PayPal Surprise - Page 2

rhadin · 07-08-2009, 02:04 PM

I have consistently refused to give PayPal access to my bank accounts and only use a credit card for transactions. The credit cards (in the U.S.) do come with protection. When I needed a verified account, I chose to apply for a PayPal credit card that I never use; I always pay with another credit card.

I filed complaints with the New York Attorneys General office and with the U.S. Department of Justice about PayPal's credit card policies to no avail. Even my credit card companies who were being hurt by the policies wouldn't do anything. My complaint had to do with being verified. PayPal insists that you either give it a bank account or apply for one of its GE Credit credit cards to get verified. I wanted to know why my American Express card wouldn't serve the same purpose. The response was that PayPal would conduct a thorough investigation before issuing the card and know I was creditworthy. How could they know whether Amex did the same. So I applied and in less than 10 seconds was approved. How thorough that investigation must have been.

They gave me the card but I've never used and have no intention of using it. So who lost on that deal?

ilovejedd · 07-08-2009, 02:12 PM

You have to give them your social security number and they do a credit check on you before they give you a credit card. The credit check would show all your other credit card accounts, mortgage, car payments, liens, bankruptcies, etc. I'd say that's pretty thorough.

yvanleterrible · 07-08-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwallbaum

...I had a PayPal account which sent me an email saying that a substantial amount of money was being sent to a vendor. This was the standard confirmation email.

I had not authorized such a payment, but I didn't panic since I had no money in the PayPal account anyway. But I called the PayPal help line to discuss the issue.

...

Has anyone has other experiences like this with PayPal? And yes, I am cancelling my PayPal account as a result of this, which is a pity, for PayPal struck me as a really neat idea...

I regularly get phishing spam about my Paypal account, asking me to log on their bogus page.
Would you have contacted Paypal from that email or did you go from your favorites link?

dwallbaum · 07-09-2009, 01:25 PM

<<I regularly get phishing spam about my Paypal account, asking me to log on their bogus page.
Would you have contacted Paypal from that email or did you go from your favorites link? >>

No, I went to paypal.com directly to find the contact info. I too have gotten quite a bit of phishing email from "paypal" -- latest one from "pay.pal.com" which I thought was rather clever.

I called the bank and they were able to stop the transfer of money from the account so all is well and lessons learned. Paypal is going to be in the past for me now, unless like others I devote an account exclusively for PayPal transactions, but frankly, that is more hassle than it is worth.

I don't know where PP makes its money, I assume from the receiver of the funds, but I am not going to futz with it anymore. Had I not seen that email when I did, the money would be gone by now. PP, to its credit, did without question agree to return any funds transferred, but there still would have been a delay in getting the money back into the account. The amount involved was $1150, and this is not a trivial amount for me. So I am well glad to have this over.

Don

wodin · 07-09-2009, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

I regularly get phishing spam about my Paypal account, asking me to log on their bogus page.
Would you have contacted Paypal from that email or did you go from your favorites link?

As do I, and I don't even have a PayPal account; and that is one of the reasons that I don't!

rhadin · 07-09-2009, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

You have to give them your social security number and they do a credit check on you before they give you a credit card. The credit check would show all your other credit card accounts, mortgage, car payments, liens, bankruptcies, etc. I'd say that's pretty thorough.

In 10 seconds?

ilovejedd · 07-09-2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhadin

In 10 seconds?

Sure, why not? If you can get a copy of your credit report and credit score online from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion instantly, they can too. It's not as if a person is requesting and analyzing the report, anyway. A computer does all that so it can be done pretty quickly.

JSWolf · 07-09-2009, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toomanybooks

http://free.avg.com/

I have had good results with this free program.

I found AVG to slow down the computer. Comodo seems to work faster and gives you more security, less false positives and when you tell Comodo to ignore something it does. AVG has a lot of false positives and doesn't ignore things when you tell it to.

JSWolf · 07-09-2009, 05:24 PM

I had a problem once when I bought something from eBay that was not exactly as advertised. It was a used Rio Karma that was advertised like new. The seller said he GF put up the auction. But after going round and round with the seller, I just got fed up and contacted PayPal. I was refunded my money and I didn't even have to give the Rio Karma to them or to the seller.

yvanleterrible · 07-09-2009, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwallbaum

<<I regularly get phishing spam about my Paypal account, asking me to log on their bogus page.
Would you have contacted Paypal from that email or did you go from your favorites link? >>

No, I went to paypal.com directly to find the contact info. I too have gotten quite a bit of phishing email from "paypal" -- latest one from "pay.pal.com" which I thought was rather clever.

I called the bank and they were able to stop the transfer of money from the account so all is well and lessons learned. Paypal is going to be in the past for me now, unless like others I devote an account exclusively for PayPal transactions, but frankly, that is more hassle than it is worth.

I don't know where PP makes its money, I assume from the receiver of the funds, but I am not going to futz with it anymore. Had I not seen that email when I did, the money would be gone by now. PP, to its credit, did without question agree to return any funds transferred, but there still would have been a delay in getting the money back into the account. The amount involved was $1150, and this is not a trivial amount for me. So I am well glad to have this over.

