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As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: olnacl
Date: March 03, 2011 06:43PM
Just got an email from PayPal saying my bank account was out of funds - put some in. Went online to my bank and sure enuf, nada. Every time I make a PP payment, the windows says if sufficient funds are not available, the payment will be charged to my credit card on file. So I have been sorta complacent as some money has come in and some has gone out, basically small amounts both ways, then this. A call to PP got the information that, well, really, they don't do that but keep trying to get funds from an empty bank account by resubmitting the charge. Then, after a few days and (in my case anyway) three attempts, they sent an email saying no funds are available. My bank, in their infinite wisdom, never sent anything informing me of an overdraft situation, just returned the same request three times and charged my (still empty) checking account $36 each time. That there is 10 large in my savings account made no never mind.
So tomorrow I'll march down to the bank office and see if they'll drop the three return charges. If not, I'll close all but my IRA accounts (that will wait until they mature - not that foregoing some 0.045% interest would matter much).
I've already filled out the form to cancel my Paypal account.
Yeah, I'm pi$$ed!
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: space-time
Date: March 03, 2011 06:50PM
wow, thanks for the warning.

I closed my bank account, and made a few paypal payments, but luckily, each time I selected the CC as funding source. I am going to log on and DELETE that closed account right now.

how you get your situation resolved in your favour
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: Speedy
Date: March 03, 2011 07:28PM
Yup, the blame lies with PP, not your bank.



Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: kap
Date: March 03, 2011 09:20PM
I am just starting out with paypal. Reading two negative experiences so far on this forum makes me wonder if it's worthy the trouble.



SoCal for now.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: olnacl
Date: March 03, 2011 09:42PM
I suppose it's like any dealing with any institution. If you don't S-T-U-D-Y the fine print, you are going to get $crewed. Never mind where on every transaction (in my case) it said it would use the charge card on file if bank funds were insufficient. I didn't read the fine print on the entire TOS and for that I take responsibility. I'm sure somewhere in there it says that reassurance is bogus.
OTOH, I am no longer a customer of their service.
And if my bank of 15 years does not credit the three $36 charges for ISF tomorrow, the result will be the same with them.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: tenders
Date: March 03, 2011 11:07PM
I would also fire my bank on principle if they charged me $36 x 3 for what PayPal did. There is no basis for that level of fee for the cost they incurred for declining the transfer (ie virtually $0) ESPECIALLY since they made no effort to tell you about the first instance.

If they forgave 2 of the 3 charges I would probably chalk that up to a lesson learned about Paypal. Paypal makes a ton of money shuffling cash amongst its customers. I think it breaks even when credit cards are the source of the bux.

I think trying to take multiple bites of your bank account apple when the first bite comes up empty makes it look like they're in cahoots with your bank to squeeze fees out of you. I'm the farthest thing possible from an attorney but that sounds like the kind of thing that someday turns into a class-action lawsuit.

Thank you for sharing this experience.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: kap
Date: March 03, 2011 11:31PM
I had a long talk with an assistant manager at our local CU this morning regarding the miscellaneious fees. In few words, I told her that our CU was starting to look a lot like Chase. And the reasons why we are no longer with that bank. She promised to take up my opinions with the upper management.



SoCal for now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2011 11:32PM by kap.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: trisho.
Date: March 04, 2011 05:28AM
This same issue actually happened to me mid last year too. I was completely shocked that PayPal tried 3 times instead of just using the AMEX on file as backup...and that Citibank let them. I was able to get Citibank to refund two of the fees but still hurt my feelings.

I think the theory about it being a corroboration between PayPal and the banks seems plausible. I wondered the same thing when it happened.



trisho.
----------------
Official Card-Carrying Mother Earthin' Sl*t.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: modelamac
Date: March 04, 2011 06:18AM
I count the my cash in my pocket before I buy anything with cash. Before I buy anything on credit, be it online or B&M, I make sure the funds are available. It is a checklist I go through every single time. I have monthly bills automatically charged to a particular credit card that deliberately has a very low limit, and pay it off at the end of each month. I always have 2 months worth of bills value sitting in my checking account for sending out auto-payments online.

I am the only person responsible for maintaining sufficient balances in my accounts, not Paypal, not a bank. They are just agents and couriers, regardless of terms of service. It isn't rocket science. The buck stops here.

.



Ed (modelamac)

Trying to figure out some people is like trying to smell the number 9.
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Re: As long as we're bit••ing about financial institutions…
Posted by: olnacl
Date: March 04, 2011 06:56AM
Modelamac, I agree with you. The buck does stop with me for not reading every line of the fine print in the PayPal agreement (I still haven't). However, their prominent display of the text stating (essentially) that in the case of insufficient bank balance charges would would be placed on my on file credit card seems like deliberate misrepresentation of the actual policy. That gave me a false sense of security and led me to pay little attention to my PayPal and/or checking account balance (solely maintained for PayPal use).
OTOH, the bank, IMHO, should have notified me immediately upon the first overdraft, not simply charging me $36 for a $4.99 overdraft and then charging for two additional overdraft fees when drafts were presented. That's the argument I'll present today when I go into the bank. I have the checking account, a savings account and several IRA CDs so if I don't get satisfaction I'll close the lot. I have offers from a couple banks that will give me a $100 award for opening an account. That will repay me for the OD fees and give me the small satisfaction of sticking it to "the man" anyway.
PayPal is dead as far as I'm concerned.
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