2026-10-12 · 12 min read

Does PayPal close inactive accounts? US, UK and EU rules

Does PayPal close inactive accounts? In the US it may after two years without a login. See EU inactivity fees, UK rules, and how to recover escheated funds.

PayPal doesn't close inactive accounts automatically, but the US User Agreement lets it close one after two or more years without a login and send the balance to your verified primary address or your state's unclaimed property office. In France, Spain and the Netherlands, and for business accounts in six other EU countries, the risk is a fee: after 12 months of inactivity PayPal may charge the lesser of your balance or EUR 10 each year. The UK agreement has no inactivity fee and no dormancy clause.

Does PayPal close inactive accounts automatically?#

No. The US "Dormant accounts" clause says PayPal "may" close the account after two or more years without a login. Closure is PayPal's choice, not a fixed countdown.

In the EU the order is different. PayPal's inactivity fee article says that once an account stays inactive and no longer has a positive balance, PayPal may close it under the "Closing your PayPal Account" section of the User Agreement. The fee drains the balance first, then the empty account becomes closable. A forgotten EUR 25 balance, for example, is gone after three yearly charges of EUR 10, EUR 10 and EUR 5.

What does PayPal count as activity?#

PayPal's inactivity fee article lists five actions that count:

logging in
paying with PayPal
sending money to friends or family
withdrawing money
donating to charity through PayPal

The German User Agreement defines it from the other side: "inactive" means not logging in and not using the account to send, receive or withdraw money. The US clause is narrower. Its only trigger is two or more years without logging in, so a payment made without logging in to the account does not obviously count there.

How do the US, UK and EU rules compare?#

	United States	United Kingdom	France, Spain, Netherlands	Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland
Trigger	No login	No dormancy clause found	No login and no sending, receiving or withdrawing	Same as France, but for business accounts only
Time period	Two or more years	None stated	12 consecutive months	12 consecutive months
Inactivity fee	None in the agreement	None found	Lesser of balance or EUR 10, charged yearly	Same fee, for business accounts only
What happens to the money	Sent to your verified primary address, or escheated to your state (or Delaware)	You can withdraw it, apart from funds under a permitted hold	The fee is taken from the balance; once there's no positive balance, the account may be closed	Same as France, for business accounts
Notice before closure	Notice to you, and payment of any unrestricted funds on termination	Usually at least 90 days, with reasons	Not compared here; see the closing clause of your country's agreement	Germany: at least 2 months when PayPal closes at its convenience

Sources for each column: US User Agreement, UK User Agreement, the agreements for France, Spain and the Netherlands, and the German User Agreement.

Will PayPal close my US account for inactivity?#

It can, if you haven't logged in for two or more years. Under the US User Agreement, a contract with PayPal, Inc. that covers US accounts only, PayPal may then close the account. Any money, including the balance in a linked Balance Account, goes to one of two places:

Your primary address, if PayPal has verified your identifying information.
Your state of residency, if the law requires PayPal to escheat (turn over) the funds.

The US agreement has no inactivity fee. A search of the full text (last updated September 14, 2026) finds no "inactive" or "inactivity fee" wording, so the "Dormant accounts" clause is the only US rule about inactivity.

Where does a dormant US balance go?#

PayPal works out your state of residency from the state in your account's primary address. If that address is unknown or registered in a foreign country, the funds go to the State of Delaware.

Delaware also appears in the governing-law clause, which says Delaware law governs the agreement. That clause is separate from the escheat rule. A US resident with a known address in Ohio would have funds sent to Ohio, not Delaware.

Where the law requires it, PayPal sends a notice before escheating funds. If you don't respond, the money goes to the state, and from then on you claim it from that state's unclaimed property administrator, not from PayPal.

How do I get PayPal money back from a state?#

Search your state's official unclaimed property website first. NAUPA, the national association of state unclaimed property administrators, says searching an official state site is free.
Run a multistate search on MissingMoney.com. NAUPA sponsors the site, and Delaware describes it as a free search across forty-nine state databases, including Delaware's own.
Check Delaware directly if your address was missing or outside the US. Delaware's property can be searched at unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov, according to the state's 2025 release.
Search every state you've lived in. NAUPA notes that you can have unclaimed property in more than one state and advises checking each one you've lived or done business in.
Don't pay a finder. Official state searches are free, and NAUPA's own example claimant got their property back at no cost.

Escheatment itself is avoidable: Delaware says owners can avoid it by responding to notification letters promptly.

Is there a PayPal inactivity fee, and how much is it?#

Yes, in certain countries, and only for accounts that haven't been active in the past 12 months. The fee is the lesser of your balance or EUR 10. Zero-balance accounts aren't charged, and the fee can't push a balance below zero.

The French consumer fees page lists the cap in nine currencies:

Currency	Maximum yearly fee
Euro	10.00 EUR
British pound	9.00 GBP
Swiss franc	10.00 CHF
Czech koruna	270 CZK
Danish krone	75 DKK
Hungarian forint	3,600 HUF
Norwegian krone	105 NOK
Polish złoty	45 PLN
Swedish krona	100 SEK

The 9.00 GBP figure applies to pound balances held in accounts covered by that fee schedule. It doesn't mean UK accounts pay a fee.