Don

They take a surcharge of 3% from the seller.

HarryT · 07-10-2009, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

They take a surcharge of 3% from the seller.

Not from the seller - from the receiver. If someone sends you $100, you will only receive $97.

yvanleterrible · 07-10-2009, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not from the seller - from the receiver. If someone sends you $100, you will only receive $97.

We mean the same thing. If I sell a product for $100, I would recieve $97 from my client via Paypal, but I am the seller of the product, that's what I meant.

HarryT · 07-10-2009, 06:42 AM

OK, yes, we mean the same thing

.

Sweetpea · 07-12-2009, 03:19 AM

One thing I like about using pay PayPal is that your money is protected. If you don't agree with the money tranfer, you get 45 days to settle it.

I've been using PayPal for a long time now, and never had any problem with it. I do use a unique password for it that I don't use anywhere else.

About those phishing mails, I also get them from my email provider (or rather, they say they are from my email provider). As soon as anybody asks for a password or confirmation of information, a lot of red lights, sirens, air alarms, and fire alarms should go off...

HarryT · 07-12-2009, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

One thing I like about using pay PayPal is that your money is protected. If you don't agree with the money tranfer, you get 45 days to settle it.

I don't know what the situation is in other countries but, as I've mentioned previously, in the UK, PayPal are a bank, subject to the same financial regulations as any other bank. Specifically that means that your money is fully protected against fradulent transactions and, should anything happen to PayPal, your deposits with them of up to (I think) £30,000 would be safe.

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07-08-2009, 02:04 PM	#16
rhadin Literacy = Understanding Posts: 4,833 Karma: 59674358 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The World of Books Device: Nook, Nook Tablet	I have consistently refused to give PayPal access to my bank accounts and only use a credit card for transactions. The credit cards (in the U.S.) do come with protection. When I needed a verified account, I chose to apply for a PayPal credit card that I never use; I always pay with another credit card. I filed complaints with the New York Attorneys General office and with the U.S. Department of Justice about PayPal's credit card policies to no avail. Even my credit card companies who were being hurt by the policies wouldn't do anything. My complaint had to do with being verified. PayPal insists that you either give it a bank account or apply for one of its GE Credit credit cards to get verified. I wanted to know why my American Express card wouldn't serve the same purpose. The response was that PayPal would conduct a thorough investigation before issuing the card and know I was creditworthy. How could they know whether Amex did the same. So I applied and in less than 10 seconds was approved. How thorough that investigation must have been. They gave me the card but I've never used and have no intention of using it. So who lost on that deal?

07-08-2009, 02:12 PM	#17
ilovejedd hopeless n00b Posts: 5,110 Karma: 19597086 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: in the middle of nowhere Device: PW4, PW3, Libra H2O, iPad 10.5, iPad 11, iPad 12.9	You have to give them your social security number and they do a credit check on you before they give you a credit card. The credit check would show all your other credit card accounts, mortgage, car payments, liens, bankruptcies, etc. I'd say that's pretty thorough.

07-09-2009, 01:25 PM	#19
dwallbaum Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 77 Join Date: May 2009 Device: Kindle2	<<I regularly get phishing spam about my Paypal account, asking me to log on their bogus page. Would you have contacted Paypal from that email or did you go from your favorites link? >> No, I went to paypal.com directly to find the contact info. I too have gotten quite a bit of phishing email from "paypal" -- latest one from "pay.pal.com" which I thought was rather clever. I called the bank and they were able to stop the transfer of money from the account so all is well and lessons learned. Paypal is going to be in the past for me now, unless like others I devote an account exclusively for PayPal transactions, but frankly, that is more hassle than it is worth. I don't know where PP makes its money, I assume from the receiver of the funds, but I am not going to futz with it anymore. Had I not seen that email when I did, the money would be gone by now. PP, to its credit, did without question agree to return any funds transferred, but there still would have been a delay in getting the money back into the account. The amount involved was $1150, and this is not a trivial amount for me. So I am well glad to have this over. Don

07-09-2009, 05:24 PM	#24
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,796 Karma: 146391129 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I had a problem once when I bought something from eBay that was not exactly as advertised. It was a used Rio Karma that was advertised like new. The seller said he GF put up the auction. But after going round and round with the seller, I just got fed up and contacted PayPal. I was refunded my money and I didn't even have to give the Rio Karma to them or to the seller.

07-10-2009, 06:42 AM	#28
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,556 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	OK, yes, we mean the same thing .

07-12-2009, 03:19 AM	#29
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	One thing I like about using pay PayPal is that your money is protected. If you don't agree with the money tranfer, you get 45 days to settle it. I've been using PayPal for a long time now, and never had any problem with it. I do use a unique password for it that I don't use anywhere else. About those phishing mails, I also get them from my email provider (or rather, they say they are from my email provider). As soon as anybody asks for a password or confirmation of information, a lot of red lights, sirens, air alarms, and fire alarms should go off...