posted on March 17, 2002 02:16:00 PM new
After reading the many horror stories account holders have encountered with PayPal, I decided to withdraw my funds, over 5,000. My original plans were to leave the money in the account and draw the money market rate and let this be my retirement account. However, I can not take a chance and allow PayPal to freeze my account. Thanks to all that submitted your experiences with PayPal. PayPal must be willing to protect its customers (account holders) and less willing to protect individuals out to get a free piece of merchandise from these customers. If they are not willing to do this their demise is inevitable. Again, I regret you all had problems with PayPal, but thanks for the warning.
posted on March 18, 2002 12:48:05 AM new
Very smart move. I strongly suggest that anyone insistant on staying with PrayPal to empty their account each time there is a deposit made into it. It's the only way to be safe from their unorthodox practices, unless you signed up after they changed the (we can't ever go into your personal bank account and take your money) rule. If you signed up after then you are powerless to stop them from doing whatever they want with your money whether its in your PrayPal account or your own personal bank account.
posted on March 18, 2002 05:29:03 AM new
please ,do not make paypal part of your retirement portfolio.
us treasury has a program called treasury direct,you fill out a form,send them minimum of 5000 and your bank account number,they will deposit the interest in your bank account .after 3 months,if you choose not to reinvest,that 5000 will be returned to you.
if you believe short term interest rate is rising,you can ride the rise!!!and sleep at nite.
it buys you time to think what else is out there,there is a website which explains all these/
there are also many money market mutual funds out there which earn as much interest as paypal money account,if not more.
posted on March 18, 2002 11:59:15 PM newdealerjim
Could you explain again what you mean about PayPal being able to take money out of a members checking account.
Does this pertain to older members or just newer members & when did this come about.
How on Earth could they do that, seems no different than PP coming into your home & walking out with your wallet.
posted on March 19, 2002 01:23:02 AM new
They changed their TOS so that they can now take money out of your personal bank account if someone does a chargeback against you and your PayPal account is empty. I think they changed this rule in Oct. or Nov. of 2001. Opens up a whole new ball game for fraud in my opinion. Pretty sad, huh?
posted on March 19, 2002 08:16:30 AM new
From a buyer's point of view, PayPal also seems to prefer taking money from your checking account over your credit card. When you "verify" your account, by giving your bank information, the default to then becomes taking future purchases from you checking account. If you happen to use the quick pay option, which becomes available once you verify, you have to override the quickpay to hit your credit card instead of your bank account. I find this policy really confusing, especially given that most people who verify are only doing so to increase their spending limit on their credit card and had no intention in using their bank account. (And never thought that the checking would become the default.)
I had recent incident where I had a no delivery of goods and in the process of doing something about it, found that the purchase came from my checking account, and not my credit card. After I stopped payment on the checking account, which PayPal then transfers the amount to the credit card, they put my account on restriction. Even though they found the seller at fault and credited my credit card for the full amount, they won't take my account off restriction until I give them full authorization to withdraw from my bank account. Given my experience, and the experiences of others here, I refuse. (Damon refuses to admit that the policy is a problem, and to do anything about it... no surprise.)
posted on March 19, 2002 08:19:08 AM new
i know if you have a merchant account with a credit card processor,it can deposit funds in your bank account as well as reverse funds deposited due to chargeback,also debit your account for monthly fee and chargebacks.
this is causing overdraft situation with some sellers who have merchant account,when the cc processor reversed a deposit due to chargeback,there may not be enough money in the account and the seller is slapped with an overdraft fee of 25 dollars from his bank.
as the seller fights the chargeback and submit necessary documents ,its cc processor would reverse the chargeback and deposit the sum in his account.
but this victory could prove temporary as the cardholder credit card issuer ruled against the seller.
in this case,the seller cc processor will attempt to debit the account again,and if there is not enough fund in that account,wham,seller bank will slap another overdraft fee.
i dont know what the solution is,but i think the stakes of doing business on the web will rise and the prime venue providers will ask for more from sellers,no different than the scenario on land-choice location,higher fees!!
posted on March 19, 2002 09:50:26 AM new
This does not apply to older members. Sadly, here is an excerpt from PayPal's TOS:
If you open a Premier or Business Account after October 11, 2001, you authorize PayPal to debit your bank account linked to that PayPal account for the amount that you owe PayPal on transactions which were not covered by the Seller Protection Policy and which were not recoverable from your PayPal balance.
posted on March 19, 2002 01:32:28 PM new
Thank goodness I dont have a paypal account. I could not sleep at night if they could draw money out of my bank account! Sounds like leaving the fox in the hen house.
posted on March 19, 2002 11:32:30 PM new
I have a personal account, opened long before 10/11/2001.
