PayPal is a good company in general, but especially if you have bad credit. If you have bad credit, I'd suggest staying away from credit cards until you improve your score. It's going to be a long process. But it's a lot better than signing up for a credit card with really high interest rates. Probably the best route to go would be to go with a secured credit card. You load a couple of hundred bucks on there and it helps to build your credit over time.
I have used the Paypal prepaid mastercard before and it works great. I freelance a lot and get paid via paypal from many employers. It is nice to get access to my funds immediately instead of waiting 3 days for it to transfer to my bank. I highly recommend it. You can use it as a debit or credit transaction. They give you cashback on credit transactions. There are two different prepaid cards for some reason (and I am definitely talking about the prepaid card, not the regular paypal credit card). One has a monthly fee of 4.99 and the other doesn't. I found this out because I have 2 separate paypal accounts and got two cards with different designs/terms. I have no idea what the difference is between the two. I stopped using the one with the fee.
I don't want many credit cards because I don't like to owe. For practical reasons it's good to have one, but that is just enough.
Ah, I figured out the difference between my two Paypal debit cards in case anyone is looking at getting either one. One (the business debit) is solely linked to my paypal funds and the other can be used as a regular bank account (has services like direct deposit and such).
Credit unions are great if you're looking to build up or even rebuild your credit. Open up a savings account. In a couple months, get a secured loan against the funds you have in your savings account. After you successful pay off the loan, you're golden with the credit union. They will likely give you an unsecured credit card with a low balance. Use it wisely and they will increase your credit line. This method isn't quick, but it will help you build or repair your credit for the long term. I did this right out of college.
It's awesome if you are like me and frequently get paid through paypal. I don't have to fool with transferring the money into my bank account. I just keep it all on paypal. It helps me organize my money better, actually.
I too use the Paypal services for receiving money and sending. Its so safe and the customer service is so reliable you get a prompt response from them. I have a premier account on their site and its working well.
Paypal it pretty great indeed, I wonder how they manage to keep their service free to so many people, I guess that's how they got this big.