PAPAL safety - need advice

I'm reaching my $2000.00 PayPal limit and in order to be verified (mandatory) I'll have to give them banking info that I haven't given out to anyone. It makes me feel really vulnerable and I'm hesitating to do it. I'm very concerned about identity theft.

If I do get verified (as a buyer only) can I keep using my credit card or do all subsequent purchases debit my bank account?

Any opinions and advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Brightnorm

Brightnorm,

Yes, you can keep using your credit card, but when you are going through the process of making a payment, the screen will default to your bank account, and you'll have to click on the "more funding options" icon every time. They seem to prefer that you use your automatic withdrawal.
I don't know how safe it is; I became verified a couple of months ago in the same fashon in order to purchase a laptop from ebay. My wife was so nervous about it, it made me nervous as well, and after the purchase I ended up removing the account. Identity theft is real, as we know some people that had substantial losses from their accounts. However, it was not through paypal, and I don't know the data on the prevalance, if any, of this type of event through them. Perhaps someone else can shed even more light on the subject.

John

That was my question to them about a year ago. Aa far as I know, once you give them the bank number the credit card acts only as a back up.

Regarding the security of all this, I trust them, and you send these data to them over a secure link. They're just as safe as eBay -- owned by eBay.

What a relief! I thought the pope had become even more dangerous!
Paypal, I see.

I was verified for about a year, with no problems, but I was nervous like you. Before I was veried on paypal, I had already had my creditcard number stolen, and a kid in Merced California, if I remember right, ordered about $1600 worth of stuff on it.

The only thing that saved me was that Outpost.com had incompetent customer service people. The way it was described to me, the scam was using a stolen number to order stuff, then in a day or two, after the purcahse was approved, call customer service and change the shipping address. Instead, those dimwits sent the stuff to me, and that's how I found out.
And after all that, they told me I would have to jump through hoops if I ever wanted to purchase anything from them, because I'd be "marked" somehow as a risky customer. Imagine that, I was the bad guy! So, I have never "wanted to purchase anything" from them since.

And, in short, I felt that there was safety in numbers, and I had already been zapped, so statistics were in my favor.

Can't you just cancel your account, and start another?

Re: PAYPAL safety - need advice

I linked my bank account to Paypal a couple of years ago, and haven't had any problems. But I don't have a credit card, so I can't help a lot there. I get turned away on ebay on occasion (when the seller says "credit cards only") but most of the time I'll just send them a money order and that keeps 'em happy.
I've had no identity theft problems with Paypal, and don't expect to.

Most people use Paypal fully registered without any problems. However, if you have a problem then you are without recourse. There is no one you can contact, there is no way to get back money that they may take incorrectly. If there are any complaints against you, or if someone else uses a contested credit card to pay you, even if you are not at fault at all, they can decide to lock your account, or just take whatever money they think should be refunded from your bank account.

They do this with an "internal review process" and you are not allowed any representation or recourse against what they decide, or even to provide any evidence or information to them. You will simply wake up one day and find your paypal account locked with however much money was in it, or money taken from your bank account of they feel thats necessary to repay someone who claims that they never got what you ordered.

But, as I said at the beginning, most people have no trouble at all. I however, will never allow them into my daily use bank accounts. Opening another account at your bank is cheap or free. It doesn't need to be a checking account and most savings accounts are free I think. At least here they are.

Take a few moments to open a second savings account. Put $50 in it and link paypal to that. Don't risk it, I can't imagine anything more annoying and damaging than having your paypal stuff go south in a way that affects your daily finances! Dont do it, get a separate account for them.

what james said, i opened a new acct for my daily finances and my old acct is for paypal only. i can move money back and forth with online banking. if they freeze that one, so be it, it affects nothing. you should always protect yourself.

I'm not a Catholic and I guess Shankus isn't either. However I do not trust the Pope! Check out this website.
http://www.cephasministry.com/catholic_upside_down_cross.html
Something funny is going on here and I'm going to find out what it is!