Can PP take money out of my checking account without my permission?
I sometimes use my checking account to pay for a purchase if there is no money in my PP account. If PP makes this transaction they must have some sort of access to my account, but could they take money out for other reasons, chargebacks, stolen credit cards, etc?
The way I read the terms of service, on your personal account the answer is no. But to accept credit card payments, you need to register for or upgrade to a 'Premier or Business Account'. So if you're asking about a reversal of a credit card transaction, I'm assuming you have one of these type of accounts also(?)
I guess there's a question for damon in there. Your terms of service talk about 'if you open a premier or business account on or after 10/11/2001'... What if you opened a personal account well before, but upgraded to or added a premier or business after 10/2001? As far as PayPal's ability to debit your bank account for chargebacks, etc.
posted on March 20, 2002 09:59:31 AM new
I doubt it applies to any accounts opened before 10/2001, since the rule was put there in 10/2001 and I don't think they would make that dirastic a change for accounts before the rule was in place (but who knows).
But, as for the question of a personal account, they can not accept credit card payments. From what I know, PayPal will only go after getting the money back from a complaint if it is a credit card chargeback, since the credit card company forces PayPal to give the money back. Since personal accounts can't even accept credit card payments, I don't think they could take money out of your bank account. For buyer complaints, if you have no money in your PayPal account, they will just tell the buyer that you have no money in your account.
posted on March 21, 2002 07:53:38 AM new
Based on previous explanations by Paypal, they don't ever follow their own rules and policies. The answer is that they are going to do whatever is necessary to collect money, regardless of what you signed up for, or didn't sign up for.
I've known of several cases in the last two years where they just stole the money directly out of the checking account. In one case it was over $4,000! Then they just said: "Whoops, sorry! As soon as the dispute is settled, we'll return the money if you are cleared".
They are not governed by any federal, state or local agency, they are not a bank, so they can do whatever they want.
posted on March 21, 2002 02:21:07 PM new
Thats what so many people are worried about. Trusting your finances to a company that can do whatever they want with them is just not a good idea, unless you don't care about your money.
posted on March 26, 2002 07:03:32 PM new
____
I doubt it applies to any accounts opened before 10/2001, since the rule was put there in 10/2001 and I don't think they would make that dirastic a change for accounts before the rule was in place (but who knows).
____
There is no "Grandfather clause" in this TOS. Every change that has been made since you signed up is in effect.
If you are a long-standing customer, and haven't taken the time to read the TOS lately, I'd do so. You may be surprized at what you find.
posted on March 26, 2002 09:59:23 PM new
Paypal/Damon keeps telling me that they won't take money out of my bank account, unless I authorize it. Then they do things like defaulting your account to your bank account after verifying your credit card account. Add to that, a quickpay user interface that doesn't let you know CLEARLY that the money is coming out of your checking account. (As far as I'm concerned... that's taking it out without permission!)
If I never have any intent of taking money out of my bank account, why do they want me to sign an agreement that allows them to take money from my account? (They know that the account is valid, and the know they have a valid credit card.) I concur with the other comments... they'll do whatever is necessary to recoup their money. The postings on this board prove it!
posted on March 27, 2002 09:17:28 PM new
TMMamoru, if they make a change, yes, it applies, but this specific change said it only applied to sign-ups after a specific date:
If you open a Premier or Business Account after October 11, 2001, you authorize PayPal to debit your bank account linked to that PayPal account for the amount that you owe PayPal on transactions which were not covered by the Seller Protection Policy and which were not recoverable from your PayPal balance.
