Bluebird Bank Account (American Express)

[Staceylt40]

I have spent hours looking through the Paypal website and forum looking for an answer as to why I am unable to link my bluebird account.  I want to be able to transfer from Paypal to my bluebird account.  I have added the card successfully, but it will not allow me to link the actual bank account to deposit to.  Every single post on the forum regarding this is UNANSWERED, therefore, I am not finding the answers.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The only response I get when I try to add the routing and account numbers is:

"Sorry, we are not able to process your request. Please try again later." 

[kernowlass]

Contact customer services and ask them. 

[lildevil21690]

that's no help either 😕

[gregoryburrus]

Well I had Withdrawed Funds From Paypal to American Expess Bluebird account  3 times from Nov 2 to Nov 21 of varying amounts this year. That Paypal withdrwal proces worked using the "Paypal Withdraw Funds process."

I WAS a Happy Person.

Then the American Express Bluebird Bank item disapeared from my Withdraw from Paypal to a Bank screen. I tried to add it back and I started getting errors. Server errors and call paypal errors and just errors. 

Then something happened I was told by Paypal that one of my transactions on Nov. 30. was rejected by Bluebird and the result was The Paypal to Bluebird Withdrawal process stopped working. 

(It should be noted this is recognized - when it did work-  as a Direct deposit on the Bluebird Transaction screen .

So I am now in limbo. because"

• Paypal says because of that Nov30 tranaction -  BlueBird rejected that one tranaction which stoped my future "Withdraw Funds from Paypal to Bluebird process. Paypal says it's because Bluebird has a problem with my account and I should call Bluebird.. This took an 1 hour plus through 3 levels of Paypal suport to get this answer. .
  
  
• Bluebird listend and looked at theii system and stated that have no problems on their end, it''s a Paypal pproblem. And then say hey if I do not have  a Technical Trace number they can't do anything with the info I have. Of course I don't because I am not Paypal Techncal support. This took 30 minutes and 2 levels of Bluebird support. 

I then did like you went and researched Paypal to Bluebird Witdrawal also, only to end up with your response below.

Note:

• I still can have funds automatically withdrawn from Bluebird if my Paypal balance runs low.
• I can still use the Payal screens to pay for something directly from Bluebird using the Bluebird Card instead of Paypal funds.
• This is is not a few isolated problems , its everybody from what I see,
• Also evdenced by not one question on the Withdraw funds from Paypal to American Express"  is ever answered on ths paypal or anywhere site. 

But I cannot "Withdraw funds from Paypal to American Express Centurion Bank " which is how its recognized by the Paypal system once you put in the routing number or American Express Bluebird Card as we know it.

You would think this would be an easy one to solve but my frustration grows because I still Cannot Withdraw Funds from Paypal to Bluebird. Hopefully someone from Paypal will read this and fix the Withdraw funds from Paypal to Bluebird process because I just don't have another 2 plus hours to spend on the Withdraw funds from Paypal to Bluebird process that should be a 2 minute transaction as it was for me in the past. 

Is anybbody listening????? 

@Staceylt40 wrote:

I have spent hours looking through the Paypal website and forum looking for an answer as to why I am unable to link my bluebird account.  I want to be able to transfer from Paypal to my bluebird account.  I have added the card successfully, but it will not allow me to link the actual bank account to deposit to.  Every single post on the forum regarding this is UNANSWERED, therefore, I am not finding the answers.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The only response I get when I try to add the routing and account numbers is:

"Sorry, we are not able to process your request. Please try again later." 

---

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi gregoryburrus,

Welcome to the PayPal Community Forum!

I'm sorry to hear of the difficulty that you're having. It sounds like this Bluebird setup that you describe is a virtual bank. Virtual bank accounts have a low success rate with the PayPal system due to risk elements, and frequently aren't allowed to be used by the system at all. If you have a traditional bank account that can be added, you will find greater success.

I hope this helps!

- Olivia

[gregoryburrus]

Hi Thanks for the answer. 

Interesting answer considering the king of virtual - Paypal - doesnt work with virtual Banks, considering most brick and mortar banks are going virtual by the moment. And American Express supported bank I would think if any bank would be supported. You would also think there would be a list of non supported banks since it appears the problem is virtual banks. 

Well thanks for answering, even if it doesnt solve the problem, it just tells me I have a problem 🙂 

[Mamaof3weee]

I'm with ya, if this "virtual bank" is not accepted then why is it on the listed "banks" anyway? Also the idea of simply using your known "bank" is not the resolution we are looking for here. I myself would like to transfer funds to my bluebird card so that the funds are IMMEDIATELY available. Rather than having to wait 3-5 days for my bank to have the funds available in my account. Unfortunately I wasted my time and effort to obtain the Bluebird card and account only to receive an annoyingly vague error from paypal, as I am unable to even link my card to my paypal account. What a waste of time.

[Eoraptor]

Part of the difficulty is that some folks were using PayPal and Bluebird's competing debit cards against one another, basically gaming the system to rack up rewards benifits by moving money back and forth between the two repetedly without aking any actual purchases or deposits. So there's a big old case of "a few bad apples spoil it for the rest of us."

The other problem is PayPal not wanting to deal with competitors. They did the same thing about two years ago with the GreenDot system, cutting off all access between Paypal and Greendot. PayPal wants to be the only "virtual bank" and payment service on the block, and competitors like greendot, bluebird, walmart card, etc, are a threat. It's disingenuous but what are you going to do? People using services like Greendot, Bluebird, etc, are generally not the type who can afford high powered financial lawyers to file claims with the FTC over anticopetitive actions.

[JonBoyOhBoy]

Remember, PayPal is not even a bank, and not covered by banking regulatons

[jaydeesox]

Was going to use paypal to make a purchase for an item and I get my money direct deposited into my bluebird account. Thanks paypal for giving me another reason to hate you and ebay.