1. Do You Already Have Consumer Debt?

If you’re already swimming in debt, grabbing another credit card is one of the last things you should do. Even if the debt you have is so-called “good debt”—such as a mortgage loan or student loans—you should be wary about taking on more debt.

It’s easy to tell yourself that you’ll be responsible with a new credit card, but the only way to know for sure is by being honest with yourself and your current credit situation. Are you responsible with your current finances? If not, you probably won’t be with any new debt.

2. What Is Your Personal Credit Score?

As is true any time you apply for a new line of credit, Synchrony Bank will want to know your credit history before approving or rejecting your application. This means a hard credit inquiry, which will remain on your credit report for two years.

This means you shouldn’t apply unless you’re confident you’ll be approved. Getting a hard credit inquiry on your report and failing the approval process will leave you in a worse state than before.

3. Can You Get a Better Credit Card?

The rewards program for the PayPal Extras MasterCard is pretty good, but there are other credit cards with better rewards programs out there. If you qualify, you might as well shoot for them instead.

4. Are the Rewards Appealing to You?

The only reason to choose a PayPal Extras MasterCard over another credit card is if you prefer its rewards program, especially if you shop frequently with PayPal and/or eBay.

Indeed, a lot of people don’t realize that PayPal actually has its own shopping portal and directory where you can find a bunch of deals that you may not find elsewhere. On top of that, you get 2x reward points per $1 spent in the PayPal shopping portal (and on eBay).

Obviously, this only matters if you actually care about the stuff you can redeem using your PayPal reward points. Here are some of the more interesting things you can get:
At 800 points, you can get gift cards for restaurants, gas stations, retail stores, and more.
At 3,000 points, you can get direct merchandise of various kinds, including houseware, kitchenware, sports gear, electronics, gadgets, and more.
At 6,000 points, you can get a direct cash back reward with money deposited straight into your PayPal balance.
At 15,000 points, you can get travel vouchers for hotels, airfare, and car rentals.

5. Do You Support PayPal’s Business Practices?

Just because it’s popular and used by millions all over the world doesn’t mean that PayPal is doing things right—at least in terms of ethics and trust.

It’s no secret that thousands of people have been burned by PayPal in one way or another: frozen funds, lost transactions, closed accounts, and poor customer support. Maybe you’ve been okay so far, but you could be the next unsuspecting victim.

In a more abstract sense, you have to decide whether you’re willing to do business with PayPal while knowing that they aren’t treating their customers as well as they could be. Do you want your hard-earned money going to a company like that?

Maybe you don’t care, and that’s fine too. This is a personal decision and only you can make it, but for many it’s been bad enough to warrant boycotts against PayPal.