Paypal Business Debit Card Declined Repeatedly

bearcatnat
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Contributor

I'm having an issue with my business debit card being repeatedly declined in the past week. I've been using this card regularly with no issues for at least 3 months. I had lost my banking debit card, so have been using my Paypal debit card, with my bank checking account as the backup funding source. I've used it for hundreds of transactions, but in past week, I just keep getting declined, declined, declined. I've had some payments made recently to my Paypal account (eBay and Etsy), and when there are funds in my Paypal account, my debit card works.

 

I called Paypal and the rep suggested that I send a manual transfer of funds from my bank account. He said this should fix the issue. The transfer went through today, but still my debit card doesn't work. So I called again tonight, and the rep told me that I need to "build up my banking history" for my Paypal account by making regular manual transactions from my banking account into my Paypal account. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Since I no longer have a banking debit card, I now have no easy access to my own money! I keep having to pull out a credit card to use instead.

 

Additionally, I have a monthly subscription payment that is billed through my Paypal debit card. That transaction was also declined today. So I tried logging into Paypal and making a payment with my bank account directly via Paypal (not my debit card), and that transaction was also declined!

 

I was enjoying the perk of the cash-back you get with the Paypal business debit, but if the card can't be relied on to work 100%, what's the point?? I called my bank to check that there wasn't some security issue on their end, but they don't even see that any transactions were attempted. Has anyone else had this issue with the debit card?

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23 REPLIES 23

bearcatnat
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And the saga continues! I've made a few transfers of money from my bank account to my Paypal account. My PP debit card will work fine until the funds run out. What happened to it automatically using my backup funding source?? I've used this card for months with no problems, and now I can't use it unless I have money in Paypal. Has anybody found a solution??

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Megan6zeus
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I would love to know if anyone finds a solution too! I have been using my PayPal business debit MasterCard for years and until recently I had never experienced a single issue. Now my card gets declined all the time when I try to use it in person. It doesn’t make a difference whether I have money in my PayPal account or not, my card still gets declined. The first time it was declined was a couple of months ago, in May 2019 I believe. After it was declined at several places I just put it back in my wallet and left it there for a couple weeks and used my bank issued debit card instead. After about two weeks of not using it, I tried it again and it worked just fine again for a couple of weeks and then it starting getting declined again so now I rarely even try using it to save myself the embarrassment of having my card declined again. I try it every now and then when I’m the only customer around but it still gets declined about 95% of the time. I have automatic payments set up for a few things like Netflix and insurance on my cell phone and those payments have never been declined (knock on wood) and most of the online purchases I have made went thru without any issues but a few have been declined. I’m not sure what the problem is or why nobody at PayPal seems to know either but it’s extremely frustrating and I’m getting to the point where I think I’m going to stop using my paypal account altogether. I have already stopped recommending it to people and anyone who I hear mention it I tell them to reconsider getting an account because their services are completely unreliable. If anyone has an information about this please respond. Thank you!
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Plumbguy
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Contributor
I guess no one at pay pal reads these forms. I called 2 weeks ago to complain and they said the issue was fixed and that I had the use the card within 24 hours. I did, and it didn't work. Today when I called they told me I should put some money in my pay pal account. I thought that's what the backup source was for. In the end the woman told me I just have to wait a couple of weeks to see if it gets sorted out. This sounds like a pretty lousy answer and I'm not happy about it. What else are we supposed to do?
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bearcatnat
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I’m so glad that I’m not the only one having this problem! I’ve called technical support several times and had the same response. Transfer money into the account. I never had to before, so what’s up?! I’m hoping it’s a technical issue that will get cleared up. For now I’m transferring money to Paypal from my sink account, but it takes 3-5 days, so if you run out you’re sunk.
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Plumbguy
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In the age of landing used rocket boosters back on earth and sliced bread, you would think that there would be a better answer from customer service other than "see what happens in a couple of weeks"! This is Paypal, not some half baked establishment without any customer service at all. 

 

I honestly still can't believe this and hope it gets resolved. I had quite a few automated monthly payments using that card that are going to be affected. I guess I am just to lazy to transfer money into my Paypal account, but I understand that does not solve the problem. I am going to try it and see what happens.

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PeggySMWD
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Same thing here. I have used my debt card using my backup funding for 15 years because I like the cash back and have had no problems. In the past 2-3 months I have been having automatic payments declined. I get a different run around every time I call. One time I'm told it's new security measures and will be fixed soon, wait a couple months. Next time I am told to transfer the money to my Paypal account and yesterday it was because I have too many pending transactions (2 pending transactions for less than $40 each). I am beginning to wonder it they just don't want to pay the cash back each month. My cash back is less than half of what it was 4 months ago. I am really not happy.

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businessgal
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Contributor
Same crap here too with the same BS your getting from reps mmmmmmm Interesting how ling this has been going on.. think I will report lost - stolen card and see if it helps by getting a new card and if not closing and heading to green dot card
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eoncrystal
Member
Member

Same problems, unable to use the business debit card for transactions. Tried replacing the card to no avail. Tried calling customer services, but told due to corona virus they are short staff so would have to wait longer than normal. Finally got through to an automated intelligence, mention the card issue, then got cut off!

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businessgal
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Contributor
Same here same BS
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