How to Use a Vanilla Mastercard/Visa With PayPal

The Vanilla MasterCard/Visa Card is a prepaid credit card that can be bought in several chain stores across Canada and the United States, including Shoppers Drug Mart and some PetroCanada stations. These cards generally won't work with PayPal if you just buy them and then try to add them to your PayPal account. This is because, for most PayPal accounts, the PayPal account holder name/address has to match the name/address associated with the credit card. Of course, since you just bought the card in a store, it won't have a name/address associated with it. In order to associate a name and address with the Vanilla MasterCard/Visa Card, you have to register the name/address of your PayPal account to the card. This can be done through the Vanilla MasterCard or Vanilla Visa website.

If you have a Vanilla MasterCard, then you have to go to the Vanilla MasterCard website. For Vanilla Visas you have to go to the Vanilla Visa website. There will be a "login" area on the page asking for the card number and serial number of the card. For the Vanilla MasterCard website it's along the top of the page, and for the Vanilla Visa website it's on the right side of the page.

Vanilla MasterCard Website Login

The first image is from the Vanilla MasterCard website, and the second is from the Vanilla Visa one. The card number is the 16-digit number on the front of your card. The serial number is located on the back of the card in the position shown:

Vanilla Card Serial Number

Enter the numbers into the login area on the website and press enter (or click either the "Go" or red and white arrow, depending on the site you're using.) You'll be taken to a page displaying your card balance and transactions. On the left side of this page, there's a menu with several options. You want to click on the "Register Your Card" option.

Clicking on it will take you to a page where you can fill in a name/address for the card, the name/address form looks like this:

Card Registration Form

Make sure the information you fill in is the same as the name/address associated with your PayPal account. A filled in form looks something like this:

Filled Card Registration Form

Once you've filled everything in, click the "Submit" button. Once you do, you will simply be returned to the registration page with the form blank and no indication that the registration has been carried out, which can be confusing. However, once you press submit, the name/address WILL be registered to the card, and you'll be able to use it with PayPal.