In addition to connecting your bank account to PayPal, you can also use credit cards with the online payment service.

You can use most major credit cards on PayPal, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and more.

If you prefer, you can also link debit cards with Visa or MasterCard logos to your PayPal account. You can add multiple cards to your account and use whichever one you prefer when making a purchase.

From your web browser:

1. Go to paypal.com/activatecard.

2. Log in to your account and enter the required information.

3. Click Activate Card.

You may need to provide your date of birth and Social Security number as required by the USA Patriot Act.

1. Log in to your PayPal account.

2. Tap the Settings cog at the top right corner.

3. Select PayPal Cash Card.

4. Enter the required information.

5. Click Activate Card.

Upon completing activation, you'll be to use your card with your available PayPal Cash Plus balance right away.

You can also activate your PayPal Cash Card by calling our 24 hour automated activation line and following the steps provided.

Open the PayPal website in a browser and log in if necessary.

2. If you're not on the Wallet page, tap "Wallet" at the top of the screen.

3. Tap "Link a debit or credit card."

4. In the "Link a card manually" section, tap "Debit or credit card" and then follow the instructions to enter your credit card number.

PayPal has been around since 1998 when it emerged as a popular way to pay for purchases on eBay. But many still ask, is PayPal safe? If PayPal wasn't as safe or safer to use than a credit card, cash, or a check, it would have been consigned to the rubbish heap of dead websites long ago.

In fact, it could be said that enabling safe transactions is PayPal's only job. But the job keeps growing and the challenges are never-ending. PayPal now has an estimated 360 million users around the world and offers several products. Every one of those products is designed to make it safe to send or receive money, electronically or in person.

So, is Paypal safe? That's not quite the right question. Paypal has a range of weapons in place to keep other people's paws off your money. But the weapons are most effective when you, the PayPal customer, take some basic precautions as well.

To this day, PayPal is the default payment option for eBay purchases. But it also is the fifth most-used payment method at all online retailers, after Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

• The PayPal mobile app, which enables contactless payments at real-world retailers.

• The Venmo mobile app, which is primarily used for person-to-person money transfers and routine day-to-day transactions.

• Xoom, a person-to-person payment app that is used to make electronic money transfers globally.

• The PayPal Cash Card, a debit card for use online or in-store, issued in a co-branding deal with MasterCard.

• A PayPal credit card, issued with CitiBank.

Every one of these products is designed with the sole purpose of transferring money securely.

Here's the problem: PayPal is safe from hackers, but you aren't. They are looking for vulnerabilities in your purchasing activity, online and in the real world.

All PayPal transaction data are sent with end-to-end encryption designed to thwart any hacker seeking to capture private information as it moves from buyer to seller. This means your financial information isn't revealed even to the recipient.

PayPal app users can employ a second authorization factor to make each transaction safer. After enabling the Security Key feature, you'll get a temporary security code by text message to enter in addition to your password.

PayPal's Security Measures

PayPal has other policies that are designed to address some of the fraudulent activities and miscellaneous shenanigans that evolved with web commerce:

• The PayPal Purchase Protection policy ensures that users are reimbursed in full, including shipping costs, if a product purchased online using PayPal arrives and is "significantly different from its description." It doesn't cover absolutely all purchases, but If you order a wedding gown and get a dishrag, you're covered.

• If an order paid using PayPal doesn't arrive, you can report it and get a refund.

• If an unauthorized purchase is made on your account, you're not liable for it if it is reported within 60 days.

PayPal's procedures are pretty much the top of the industry standard for electronic transactions these days. That doesn't mean that every bank that issues a credit card meets the industry standard.

Slava Gomzin, author of "Hacking Point of Sale: Payment Application Secrets, Threats, and Solutions," supports PayPal's claims for safety. “If you have a choice on the web, always select PayPal,” Gomzin says.

PayPal even pays hackers if they find vulnerabilities in its systems. According to Dean Turner, director of security intelligence at PayPal, "If you care about the product [and] you care about your customers, you care about your customers' security—this is what you have to do.

PayPal Credit card companies have been known to be resistant to some of the cybersecurity practices that PayPal employs. According to the Financial Services Roundtable, the banking industry does not pay hackers to alert them to security flaws, for example.

PayPal, on the other hand, is the Holy Grail for hackers. Just because the company hasn’t ever been seriously hacked doesn’t mean that it never will be.