Paypal has launched a new credit card service. The move is the first time the company, owned by eBay, has taken its focus away from the Internet offline.

Although run as a separate company, and not directly linked to the users paypal account, customers will get standard online fraud and ID protection.

The card is currently only available to US residents, however they should be pleased to hear that the offering, backed by Washington Mutual, will give them an answer within 30 seconds as to whether or not they are accepted.

The card is also offering 0 per cent interest for 6 months on purchases and balances however depending on your credit rating the interest could jump to a whopping 23.99 per cent thereafter.

Paypal, says that it will be contacting 100,000 premium Paypal users before offering everyone a chance to get the card.

Paypal isn't the first internet site to launch its own credit card service in an attempt to assist customers to purchase more goods online. Amazon.com also offers a credit card to its customers that rewards them for spending money on the online store.

Last week Paypal announced that it launched a payment system for mobile phone users.