Here’s our second article on how to use PayPay. Now that you’re hopefully all set with your account (if not, check out the previous article), let me share the different ways to add money on your account.
Charging your PayPay account via bank transfers
PayPay recommendation, and maybe the easiest, is to connect your account with your bank. Once they are connected, you will be able to top up easily from the application directly.
Warning: This option will only be available if your identity has been verified.
1. Tap on the arrow on the main screen of PayPay (it may say すべて or All depending on the language set on the app)
2. In Account, tap on 銀行口座登録 (ginkou kouza touroku) or Add Bank
3. Select your bank – unfortunately not all banks can be connected with PayPay. For example, you won’t be able to connect SMBC Prestia with the application. You can find the full list of accepted banks here.
4-… From then on you will receive specific information depending on your bank. You may need your one time password device. The number of screens will also vary depending on your bank. The last screen you will see will have a message along the lines of 口座の登録が完了しました (kouza no touroku ga kanryou shima shita, your account registration is complete)
On top of the need for your account to be verified to be able to link a bank account, you will have to have your name set in the same way in your bank account and PayPay account for it to work.
Charging your PayPay account with a credit card
First off, let me share right away that from January, 2025, you won’t be able to use any other credit card than the PayPay one. While it has the benefits of granting a bit more points, it has pretty bad reviews so I’m not sure it is worth it at this point.
The steps themselves are fairly simple:
1. Tap on the arrow on the main screen of PayPay (it may say すべて or All depending on the language set on the app)
2. Pick “Add card” in account (or カード追加, kaado tsuika)
3. Scan the card to prefill the numbers
4. Confirm
5. Done!
I did see on my account a little warning “until 2025”.
Charging your PayPay account via an ATM
Here’s the last option to charge your account – through a convenience store ATM. This option is available at Lawson and 7-eleven’s ATMs.
While it may seem a bit complex, it is not at all!
1. On the ATM of your choice, pick the option スマホ取引 (sumaho torihiki) or チャージ (charge) according to the ATM
2. In your PayPay application, tap “チャージ” or “Top Up”
3. Pick “ATM チャージ”/”ATM Top Up”
4. The QR code scanning screen will open, scan the code displayed on the ATM
5. Enter the security code appearing on your phone on the ATM
6. Insert the money you want to add into your PayPay account
7. Confirm the amount
8. You will have a confirmation screen on your application
9. It’s done! But note it can take up to 5 minutes for the new total to show up
PayPay even provides these two videos – in Japanese, but with the explanation above, you should be all set!
For 7-eleven ATMs:
And for Lawson ones:
And that’s it for this article! We explored all ways to charge your PayPay account so I hope you are now ready to go (and spend that money)!
Leave a Reply