the international component, not the total card fee. The extra 2.90% card charge is not capped at USD 4.99.

Official source: PayPal US consumer fees

Test 1: sending USD 10.00, USD 20.00, USD 50.00, USD 100.00, USD 500.00 and USD 1,000.00

To keep exchange rates out of the comparison, we hold these conditions constant:

• Sender: a US-registered PayPal personal account.
• Recipient: a UK-registered PayPal personal account.
• Payment type: Friends & Family, for a genuine personal transfer, not goods or services.
• Transfer amount and receiving currency: USD, assuming no currency conversion.
• Funding sources compared: an eligible linked bank account and a regular credit or debit card.
• Excluded: separate card-issuer charges, later GBP conversion, withdrawal costs and special account terms.

These results use the published formulas, rounded to USD cents:

The table shows two useful patterns.

First, small transfers have a minimum fee. On a USD 10.00 transfer, 5.00% is only USD 0.50, but the international minimum is USD 0.99. A bank-funded payment is not free.

Second, the international fee reaches its USD 4.99 cap at about USD 99.80. Above that amount, this bank-funded cross-border component stops rising, but the card’s 2.90% continues to grow. The gap between the funding methods generally gets larger as the transfer grows.

Work through a USD 500.00 transfer by hand

Using a bank account:

International fee = min(USD 500.00 × 5.00%, USD 4.99) = USD 4.99
Total = USD 500.00 + USD 4.99 = USD 504.99

Using a regular credit or debit card:

International fee = USD 4.99
Card percentage fee = USD 500.00 × 2.90% = USD 14.50
Card fixed fee = USD 0.30 (assuming USD receipts)
Total fee = USD 4.99 + USD 14.50 + USD 0.30 = USD 19.79
Total = USD 500.00 + USD 19.79 = USD 519.79

Difference = USD 519.79 − USD 504.99 = USD 14.80.

Test 2: what if the recipient actually wants GBP?

In practice, family or friends in the UK often want pounds rather than a USD balance. In that case, separate the sending fee from the exchange-rate difference.

The US fee schedule says that converting a personal payment so the recipient receives a different currency generally includes a 4.00% conversion spread, or another amount disclosed during payment. It is usually reflected in the exchange rate, not necessarily shown as a separate “4.00% fee”.

Rather than use a live USD/GBP rate, we use purely hypothetical rates to make the difference easy to see:

• Assumed reference rate: 1 USD = 0.7500 GBP.
• Assumed PayPal quoted rate: 1 USD = 0.7200 GBP.
• The second rate is exactly 4.00% lower.

Even if bank funding keeps the international sending fee at USD 4.99, conversion can still be a significant separate cost.

This table does not treat “PayPal 4.00%” as a separate fee that can always be added to the USD total. The currencies selected, PayPal’s actual exchange-rate basis and any card-issuer conversion can all change the final cost and GBP receipt.

In particular, when paying by card for direct GBP receipt, the fixed card fee follows the receiving-currency rule: GBP 0.20 for GBP. For an exact USD total involving fees in different currencies, use PayPal’s confirmation screen. Do not reuse the USD 19.79 calculated above for USD receipts.

So should you choose bank or card?

For an ordinary personal transfer, with no urgent need to use credit, we would first check the bank quote if a linked bank account is available. In our same-currency test, it avoids the card’s additional 2.90% plus fixed fee.

Before confirming a payment, compare in this order:

1. Confirm the payment type. Do not use Friends & Family to pay for goods or services.
2. Confirm the recipient’s account country. A UK-registered account matters, not simply whether the person is currently in the UK.
3. Use the same receiving goal. For example, compare both funding methods for a final receipt of GBP 300.00. Do not compare “send USD 500.00” with “receive GBP 500.00”.
4. View the bank and card confirmation screens separately. Compare the total payment, fees, exchange rate, receiving currency and expected receipt.
5. Check who converts the money. Card payments may sometimes offer card-network or issuer conversion. Availability and charges depend on the payment flow and the issuer’s rules.
6. Do not submit before you are sure. Note both final quotes before deciding.

PayPal explains payment methods and final checks in its sending-money help page, and card-versus-PayPal conversion in its foreign-currency payment guide:

• PayPal Help: How do I send money? Payment flow, funding choices and final confirmation.
• PayPal Help: paying in another currency. Checking the actual exchange rate and card-issuer conversion options.

Estimate with MerchantFeeCalc, then check with PayPal

We maintain the MerchantFeeCalc Friends & Family calculator so you do not have to search a long fee schedule every time.

MerchantFeeCalc Friends & Family calculator

To reproduce Test 1:

1. Select United States as the sender country and United Kingdom as the recipient country.
2. Select USD and enter 500.
3. Switch between Bank and Card to see the sending fee, sender total and recipient amount.
4. Compare with USD 4.99 / USD 19.79 above. If the currency or conversion mode differs, check the test conditions before assuming that the result is wrong.

The tool is best suited to estimates for verified, clearly defined, same-currency personal-payment scenarios. If the recipient needs GBP and the funding is in USD, we do not treat hypothetical rates as live PayPal quotes. The final converted amounts still depend on PayPal’s confirmation screen.

Questions that often cause confusion

Our conclusion

For PayPal Friends & Family from the US to the UK, check the funding method first, then the conversion method.

Our simulations use the same conditions and published rates:

• Send USD 100.00: bank fee USD 4.99, card fee USD 8.19.
• Send USD 500.00: bank fee USD 4.99, card fee USD 19.79.
• Send USD 1,000.00: bank fee USD 4.99, card fee USD 34.29.

With the same currency and no conversion, the card’s extra 2.90% becomes more noticeable as the transfer grows. But if the final goal is pounds, the exchange rate matters just as much.

Separate the costs, check them with the MerchantFeeCalc Friends & Family calculator, then use the amount shown by PayPal before payment as the final reference. That helps avoid missed charges and the mistake of treating one capped component as the entire cross-border payment cost.

MerchantFeeCalc Friends & Family calculator

Sources and test notes

Official information used in this article:

1. PayPal US consumer fees: domestic personal card fees, international personal-transfer fees, currency-specific fixed fees and conversion spread. Page updated May 19, 2026; checked October 18, 2026.
2. PayPal UK consumer fees: UK account rules and market scope. Do not apply the rules for a UK sender to a US sender.
3. PayPal Help: How do I send money? Payment flow, funding choices and final confirmation.
4. PayPal Help: Friends & Family versus Goods & Services. Personal-payment use and purchase-protection limits.
5. PayPal Help: paying in another currency. Checking the actual exchange rate and card-issuer conversion options.

Test method: the USD 10.00–USD 1,000.00 table is a formula-based simulation of published rates, not screenshots of completed payments. The GBP table uses invented reference and example PayPal rates only to illustrate exchange-rate differences; it is not a live rate or an account quote. Verify actual fees, availability, fee settlement currencies, offers, card charges and arrival details on PayPal’s confirmation screen.