2DOGS:

You don't trust the Pope? My God! (some kind of pun there) The Pope must be at least 90 years old. What could he do to you? Unless of course, you are 91 years old.

Brightnorm: I have never had a Paypal account. I use credit cards where if fraud is involved, you pay nothing. If credit cards are not accepted, I get a USPS money order. I guess someone could swing with the MO without sending what you order, but then that would be using the mails to defraud. Levenworth time is the result.

I think James S's advise is excellent. And,if that's the way tkl works then you know it's right. Tkl knows how to squeeze the nickle. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I personally could never understand the concept of being a "verified" member, they have my name address and my credit care number. Anything purchased with a credit card is addressable. I NEVER felt comfortable giving them access to my bank account via routing numbers. Kind of like being a trusting soul sitting on the back of the turnup truck. I started thinking, why should access to my PERSONAL bank account make me special"verified" in some way. Exactly what does if verify? I think it verifies that they can have access to my personal funds with no ultimate say so as to how it is directed. Too much control for me. There was a big deal a few months ago about a lot of really unhappy paypal customers. I use it only because of the convenience and nothing more. If they made it mandatory to use paypal, I would simply do something else or, as the wise man suggested, open up a paypal, limited funds account.

I personally could never understand the concept of being a "verified" member, they have my name address and my credit care number. Anything purchased with a credit card is addressable. I NEVER felt comfortable giving them access to my bank account via routing numbers. Kind of like being a trusting soul sitting on the back of the turnup truck. I started thinking, why should access to my PERSONAL bank account make me special"verified" in some way. Exactly what does if verify? I think it verifies that they can have access to my personal funds with no ultimate say so as to how it is directed. Too much control for me. There was a big deal a few months ago about a lot of really unhappy paypal customers. I use it only because of the convenience and nothing more. If they made it mandatory to use paypal, I would simply do something else or, as the wise man suggested, open up a paypal, limited funds account.

Thanks all for very helpful advice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

James and tkl, Even if I use my CC wouldn't I have to maintain enough in my Paypal-specific bank account to cover whatever I purchased? tkl, I don't even feel comfortable enough to do online banking.

Frankly, I think this Verified Member business is__________(choose noun or adjective).

Thanks again,
Brightnorm

You don't have to keep anything in your account because they take the $ from your CC. The other advantage to paying with CC rather than paypal from your bank account is that if PayPal's protective services don't protect you you can resort to a chargeback on your CC. If you do that you may have your PayPal account locked though.

This has been troubling me ever since I got a PayPal account. I haven't hit the limit yet, so they still don't have my bank account. Opening a second bank account for PayPal sounds like the only prudent way to go.

I don't know it a bank will let you keep an account for very long if there is no activity in it. I had a bank account once that I didn't use for a few years, and there was a few hundred dollars in it. The bank made me close the account.

I have been a Paypal Verified member for a while now. This is their method of verifying who you are. (It is possible to get a CC that uses bogus name and SSN aka not yours.)

When you log into Paypal, you are in a Secure site (https://).

I have used Paypal for both CC and direct from my checking account transactions. I do NOT use it for keeping money in Paypal account. Only as a Transaction Service. I have had NO problems.

In fact, I'll be doing a Paypal transaction today.

In order to receive a CC transaction, you MUST be a Verified Business member. Personal accounts can only receive from bank account.

I'm with TKL. Find a bank that has a free account with no minimum balance and open one. Then link that one to PayPal. Transfer money into and out of the account as necessary. Yes it would be a pain, but it's better than someone getting your password and emptying your bank account unnoticed.

If there is an inactivity clause in the account restrictions, every few months add a few bucks and then take them back out again in another few months...

Any problem with having the two different accounts in the same bank?

BN

I wouldn't expect so... I havn't hit $2000 yet, so I havn't tried. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

do a web search on "paypal sucks" etc.

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shankus said:
Can't you just cancel your account, and start another?

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