Excellent question!
I'm glad your son was able to resecure their PayPal account password. I hope their password is strong and unique to their PayPal account to prevent a situation like this from happing!
In regards to the refund, it depends on how the money was sent. If the funds were sent via their PayPal balance, the money will be returned immediately.
If the payment was made using a debit or credit card, the money will be returned to their card balance in 3 - 5 business days on average. However, some financial institutions can take as long as 30 days, albeit this is uncommon and one can contact them to see if they can capture the refund faster.
If the payment was made using his bank account as an ACH transfer, times can vary between 3 - 5 business days or until the payment clears with their bank. If a bank account is used to make a payment, PayPal will either send the payment out its own budget and wait for the bank transfer to finish processing or the funds would be sent as an eCheck. Either way, the refund will be available in the sender's PayPal balance once the payment has settled with the bank. Once the refund has been processed, the money can be withdrawn to the bank, which can be completed within 24 hours but can take 3 - 5 business days to update the user's bank balance depending on the financial institution.
I hope you find this answer helpful. Thanks for being part of the PayPal Community!
- PayPal_Rich
As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters always point in the right direction.
- Irish Proverb
