Lag in tranfer from account to paypal

[Waspie]

I was wondering why there is such lag time between the time money is debited from my bank acount to the time it gets to my paypal account? Money shows it was withdrawn last week but it has not shown up in my paypal account yet.

[d53642]

Mine is the same way. Started the transfer on the 14th of Feb. They took the money on the 16th and now its the 24th and its still not showing up.

PayPal balance: $0.00 CAD

Here you can see they took the money on the 16th :

2011-02-16

-

Miscellaneous Payment PAYPAL

$8.00

[froggy57]

I find it highly irritating to have to wait 4-5 days for Pay Pal to transfer funds to my bank account, in view of the fact that it is electronically done instantly. Obviously Pay Pal just wants to use my money for another four to five days.

Their greedy profit taking while inconveniencing the customer is not the act of a good neighbor.

Guess they have to finance those executive bonuses somehow.

I consider them holding onto my money for 4-5 days before transferring it, a form of stealing. If I did that I would go to jail.

[PayPal_Adrian]

Welcome to the boards!

PayPal uses a process called EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) to move groups of transactions to and from various financial institutions.  This process can take five to seven business days, even though your account is debited immediately.

Why does this happen, and why don't you get the money at PayPal right away?

When you select to take money from your institution and send it to PayPal, PayPal sends an advance notice of the EFT debit to your bank.  Your bank, understandably, places the funds on hold and debits them immediately - they know you're expecting to pay the bill, and would rather ensure that the funds are there than bounce a cheque down the line.  The entire settlement process then takes up to seven business days before PayPal has the funds and can place them in your account balance.

Withdrawals from PayPal work much the same way.  You tell us to send the money to your bank, so we debit it out immediately to make sure your requested withdrawal goes through.  Except now, your bank is the recipient of the money.  So while we have debited you immediately, your bank won't provide the withdrawal, understandably, because they don't yet have the cash on hand. 

Once it is, though, either party will credit you immediately.  We want you to have your money as soon as possible!

Did you know there's no need to "Add Funds" to your balance before making a payment?  If you have a credit card on file, you can use the Instant Transfer option.  This still debits your bank (and the transfer still processes in the background), but because you have elected to pay via a credit card in the even the cheque doesn't clear, PayPal pays your seller in advance.  That way, you have your item sooner because the seller is paid immediately!  We don't offer this on withdrawals or Add Funds, though, because if it fails, we would have to charge the card as a cash advance - and that could result in some nasty fees for you with your card issuer.

Hope this helps,

Adrian