Sending cash to family via PayPal with HSBC credit card - treated as cash advance?

max...

I have various payment methods linked to my PP account.  Just sending a payment to my son via Friends and Family and I can use my HSBC 0% credit card with no fee charged by PP.  But does HSBC count this as a cash advance? 

la531983

I would say almost certainly it would be.

max...

Actually checking back to my previous John Lewis CC this has always been the main source of funds to my PP account previously (changed to the 0% HSBC to get some free credit for 17 months) and there have never been any charges levied by JL in all the various F+F payments via PP?

Fingerbobs

It varies by card, but I've never been charged any cash advance fees on my Barclaycard when sending money to Friends and Family. 

If I select my Santander card to pay with, a warning pops up that the card may charge fees for the transaction. This warning doesn't appear when I select Barclaycard as the source.

Post edited because the previous info has now become incorrect.

Fingerbobs

Fingerbobs said:

It varies by card, but I've never been charged any cash advance fees on my Barclaycard when sending money to Friends and Family. 

If I select my Santander card to pay with, a warning pops up that the card may charge fees for the transaction. This warning doesn't appear when I select Barclaycard as the source. 

UPDATE: As of April 2025, the cash warning now appears against my Barclaycard in the PayPal app, and indeed Barclaycard have now started treating PayPal F&F transactions as Cash Advances.

COIAHLGW

I would always assume however it would be treated as a cash advance.  This is as the recipient could always give you back the money in cash, circumventing the system in place.

SamDude

Fingerbobs said:

Fingerbobs said:

It varies by card, but I've never been charged any cash advance fees on my Barclaycard when sending money to Friends and Family. 

If I select my Santander card to pay with, a warning pops up that the card may charge fees for the transaction. This warning doesn't appear when I select Barclaycard as the source. 

UPDATE: As of April 2025, the cash warning now appears against my Barclaycard in the PayPal app, and indeed Barclaycard have now started treating PayPal F&F transactions as Cash Advances.

I've seen the Barclaycard warning for over a year but it's not been treated as cash (last time was in Feb, so not sure if they've actually changed it recently)

Exodi

It would be daft if they didn't treat it as a cash advance...

I mean PayPal wouldn't know that the recipient is actually friends or family, you could just send money to your own current account using F&F...

(Or someone more nefarious than you may ask their son to send them the money in your situation, not that I'd suggest you'd do this).

Fingerbobs

SamDude said:

Fingerbobs said:

Fingerbobs said:

It varies by card, but I've never been charged any cash advance fees on my Barclaycard when sending money to Friends and Family. 

If I select my Santander card to pay with, a warning pops up that the card may charge fees for the transaction. This warning doesn't appear when I select Barclaycard as the source. 

UPDATE: As of April 2025, the cash warning now appears against my Barclaycard in the PayPal app, and indeed Barclaycard have now started treating PayPal F&F transactions as Cash Advances.

I've seen the Barclaycard warning for over a year but it's not been treated as cash (last time was in Feb, so not sure if they've actually changed it recently)

Interesting. I've been sending PayPal F&F payments for a few years (at least one a month, usually more frequently), originally using my Santander credit card, but switching to Barclaycard when the warning started appearing against the Santander card.
When the warning started appearing against Barclaycard at the beginning of this month, I took a calculated hit and sent the payment anyway, and it was indeed treated as cash, for the first time ever. 
PayPal also now knows that I earn 0.5% cashback on the Barclaycard, and proudly announces this when I make a payment, as if I didn't know. 

DullGreyGuy

Fingerbobs said:

PayPal also now knows that I earn 0.5% cashback on the Barclaycard, and proudly announces this when I make a payment, as if I didn't know. 

Well the cash back costs them nothing and whilst it may not influence a F&F payment decision it may sway someone who's borderline on if they decide to make a purchase or if they really should wait til next month etc. Won't have cost them much to code up the messages and if it sways just a couple of BPs of users to proceed who'd have otherwise pulled out it'll easily have paid for itself.

sausage_time

Is there any reason to use PayPal for F&F?  Seems to me that Faster Payments and the likes of Wise are better suited.