How to Use or Withdraw a USD PayPal Balance Outside the US (Europe, 2026)

This guide is for non-US PayPal users, such as people with a PayPal account in Finland or elsewhere in Europe. US accounts work differently and can link US bank accounts directly.

In short: If you have a USD balance in a European PayPal account, the cheapest option is usually to spend it in USD with a merchant that accepts PayPal. If you withdraw it, PayPal converts it to your local currency, such as EUR, at a rate about 3–4% worse than the market rate. You can withdraw to a Wise EUR account, but a European PayPal account can’t send USD to Wise USD account details, so PayPal’s conversion can’t be avoided that way.

The problem: a USD balance in a European account

I first ran into this in 2020. Money came into my PayPal account in US dollars, and I wanted to use it for an online subscription that was also priced in dollars. The USD-to-USD payment should have been simple, but it turned out not to be.

PayPal accounts in Europe can hold balances in several currencies. Problems start when you want to get the money out of PayPal in the same currency it arrived in.

Option 1: spend the balance in USD

This is the cheapest option, because no conversion is needed.

• Online shops. When you pay with PayPal at a merchant that charges in USD, PayPal uses your USD balance first.
• Subscriptions. For recurring payments, check which payment method is selected. Subscriptions are often charged to a linked card instead of the balance. You can review this under automatic payments in your PayPal settings. In 2020 I found that most subscription services would not take my balance at all, although Netflix did.
• Pay in the right currency. If a merchant offers to charge you in EUR instead of USD, PayPal converts your USD balance with its own rate. Choose USD when you have a USD balance.

Option 2: withdraw to your own bank in EUR

You can link a European bank account to PayPal and transfer the balance there. In the PayPal app or website, go to Wallet, open your PayPal balance and choose Transfer money.

The transfer itself is usually free, but the currency conversion is not. PayPal converts USD to EUR at its own rate, which includes a markup of roughly 3–4% over the market rate. When I tried it on 5 June 2020, PayPal offered 1.00 USD = 0.854182 EUR while the interbank rate was 0.88758 EUR. That was about 3.9% worse.

On 1,000 USD, a 3.5% markup costs about 35 USD.

Option 3: withdraw to Wise

Wise gives you account details in several currencies. It is natural to think you could link Wise’s USD details to PayPal and move the dollars without converting them. For a European PayPal account, this doesn’t work.

• A European PayPal account can only link bank accounts that match the country and currency of the PayPal account. In Finland, that means a euro account with an IBAN.
• You can link a Wise EUR account (its IBAN) to a European PayPal account, like any European bank.
• You can’t link Wise USD account details (a US account and routing number) to a European PayPal account.

So when you withdraw a USD balance to Wise, PayPal still converts it to EUR first with its own markup. Wise only receives euros. Using Wise doesn’t save money on the PayPal conversion, although it can be handy if you want to keep your money in Wise anyway.

In 2020 I also tried Xoom, PayPal’s money transfer service, to send USD to my Wise USD details. A USD-to-USD transfer wasn’t possible from a European account.

Option 4: let PayPal convert inside your account

You can also convert the balance to EUR inside PayPal and then withdraw it. The rate is the same PayPal rate, so this doesn’t save money. It only lets you choose the moment of conversion.

Which option should you choose?

Tips to lose less money

• Avoid the USD balance in the first place. If you sell or invoice internationally, ask to be paid in EUR or by bank transfer, so PayPal doesn’t convert anything.
• Check PayPal’s fee page for your country. Conversion markups and withdrawal fees differ between countries and change over time.
• Compare with the market rate. Before you confirm a withdrawal, compare PayPal’s rate with the mid-market rate, for example on Wise’s currency converter, so you know what the conversion costs.
• Don’t pay the merchant in the “wrong” currency. If the shop’s price is in USD and you have USD, pay in USD.

Jean Galea’s guide to withdrawing money from PayPal for non-US accounts covers the same issue and is a useful second read.