PayPal, Multicaja facilitate dollar payments without international credit card

US online payments platform PayPal and Chilean digital transactional services company Multicaja have announced a partnership whereby users can top up their PayPal accounts with dollars by paying with pesos transferred from their Chilean bank accounts.

The service is designed for Chileans that do not have a credit card that can be used for overseas purchases.

PayPal is working on a series of initiatives to help Latin Americans shop more abroad with credit cards that are not authorized to make purchases outside the country.

In Brazil PayPal and a local bank developed an international prepaid card that can be used for making purchases abroad with PayPal where the foreign exchange rate is locked at the time of purchase.

Increasing amounts of Latin Americans are shopping abroad, with levels reaching 62% of Mexicans and 50% of Brazilians. However, shipping costs, time of delivery and expensive customs duties are seen as some of the other hindrances.

PayPal has also been working on initiatives to boost e-commerce and small business ventures in Latin America through agreements with local retailers and payment systems.

In April 2013, PayPal and Multicaja signed an agreement that allowed Chilean companies to accept payments from abroad and have them deposited in their bank accounts in local currency within five working days.

In September of the same year PayPal formed an alliance with Chile's state-funded business incubator Start-Up Chile to help boost the start-up culture in the country through e-commerce

Commenting on the latest alliance, Multicaja president Javier Etcheberry said: "Since we started our partnership with PayPal we have helped professionals, technicians and small businesses export and accept payments from more than 200 countries."

"Now with this new service the same users and others will be able to add dollars to their PayPal accounts with money from their checking, savings and other accounts, a true opportunity for those that don't have an international credit card."

According to Carlos Barella, commercial manager of Bootic, a platform that simplifies the management of online stories for SMEs, "the services and options offered by PayPal and Multicaja are advantageous for companies like ours that want to increase our sales. Now we can buy and sell to many countries in a safer and easier way."