Unable to link BillMeLater account with Paypal due to having Paypal Smart connect.

[Streetmagus]

I received an email from BillMeLater stating I could link my BillMeLater account to my Paypal account, it provides me a link to do so, and when I login to my paypal account following that link, I receive this message:

"Looks like your account is already linked to a PayPal Credit account. To link your Bill Me Later® account, please create a new PayPal account."

It sounds like I am unable to link my BillMeLater account to my Paypal account because my Paypal account is already linked to a Paypal Credit account (in this case, Paypal Smart connect). 

So, are we only allowed to have 1 type of Credit account linked to Paypal? I am unable to use BillMeLater as an option through Paypal when I'm paying with Paypal. I get either Paypal Smart Connect, Bank Transfer, or Credit Card. 

Does anyone know anything about this issue? Is it meant to be this way? Right now I am only limited to the merchants listed on BillMeLater's website, if I choose Paypal as payment method via eBay, I don't have the BillMeLater option.

[PayPal_Frank]

Hi Streetmagus,

Welcome to the community! 🙂

You are correct.  Bill Me Later, PayPal Smart Connect and PayPal Extras MasterCard are all considered to be "PayPal credit products".  PayPal will only allow one PayPal credit account to be linked with a PayPal account.  So in order to link a Bill Me Later account, the PayPal Smart Connect account you referenced needs to be closed.

- Frank

[BMG4ME]

I am having a different but similar issue - I get "Looks like we're unable to link your Bill Me Later and PayPal accounts.".

[Cottage5038]

I have found out in order to link Bill Me Later to my PalPal account, I had to close my PayPal Smart Connect Credit Card which I did a week ago.  I have  talked to many agents and finally found this out; to a supervisor Jone in the Phillippines, ID 45644 yesterday and also a Manager she relayed my issue to by the name of James, ID 42268 in the US who did call me.  Got no where.  He said the tech person he needed to get with was not there yesterday and he would call me today.  He did not call me today.  The supervisor in the Phillippines had me purchase an item that I have yet to pay for since she said when it came to pay for it I would be able to choose Bill Me Later--NOT!!!!!!

I received a letter today stating my PayPal Smart Connect credit card was closed and they notified the credit bureaus and said I could reapply any time.  So I tried again today to link my Bill Me Later account at http://billmelater.com/linkpaypal and still cannot do it.  The credit card does not appear on my PayPal account now so what's the hold-up?  Tto me it appears like PayPal does not want you to use Bill Me Later.  EBay, Bill Me Later and PayPal are all owned by the same company.  They need to fire a lot of people who are restraining trade, maybe a law suit in this regard but they are definitely making it impossible for you to add Bill Me Later.  By the way, I do already have a Bill Me Later account in excellent standing.

PayPal Frank, can you tell me what the problem is?  I would appreciate a response here.

[Cottage5038]

I just received an email saying I'm almost there---it sent a link to click on to link my Bill Me Later Account and PayPal.  I clicked on it and it brought up a PayPal screen to log into my PayPal Account.  I did so and then it brought up a screen that asked for my birth date and last 4 of  SS.  I did that and then it gave me a screen that I am ineligible for PayPal credit.  I did not apply for PayPal credit---I closed 7 days ago my PayPal Smart Connect credit account so I would be able to add my Bill Me Later account which I already have but have not been able to link it with my PayPal account because of having that credit card.

So why the e-mail that doesn't work???????  My problem of over a week and many agents who don't know anything and a supervisor and a manager have not helped me at all.  To boot, the supervisor made me purchase something that I have yet to pay for because she said I would see the option for Bill Me Later when I went to pay for it---NOT!!!!!

[madnoodler]

I have been having the same problem for the past two months. I never even had a smart connect account but for some reason paypal says I do, smart connect says I did, closed in 2008, then paypal says oh yeah it was closed 10/18/11. I too have talked to everyperson under the sun from reps to supervisors and have gotten nowhere. My next step is to talk to a class action attorney.

[BMG4ME]

Frank, can you explain why I am not able to link the accounts, with no explanation given other than that you are unable to link them?  I also can't pay from Lenovo - either using Lenovo checkout or using Paypal - by Bill Me Later.  My Bill Me Later account is in good standing and I have good credit - in fact I opened a credit card the same day (later in the day) after having been unable to use Bill Me Later, and was granted, instantly, a much higher credit limit than in Bill Me Later.  It makes no sense.  I called Bill Me Later support, he opened a ticket, a week ago, and nothing has happened and nobody has got back to me.

[PayPal_Frank]

Hi Cottage5038 and BMG4ME,

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you've been experiencing with getting Bill Me Later linked to PayPal.  I can provide general information about what might be causing this to happen but we don't discuss account specific information on the forum.  Please contact Customer Support for more specific help.

Cottage5038, I know sometimes there can be linking issues if the name or address on the Bill Me Later account doesn't match up with the name or address on PayPal.  Differences like street types being "Drive" vs. "Dr," or zip codes with just the 5 digits vs. zip codes using the 5 digits plus the extra 4.  I'm guessing it just gives you a generic error message when trying www.billmelater.com/linkpaypal ?

- Frank

[BMG4ME]

I am a techie, I had already made sure the format of the address was exactly the same, and it is.

I have also already contacted Bill Me Later by phone, and web, and the person I spoke to said my account was in order and it should be fixed within a few days - he also said that lots of people had been having issues trying to link PayPal and Bill Me Later.

I have heard nothing and it still does not work.  I have also sent a web question and nobody has replied to that.

If you don't want people to use the service then stop taunting us by waving it in our faces and then not letting us use it.

[rachrn83]

Hi Frank, I am trying to link my BML & Paypal account as well. There is not difference between the address on my PP & BML account and I get the we can't link your accounts error mesg too. It really shouldn't be this hard to give people money. I go to the help section of BML and they say to select PayPal at checkout and then BML, but there is no option. I actually closed my BML account in April/March by calling in, how they get you is you can still log into your account and once you do it's like they reopen the account because now I'm getting emails about viewing my statement when I actually have a -$10 balance (bet I'll never see that money). I'm not sure if there is a away where you can request they close down your online account as well but I'd look into that for people calling it a scam or hard to close. Before I started logging in recently and updated my address I didn't  get any emails about my statement. I also didn't get an email notifying me that my mailing address had been changed (so much for security).

Today I was basically just trying to make a quick purchase that would be easy to pay off in a month or two and it has taken me 2 hours between looking through help menus for ways to pay using my BML option when PP payments are offered, and linking the two accounts is a waste of time. Like I said, if it is going to be this hard to give a company my money I'll just take it elsewhere, PP & BML must be so well off they don't need it.

PS. I don't have a Smart connect account or whatever that is, just a plain PP account and regular BML account.