No Funds in Bank Account

[fickle]

True story.

I had no funds in my bank account, PayPal withdrew the money anyway, caused an overdraft, then immediately deposited the money back. Then, PayPal took the money from my back-up payment method, successfully. I'm out $45 from the unecessary overdraft.

The next transaction (a few days after) with the same situation, except PayPal changed my back-up method, the payment failed on both attempts PayPal marked it as successful. I'm out $45 from the unecessary overdraft. 

A few days later, PayPal realized that they didn't get money for the second transaction, so they put a balance owning on my PayPal account for the amount from the first transaction. The amount was withdrawn from my bank account and PayPal balance hasn't changed.

What in the flying !@#$ is going on? Is this how PayPal works? I've actually lost $90 Canadaian from these two transactions.

[kernowlass]

@fickle

Sorry but you would be the one that bought an item and authorised paypal to use your bank account to fund it.

If you had no funds in that bank account why did you buy the item??

[fickle]

What an illogical argument. I authorized PayPal to withdraw funds from an account with funds in it. If it didn't have funds it was to go to the backup payment method, which it did, after unnecessarily causing an overdraft. What reason does PayPal have to withdraw funds from an account with none, to only put it back and state declined in the status of the transaction then to proceed to the backup and withdraw from there? It received the money for the chequing account, why put it back? That's called coercing with banks to rip off consumers. Why would any bank allow a third party to cause an overdraft on a chequing account? Simple answer again. I'm waiting to see the word wizadry you use, to cover up this scam of a system.

[DPCreations]

PayPal has no way of knowing if funds are in the account until it makes an attempted withdrawal; by that time it's too late as the bank's response is the NSF charge.  Its'a all part of the banking system, not PayPal.

[fickle]

---

@DPCreations wrote:

PayPal has no way of knowing if funds are in the account until it makes an attempted withdrawal; by that time it's too late as the bank's response is the NSF charge.  Its'a all part of the banking system, not PayPal.

---

Are you kidding me? How would PayPal have no way of knowing if you have no funds in the account? The withdrawal is like any other debit transaction. The debit transaction indicates no funds available and declines the purchase. Banks don't just allow people to arbitrarily overdraft on retail purchases, there would be people going into negatives all of the time when their cards get stolen leading to larger issues than just account theft.

Banks don't return NSF notifications to the teller, that's confidential information. The teller gets the money or it doesnt, there's no 'here's the money but just as an FYI, the guy overdrafted'.

Let me guess, you think PayPal and major banks haven't sat at a table and thought about ways to not take advantage of consumers. You must still think companies with money as their core business make profit from being generous by allowing people to use their free service, they get a cut from this **bleep**.

[kernowlass]

@fickle

You authorised them to take funds from your bank account with no funds in it.......hmmmm so you don't know you have no funds in it when you buy but expect paypal to know??

If you had no funds then why did you not select your CARD when you completed checkout?

If you had then paypal would have used your card.

But no you told them to take it from your bank account so that is exactly what they tried to do.

If you don't select a card when you checkout but instead select a bank account with no funds in it then word wizardry hardly applies, i would think common sense would be more applicable.

[fickle]

Let me ask you something, what's more convenient and logical for customer experience?

1. Let a system that is suppose to protect your money through online purchases overdraft you and then proceed to withdraw funds from your backup account?

Or

2. Let a system that is suppose to protect your money through online purchases not withdraw funds from an account that has no balance and then use the backup account?

And don't tell me PayPal doesn't receive a declined notification before they withdraw the funds. Transaction history proves otherwise. You don't mark a transaction as declined when you successfully withdraw. This is lucrative for banks and PayPal no doubtely receives a cut.

Follow-up questions:

Which of two allows PayPal and banks to make money?

Is the intention of a backup account to ensure a purchase goes through regardless of the outcome for the consumer? The word backup is used in the context to be there when you need it to be a safety net, not cause you more grief. It's not backing me up if its making a purchase 3x the amount if I would have not used PayPal to begin with. What incentive is there for someone to use a backup account?  This is called deception. It should be called a secondary account or not called anything other than "other account". 

This has nothing to do with common sense. This has to do with unclear mechanics of PayPal's withdrawal procedures and deceptive verbiage to misdirect and laying fault to the consumer. Believe it or not, some of us don't sit around all day lomg reading the ToS and criticising those who expect proper consumer protection. I'm glad you find time in your day to 'volunteer' but you're sure as **bleep** terrible at helping anyone. Your attitude is as poor as PayPals integrity.which really isn't surprising, since it seems they don't care about the consumer. Why spend money on training qualified agents to address issues...

I suppose the changing of my backup card is part of a randomization algoritm just to mix things up when purchasing items? Lol I'm done with this company. Might I add, I truly love the misdirect from the rest of issues I experienced. Kudos on that! They must have taught you that one well.

[kernowlass]

@fickle

I am an ebay seller that helps on here, we get no training.

But reading your posts i can understand how you lack understanding on how simple things work so i will give you a hint....volunteer means I don't work for paypal.

Secondly its very simple IF YOU HAVE NO FUNDS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT THEN DO NOT AUTHORISE PAYPAL TO USE THAT METHOD TO PAY FOR YOUR PURCHASES.

Most folks find it easy enough to click on change and select a credit card to fund their purchase instead.

Not sure why its so hard for you to do that as well.

If you are finding it so hard to pay for an item something millions of folks manage every day then i guess the best thing would be to "have done with the company"..   

Bye, you can post again but it won't be read........ 

[fickle]

It's truly incredible how you continue to evade answering my questions, hypothetical or not. The account is often refilled with money; I'm not a broke person trying to use PayPal. So, please don't portray me as someone moron who doesn't know simple logic; whereas you seem to convey the same message over and over without addressing my points, in full capslock--Are you new to the internet? 

I'm not using PayPal as a means to hold information for two accounts (that's idiotic), I can do that perfectly well. I'm using PayPal to protect my accounts from fraudulant activity and to simplify the purchasing process by using login credentials (which I can remember) rather than remembering my card information and expecting something called "Back-Up Card" to be there to fulfill the purchasing process without charging me more money. What kind of back-up account would I want set-up where I get charged more than if I were to just have the **bleep** card in my hand, and use it anyway? If you can't understand this simple logic then you're either a shill trying to get me off topic, an absolute moron, or someone who can't seem to see the big picture of what business with money at their core, are doing.

Interestingly enough, I am unable to go into a retail store and buy something exceeding my bank account's balance. PayPal, using the same method and authority I have to withdraw funds from my account, is able to withdraw from my account causing a temporary deficit and overdraft. Did I simplify the issue for your little brain or are you going to spew incoherent garbage in full caps again for us all to witness your short temper and low IQ?

Thanks for coming out Volunteer Advisor, it's good to see PayPal doesn't care about their consumers by simply having someone like you, misrepresenting their company.

[ShadowFalls]

Actually you are a complete moron. You are using your bank account. Paypal drafts directly from your account the same way you might make a credit card or other type of payment directly from your bank account. You aren't  protecting by the required Opt-in Overdraft protection law for these transactions, just transactions made with your debit card basically.

With these types of transactions, Paypal or any other bank has no idea how much you have in your account. It attempts to do it, cannot, the bank charges the fee because of your mistake in selecting the correct payment method and Paypal does what it is supposed to and tries the Backup method. It cannot skip to Backup because the system is designed to go in order and Paypal has no way of knowing if sufficient funds are in your account. If you primary account was a credit card, it would try to charge it and fail, but bank account transfers don't work that way nor are they are instant.

In short, it is your fault. If you cannot accept that, sorry that is your problem in the end. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse.