Paypal Wants Me To Open A Bank Account........

[wnettles]

Paypal just sent me several email stating that I have nearly reached some limit regarding my not having a Paypal account that is linked to a bank account.   I do not wish to open a bank account just to do business through Paypal.  Am I alone here, or, are other Paypal customers having this same problem? 

I will not open a bank account just because Paypal would like me to do so.   In fact, if Paypal continues to insist on this as a term of doing business, they will loose a long time customer.  I will find another service that does not have this requirement as a term of doing business. 

Seems others are having some problems with Paypal, also.   For an interesting view into the workings of Paypal, go to:

http://www.paypalwarning.com/

and have a look for yourself at what some of Paypal's customers are saying.   Kind of concerns me that Paypal is not addressing these issues.  

W.

[surplusdealdude]

You DO realize that these guys are just slamming Paypal to get people to buy THEIR product, don't you?

Not exactly above-board in itself.

And, yes, you do either have to put a verified bank account or a verified credit card on file - it's a new initiative sponsored by Homeland Security.

They want to make sure Paypal isn't being used for money-laundering or terrorist support.  If you have a problem, go talk to them about it.

[wnettles]

Yes, I realize that a whole bunch of irate Paypal former customers posted their gripes on this site.   And, yes, I realize that the government, and, especially, Homeland Security, wants to know everything about everyone on the planet, and, yes, I know that I can send them emails till my fingers fall off, but, that is not solving the problem.

Up to this point, I have been quite content with the service that I have received from Paypal.   Just don't know why they want to end such a good business partnership so abruptly.   For the life of me, I cannot see why businesses try so hard to put themselves out of business. 

Maybe I am missing something here, but, isn't the purpose of doing business to make money and benefit both the seller and the buyer?  Seems Paypal may be a very limited time existance company.......

[surplusdealdude]

Maybe I am missing something here, but, isn't the purpose of doing business to make money and benefit both the seller and the buyer?

Well, that's still the point, of course.  But reality intrudes.

A couple of years ago, Paypal went from offering protection only for the US, Canada and the UK to offering it for the entire world where they operate, creating a HUGE new pile of unconfirmed addresses.  Since it would be impossible to confirm all these new addresses, the concept of confirmed addresses was dropped.

Concurrent with this was a massive expansion of third-party sites being added.

Concurrent with the above two, the scammer industry has increased its size, skills and activities exponentially.  And, no doubt, the US Government determined that organized crime (which is behind a lot of the scamming) and terrorists were trying to use Paypal and other similar sites to fund their activities.

A solution was neede for all 3 problems and the common thread is that crooks, terrorists and scammers like to operate in the shadows with false identities.  Remove the ability to create a false identity and the scammers will avoid you.

That's what this system does.  A similar system has been put into place on ebay and has worked very well - ebay has reduced scamming by at least 95% (all the scammers seem to have gone to ioffer and craigslist, from the complaints we're getting in here).

I think we're all better off removing the scammers from the mix - the actual work involved in verifying a bank account is minimal and one-time.

Seems Paypal may be a very limited time existance company.......

Paypal has been adding a million new users a month and is so far out in front of the competing systems that it's no longer a contest.

[Jetboat]

"If you have a problem go talk to them about it " HA HA HA  Are you for real guy have you talked to these freaking loser, there a bunch of **bleep** clowns phone jockeys that have not a clue even how to look nor even if they stumble across your account do they know what the **bleep** there even talking about nor looking at so call them and talk to them if you have a problem what a joke guy! thats the funnist thing ive read all day!

[wnettles]

Really not sure which set of "clowns" that you were alluding to in your reply; the Homeland Security clowns, or, the Paypal clowns.    Both are an intrusive lot and should be avoided.   Both groups have good intentions, and, as we all know, the road to **bleep** is paved with good intentions.  

[surplusdealdude]

I'd ignore the boat - he's just random noise, from what I can see.

I agree that good intentions will be the death of all of us yet, though.

But, it's Paypal's site and they can do what they want with it, I suppose.

[PayPal_WarrenG]

Hello everyone!

I know this is a touchy subject for people and I am going to do my best to provide an understanding of why we ask for some of this information.

To an extent, Surplusdealdude is correct.  There are certain federal guidelines we must follow to limit the ability for people to commit fraud.  One of the regulations that we must follow is knowing who we are doing business with and what actions are happening within our system.

Since PayPal is an online institution, we were unable to verify a person's identity the same way that a bank would when they create a traditional bank account.  When you create a bank account, the banker assisting you asks to see identification, they ask for additional information from you, and they verify that information as they are creating your account.

This type of verification and security is one that gives PayPal additional trust in knowing our customers have been able to verify their identity as we allow them to continue to send funds greater than the original sending limit they had prior to verifying the PayPal account.

I understand the reluctance people have with sharing this information and I understand that we may have a longstanding relationship with people leading up to the sending limit.  This however, is a security measure we take to have additional confidence that we use to minimize the ability for people to misuse your information through our system.

I hope this clarifies this situation for you a bit.   I understand that not everyone will feel comfortable with this action but it is a well planned security measure that we have successfully used for a long time.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to clarify this.

PayPal_WarrenG

[GrainOfSalt]

Howdy

Just in response to PayPal_WarrenG clarification. To be a little blunt. A credit card is SUFFICIENT  for any monetary transaction in the entire world including the USA. Do not buy the fact that a back account is required  ! Paypal is just giving everyone the run around on this subject since all they are doing is cvovering their own risk NOT THE CONSUMER !!

As a consumer there is NOTHING wrong to be UNVERIFIED on PAYPAL !!!  BEING VERIFIED JUST GIVES PAYPAL THE ABILITY TO RAID YOUR BANK ACCOUNT !. This happened to me when a Nigerian hacker got into my PAYPAL account.  I was better off having a CREDIT CARD as my funding  source this way they can only take up to my limit.

Being verified is SAFER on Paypal as a consumer !!! I can speak first hand

Sorry PayPal_WarrenG but I had to tell the truth and my experience first hand.