Smart Connect Credit Line - Accessing with PayPal Debit Mastercard

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OK, so you have a whole bunch of credit available to you on Smart Connect and you want to be able to access that credit from the outside world (outside the PayPal/Ebay realm) using your PayPal Debit Mastercard which by default uses your Smart Connect account as it's backup payment method. Pay very close attention to that word 'BACKUP' as you will find that is all it is.

So you have a lot of money in your PayPal account but you don't want to spend that money because you may need it to pay eBay seller fees, Bill-Me-Later payments, shipping, subscriptions, etc. Now is where you have to be careful. By default Debit Mastercard will draw first from your PayPal balance, then it will take the rest from your Smart Connect account. If you wish to leave your PayPal balance alone before making a large purchase on your debit Mastercard you will need to move it somewhere safe or it will be drained to ZERO. The easiest way to do this without incurring a fee is to send the balance to a friend or relative with a PayPal account before you process the Debit Mastercard transaction and then have them send it back to you afterward.

Once you make your purchase on your Debit Mastercard you will see it show up on your PayPal account as Pending. It should also show in the details that the full amount will  be charged to your Smart Connect account. You might think now is a good time to move your money back into your PayPal account from that friend or relative you 'lent' it to, THINK AGAIN. If you are going to do this DO NOT MOVE ANY MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT UNTIL THE DEBIT MASTERCARD TRANSACTION SAYS COMPLETED. If you put your money back into your account before that happens YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DRAINED DRY, trust me it happened to me twice. Even though the transaction says it will all be going to Smart Connect if there is even ONE DOLLAR in the account it will be used first, remember SMART CONNECT IS THE BACKUP PAYMENT METHOD, YOUR PAYPAL BALANCE IS THE PRIMARY. Keep in mind also that it takes up to three days for the payment to go from Pending to Completed so any money that builds up in your account during that time will also need to be moved or POOF, gone like the wind.

Not sure if it is a glitch or if it is deception by design but it sure is sneaky. You make a purchase and all signs point to the fact that your money is going to go to the correct places, then, something changes between when you made the purchase and the actual charge gets processed. It is almost like the payment happens twice, once to PayPal and a second time to Smart Connect only when it happens the second time they go back and look at your paypal balance again and if there is anything in there they take it all and apply whatever is left to Smart Connect. It is almost as if they DON'T want you to use the credit they are giving you. To compare to say a bank this would be the equivalent of giving you a credit card that is tied to your checking account but rather than all of the charges on that card going to credit first they drain your checking account dry and then start adding a balance to your card. Kind of defeats the purpose of having credit, doesn't it?