Using Paypal to transfer money

I posted earlier about transferring pounds to dollars. I was trying to go through my English bank (Natwest) to my American bank but I have to write a letter to them and I think the whole process is going to take a while.  I need to get my money over here asap as I need a downpayment for a car.
I was wanting to use Paypal but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I have my English checking account on Paypal. Would I be able to transfer if I add my American account to Paypal? I'm just clueless at this! Can someone whose used Paypal please guide me?

I think I almost have it figured out but when I go to "withdraw" it says I can add a bank account but it wants an English account and asks for the sort code. I don't know how to add my American account or how to even just wire the money to it....

Answered in the other thread you asked this in:
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=71334.0

As DrSuper said in your other post, you need TWO paypal accounts.  One for the US linked to a US account and one in the UK linked to a UK account.  When you log in to your US paypal account, you can send your self money by sending it to your UK paypal.  You then transfer the money into your UK bank.  It usually takes 5-7 business days for it to show up in your bank. 

Setting up an account takes a bit of time as well.  You will have to verify the bank account associated with it.  Paypal will make a coupe of very small deposits (usually a few cents).  You will then have to check your account for these deposits and then log into paypal to verify them.  It may be quicker now, but when I set up mine a couple of years ago, it took a few days for the verification to be completed.  Not real helpful if you are in a hurry now, but setting it all up now will help you out for later transactions.

Thank you so very much! I will do this NOW! I did not see the other post.

Ok so I have both accounts- I just need to try to figure out how to send it from my UK account to my US account. Do I click on "withdraw" and then somehow have it sent to my US account? That is the part I'm confused about. Sorry!!

You send money from your UK paypal account to your US paypal account using the 'Send Money' function in the UK account. You send it to the e-mail address of your US paypal account and choose 'personal' and 'other'. The UK paypal account withdraws the money from the UK bank account and it arrives in the US paypal account. Then you click withdraw in the US paypal account and it sends the money to your US bank account.

Thank you so much. That sounds like it makes more sense now. I guess I'll wait and see once my UK funds end up in the UK paypal.

No, the payment from the UK bank account to the US paypal account is pretty much instant. You log onto the UK paypal account, go through the send money process, and the funds go almost immediately from the UK bank account to the US paypal account via the UK paypal account. The bit that takes time is getting from the US paypal account to the US bank account, and that is the 'withdraw' bit. You don't use the 'withdraw function at all in the UK paypal account. Here's a simpler flow explanation:

Use 'Send Money' button on UK paypal account --> Enter US paypal e-mail address you want to send the money to --> money is immediately taken by UK paypal from UK bank account --> money immediately shows up in US paypal account --> Use 'withdraw' button in US paypal account --> several days later, money arrives in US bank account

That is now totally clear to me and it makes complete sense. I am now just waiting for my money from my UK bank account to show up in my UK paypal account which is taking a few days. Thanks for teaching me!

Sorry, but I still don't understand what you mean. There shouldn't be any point where money from your UK bank account 'shows up' in your UK paypal account. When you send money Paypal automatically takes money form the bank account and sends it. It doesn't show up in your UK paypal account at all.

Oh no, I'm not sure what I've done then. I thought I had to transfer my funds from UK bank account to paypal. Right now it says my balance is 0, but it says that a transfer from my bank account (for the amount I want to convert over) is "processing". Since the balance said 0 when I first wanted to do this, I assumed I had to transfer it over to paypal first. Did I make a major mistake? What should I do?! Kinda freaking out now!

Ok, and now I'm REALLY freaking out because the money is no longer in my UK account- but it is not showing up in Paypal- it still says balance is 0 and a gross sum of my uk amount that i wanted to transfer is still processing. Do you think this will ever show up in my balance so i can transfer. Really kinda worried now and confused now!

No, it's ok, you just did it the long and hard way. Presumably you used the Add Funds function, which moves money from your UK bank account into the UK Paypal account. This is not necessary to do, but now that you've done it, you just have to wait for the money to appear. You then use this money to pay into your US Paypal account as described above. In future, just use the send money function and it will all happen automatically without you needing to wait as long. The function you've used is if you want to have spending money in your Paypal account for some reason rather than having it take the money from your bank each time.