PayPal Student Debit Card

[Zanxnaz]

Has anyone received an email stating that the student debit card service was closing? I received an email that states: Effective November 15, 2016, all student Accounts will be closed, and any remaining funds in them will be transferred to the associated parent’s PayPal account. Are they really terminating this program or is this a spoof email? I just reordered my sons debit card and it arrived last week!

[gives]

This is a legit e-mail, all links are valid paypal.com links and it passes DKIM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys_Identified_Mail).  Plus they have been having issues off and on with student accounts for a couple weeks now, and seemed not very motivated to fix the issues long-term, so when I got this e-mail it all made sense why there was no big need to fix any of the issues.  Add to that they also just changed their Terms of Service for their normal accounts, the timing of this e-mail can't be coincidental.

To the person asking about Simple.  I've only been using Simple for a few months now, ever since Google terminated their Google Wallet Card (just the Card was terminated not Google Wallet in general).  Simple gave me $20 free to try them out.  I've been happy with them, though it's not my main account.  Also at first I was disappointment that bank transfers weren't instantaneous like they were with Google Wallet (I use it more on-demand), but once I discovered Square Cash that issue was solved.  I love the fact I can turn Simple's debit card off and back on anytime I want, and would be perfect for children who might occasionally misplace their card.  But given Simple is not for anyone under 18, that point is moot.  It's free (no fees or extra charges), so if someone is over 18, it doesn't cost anything to give them a try.

[Zoellnut]

I as well am extremely frustrated over the e-mails received on this without any way to validate except to wait on hold for 26 minutes only to be told that upper management made the decision to not update the student account pages with their recent update.  No further explanation as to what prompted this decision.  Very poor timing with school starting if you use this for your kids under 18 who are driving and use this for your piece of mind if they need money while they are away from home. Very disappointed in how this was handled by PayPal.  My kids have had these since they were 13 years old and family paid them for babysitting, grass cutting, etc. on the cards rather than dealing with cashing checks and carrying cash around.  Pitiful communication from a company that has been around too long to treat loyal customers this way. 

[skyguyy]

I still can't believe that 3 days after us all getting this email there is still nothing on their website or notifications on our actual account.  If it's all true...which I'm still not sure it is....it's a TERRIBLE way to do business. 

[bolharr2250]

Tons of us have called reps and confirmed. It is indeed real. The card and account become unusable on Sept 29th, and all funds must be transferred out of the account by Nov 15th

[pcjpdx]

Here's the thing. Even if your kid HAS a bank account, the PayPal student card was an excellent way to keep my kids' spending money separate from their savings. Not to mention the fact that I could see exactly where they were spending the funds that I put on their student card.  Maybe Visa Checkout, which appears to compete with PayPal, would be interested in this opportunity.

[MoreHelpNeeded]

I share the "I can't believe they are doing this" feeling and am disgusted with the way Paypal has handled the cancellation - and especially with the fact that there is NOTHING on their website about this AND they still appear to be offering student accounts.

My immediate problem is: how do I cancel the recurring transfer I had set up from my Paypal account to my son's Paypal account? I used to auto-transfer $10/week into his student account, but I cannot find anywhere on the site how to cancel this transfer. It's not under Payments - Preapproved Payment Plans. I don't want to keep transferring money into an account that is going away in a month or two.

Luckily, our local credit union offers no-fee accounts for kids aged 13 to 18 with a parent joint owner, and not only does he get a debit card to replace his Paypal debit card (which he uses for practically all purchases, so, good job, Paypal, for cancelling that income stream of yours!), but he can also get a student Visa credit card, which allows him to start building up a credit score. So really, Paypal has pushed us into a better situation, in a rather crude and seemingly stupid way.

Please reply if you know how to cancel a recurring transfer!

thanks,

Holly

[lancelotme]

I would think you cancel the way you initiate it,in your PAYPAL account.

.

[MoreHelpNeeded]

@lancelotme - Most people would think that, but as I said in my original message " I cannot find anywhere on the site how to cancel this transfer. It's not under Payments - Preapproved Payment Plans". I can see where I can make a transfer, but I can't see a list of existing recurring transfers.  I suspect the ability to cancel the transfer may have been removed as a precursor to cancelling the student accounts - except that you'd think they'd first remove the ability to *make* a transfer to a soon-to-be-deleted student account. You can't really apply logic to Paypal's actions sometimes.

If anybody can relate the specific steps for cancelling a recurring transfer to a student account, that'd be great. Otherwise I'll just delete the whole account in a week or so to free up his email address for an eventual adult account.

In the meantime...he now has his own checking account with a debit card from our local credit union, and is in the process of getting a high school Visa card so he can start his own credit record.

[KimberS]

I'm not happy either. I've used PayPal student since the kids were tweens. I could get spendable money to them no matter where they were - if they were at a friend's house, school trips, visitation, lunch money, meds, new driver... They weren't old enogh to have an account of their own and there wasn't a need to have a smart phone. Not all merchants are set up for epay yet. What gives, PayPal?

[lancelotme]

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@KimberS wrote:
I'm not happy either. I've used PayPal student since the kids were tweens. I could get spendable money to them no matter where they were - if they were at a friend's house, school trips, visitation, lunch money, meds, new driver... They weren't old enogh to have an account of their own and there wasn't a need to have a smart phone. Not all merchants are set up for epay yet. What gives, PayPal?

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why cant you give them the money before they leave the house?

I would be much humiliated if I have to get my lunch money before I order lunch?

What if I ate my lunch and the money does not arrive.do I go to the back and wash dishes to atone my sins?