"Cannot Add Funds at This Time"

[ACrookham]

I've had my PayPal account for longer than I can remember, have added funds tons of times wth no problems, now suddenly for the past two days I keep getting an error message saying, "You Cannot Add Funds at This Time," with zero explanation as to why. I tried emailing and got an automated reply that didn't address the issue at all, I try calling and keep getting a message that I have reached a non-working number. So I have no idea what to do, no way to talk to PayPal about it. Anyone here have any ideas?

[DPCreations]

Why not just respond to the automated email message?

[CyberAccounts]

Hello ACrookham,

Like you, I've had my account here for many years, in fact I have two separate accounts here on Paypal. I have also recently been faced with the same issue of not being able to add money from my bank account. This is the case for both of my accounts. I did manage to speak to a Paypal representative today using the supplied "Contact" link. He stated that it's likely an "internal security measure put into place by Paypal to help safeguard my account." He also said that it may be because I don't have a regular history of adding funds from my bank account so it's seen as unusual activity. I however have done this many times in the past.

He assured me that while making a purchase, once my Paypal balance was at zero the funds would still automatically get pulled from my bank account as an alternative payment source. I have to really wonder why a transfer can take place at that time and not now when I'm choosing to do so. So, when at a zero balance and I make a purchase using my Paypal card, then it just comes directly out of my bank account. If that becomes the norm, I don't see the point of having a Paypal account at all. I could skip the Paypal card altogether and just use my bank card directly.

As you know, this is a bit frustrating. My Paypal account and bank accounts have been confirmed and trusted for many years and I've spoken to them directly to assure them of my identity and intentions, yet they don't seem to have the ability to make the appropriate adjustments for a simple transaction. The tech said he would submit a ticket for me. But now knowing that I'm not the only one affected, the least they could do is have the decency to admit that they're experiencing a system error of some sort and take responsibility. Hopefully they can get this problem fixed because it's very annoying.

[lancelotme]

There is really no need to add fund to your Paypal account -when you shop with your Paypal debit card,it will first use your Paypal balance,then your bank fund.

The difference between using your bank card versus your Paypal debit card as a credit card is the cash rebate.

Unless you plan to exceed your daily limit (3k),else I dont see any reason why you want to transfer fund from bank to Paypal account?

Unless I am missing something here?

[DPCreations]

@CyberAccounts

Agree, no need for a PayPal account if your main concept is for purchases.  Just use your bank Credit/Debit card to make purchases; money comes right out of your checking account.  Passing money from checking to PayPa just to use a PayPal debit card just makes extra steps.  As for your bank Debit/Credit card, you can use it for online purchases; no need for PayPal.

If you're selling, then PayPal becomes important.  Then, you just periodically pass the funds to your checking account for best management.

[CyberAccounts]

Why transfer funds to my Paypal account? From my perspective I have always used Paypal as sort of a virtual "full service" bank account. The best thing about Paypal to me has been that it's a trusted virtual financial entity and has allowed easy selling and payment options while doing business online. To remain as a "full service" institution it not only should be available for selling, but buying as well. I have, as I have in the past, used this account as a "complete" business account.

Like most people I suppose, it also becomes a means of organization. This account is aligned with the specific use of which my business model is dedicated. It has a specific purpose and the funds within it are there for the sole purpose of that business and the interactions within that business, not only for selling but for purchases as well. Funds are accumulated (and organized) in that location to do business, regardless of whether it is there from an online sale or transferred there from my attached banking account.

Why should there be any question as to why I should want to place funds into my account? Why should that even be an issue? Is Paypal cutting a cost by not allowing this anymore? I don't personally see any other reason. I would think that it would be beneficial if Paypal had money sitting in an account regardless of where it came from. Perhaps we shouldn't maintain a Paypal balance at all anymore...or is that where we're headed? Paypal can just charge people for online sales and route money back and forth between their own offline bank accounts. If that's it I'll find another company that will actually provides "a worthwhile service."

[lancelotme]

If you are using your PAYPAL account for business bookeeping,yes,I can see why you want to transfer fund from bank account to PAYPAL account.

A better way to keep track of your business would be the ledger,but we will all be green eyeshade accountants-debit to the right and credit by the window !

As to why use PAYPAL debit card versus bank debit card-if you have a business account with Paypal,your Paypal business debit card gives you 1 % cash rebate,(1 1/2% for legacy accounts).

I dont know of any bank debit card giving us any cash rebate?

But then why use a bank debit card when one can use a credit card and earn points?

When I use my kroger card ,I get $10 grocery certificate for every 1000 points,when I use my AMEX card,I earn points which I can use to pay my AMEX bill,shop on AMZN or Best buy ,I bought a smart Samsung TV set with my Amex points last year !   

[Razor1996]

I too had issues a few weeks ago and thought it was the website... so I waited. Tried again a few days later... still not able to transfer funds from bank account. I called customer service and was immediately told I didn't need money in my account to use PayPal. I have a certain way of using my PayPal to track and manage budget since 1999 and don't want to change now. I spoke to several people and no one can help me. I did have a history of money transfers up until last month, on a regular basis. My PayPal debit card is being rejected because there is no money in my account. I don't want it taking from my checking, credit card or anything else. I want to be able to have a balance in my PayPal account. Is that so hard to understand?

[CyberAccounts]

After my earlier comment about this issue and not really getting a good answer, I did find that there's still a way to add funds to your Paypal account. It's been awhile now, so I'm just assuming that it's still set up the same way as it was. Anyway - if you follow the links in your account to where you can "Add Money" you'll see that one option is to create a scheduled withdrawal from your bank account. There you can create a plan for adding funds to your Paypal account. Really...why can we do this but not simply add a one-time transfer?

They want you to set up a periodic transfer from your bank account to your Paypal account. This is not exactly what I had in mind at the time. I simply wanted to add funds to make a purchase. So, I went ahead and set up a transfer schedule, I just chose once per month (beginning immediately), and then input the total amount I was originally wanting to transfer. Well, after a few days (about the same time it would take for a one time transfer), I could see that the funds had been transferred to Paypal. Once I confirmed this I then went back into the "Add Money" location in my Paypal account and then turned off my scheduled transfer plan. It's kind of a round about way of doing it, but it seems to be the only way to actually get money in my account (without someone making a purchase and adding funds in that way).