I can't send $8 because it somehow exceeds my $212 sending limit.

[MCbombMC]

I am unable to send $8 to my friend because it exceeds my sending limit even though my limit is clearly $212 still. I have no idea how to fix this.

[snowshoe]

Is your account verified?   If no, doing so should resolve your issue.

There can be various reasons for the error you received however, unverified accounts seems to be one of the most common. 

[MCbombMC]

Still, I shouldn't have to verify my account, in which I do not want to either. It's been working fine until now and my sending limit still says it is at $212 left.

[snowshoe · Accepted solution]

Unfortunally that does not matter.  At some point, you'll need to verify your account.

Before you think this is all PayPal's fault, they also have to meet some legal requirements.  Here's a few details:

Financial institutions such as banks, credit card issues and 3rd party transaction processors such as PayPal are required by law to verify the identity of the person behind any and all Accounts into which money is collected.  This stems from the USA Patriot Act, Title III, Anti-money laundering to prevent terrorism where as institutions put into place reasonable steps to identify beneficial owners of bank accounts and those who are authorized to use or route funds through payable-through accounts.

 PayPal takes advantage of the fact that you had to prove to the bank you are who you say you are.  Therefore, by linking and confirming your bank account, the background work has already been done and PayPal has now met the legal requirements to protect themselves.

PayPal's FAQs state: To Verify your PayPal account, just link your bank account to your PayPal account or be approved for PayPal Smart Connect or the PayPal Plus MasterCard®. (Note, the PayPal Plus MasterCard was introduced in 2001.  In 2011 the name was changed to the PayPal Extras MasterCard.)

From experience, we’ve learned that in order to use PayPal without limits, it best to link and confirm a bank account (checking account) plus link and confirm a credit card (not the prepaid type) or register your SSN # or do all three.  (Note, when you link and confirm a credit card, this acts as additional proof of ID, a backup funding source and allows you to do instant transfers verses sending eChecks or in the UK eCheques.)

[MCbombMC]

Then how come it decided to stop working now?

[snowshoe · Accepted solution]

As previously stated, it's possible there's another reason however, you would need to contact customer support.  No one here has access to account details, customer support may be able to assist.

[MCbombMC]

Thanks mate.