PayPal's fee article mentions notifications sent from September 19, 2024 and a November 1, 2024 deadline to avoid the fee. Those dates belong to the 2024 cycle; the article gives no dates for later years.

Which countries charge the fee, and does it hit personal accounts?#

PayPal's agreements name nine EU countries with the fee: in three it can hit personal accounts, and in the other six only business accounts.

Country	Personal accounts	Business accounts	Basis
Germany	Not charged	May be charged	User Agreement, merchant fees page
Austria	Not charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Greece	Not charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Hungary	Not charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Poland	Not charged (the clause is written for business accounts)	May be charged	User Agreement
Italy	Not affected, according to PayPal's help article	May be charged	User Agreement, help947
France	May be charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Spain	May be charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Netherlands	May be charged	May be charged	User Agreement
Ireland	No clause found	No clause found	User Agreement
United Kingdom	No fee found	No fee found	User Agreement

Italy is where the agreement and the help article disagree. Its User Agreement clause has no sentence exempting personal accounts. PayPal's help article, however, says Italian personal accounts aren't affected, and that personal accounts in all six countries in the top half of the table were left out of the 2023 assessment.

Does the UK have an inactivity fee or a dormancy rule?#

No. The UK User Agreement, last updated 12 October 2026, contains no inactivity fee and no dormant-account clause. It is a contract with PayPal UK Ltd and covers residents of the UK, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The UK consumer fees page also lists no inactivity fee.

PayPal UK Ltd is authorised by the FCA as an electronic money institution (firm reference number 994790). If it decides to close your account for any reason, it will usually give at least 90 days' notice and explain why, and you can withdraw your funds except any under a permitted hold.

Can PayPal close my account for any reason?#

Yes. The US, UK and German agreements all let PayPal close an account without cause, but they differ on notice and on what happens to your funds.

US: PayPal can end the agreement or its services for any reason, at any time, upon notice to you. On termination, it pays you any unrestricted funds held in the account.
UK: PayPal usually gives at least 90 days' notice with its reasons, and you can withdraw funds that aren't under a permitted hold.
Germany: PayPal can close an account at its convenience with at least 2 months' notice, or at any time for good cause.

How do I close a PayPal account cleanly?#

In the US, closing is free, but you're still responsible for any obligations left on the account. PayPal's US closing guide gives these steps:

Go to Settings.
Under Account options, click Close your account.
Click Close Account.

The agreement says you may not be able to close the account in certain cases, including when:

a transaction is still pending
a dispute or claim is open
your balance is negative
the account has a hold, limitation or reserve

Closing also cancels any scheduled or incomplete transactions. The UK guide gives the same steps and the same warning: a closed account can't be reopened.

What should I check to keep a PayPal account active or close it cleanly?#

Checklist to keep it active

Log in at least once every 12 months. That resets the EU 12-month window and stays well inside the US two-year window.
If you hold a balance in France, Spain or the Netherlands, any of the five counted actions resets the clock, including withdrawing the balance.
If you run a business account in Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy or Poland, set a yearly reminder, since business accounts are the ones the fee applies to there.
In the US, keep your primary address current. It decides which state receives your funds, and an unknown or foreign address sends them to Delaware.
In the US, verify your identifying information. PayPal only sends dormant funds to your address if it has verified that information.
Answer any PayPal escheat notice. The agreement says funds are escheated if you fail to respond.

Checklist to close it cleanly

Withdraw or transfer the whole balance, including any linked Balance Account.
Wait for pending transactions to clear, and settle any open disputes or claims.
Clear any negative balance, hold, limitation or reserve.
Expect any scheduled payments to be cancelled.
Go to Settings, then Account options, then Close your account.
Treat it as permanent: the account can't be reopened.

What if other people rely on the PayPal account?#

PayPal's dormancy rules only cover the owner who stops logging in. They do nothing for a client, partner or family member who needs that balance while the owner can't be reached. If that's your situation, read what happens to a PayPal account when its owner can't be reached. Proceedly handles that handoff: you check in on a schedule, and if you miss a check-in past a grace window, a person you name confirms before your encrypted plan reaches the people who depend on you. The plan says where the account lives and who to contact, never the password.

FAQ#

Does PayPal delete inactive accounts?#

PayPal's terms talk about closing accounts, not deleting them. In the US, PayPal may close an account after two or more years without a login and then send the funds to your verified address or your state.

Does logging in reset the inactivity clock?#

Yes. Logging in is the first activity PayPal lists, and it is the only trigger in the US dormancy clause.

Can PayPal charge an inactivity fee on a zero balance?#

No. Zero-balance accounts aren't charged, and the fee can't push a balance below zero.

Do US accounts pay an inactivity fee?#

No. The US User Agreement contains no inactivity fee. Its only inactivity rule is the "Dormant accounts" clause.

Why would my PayPal money end up in Delaware?#

Only if PayPal has no known address for you, or your address is registered in a foreign country. Otherwise the funds go to the state in your primary address.

Do I have to pay to recover escheated PayPal funds?#

No. Searching your state's official site and MissingMoney.com is free, and you make the claim with the state's unclaimed property administrator.

Can I reopen a closed PayPal account?#

No. Both the US and UK help pages say a closed account can't be reopened.