Unfair Permanent Limitation on My Account – Need Help!

[Ishaq321]

Hey everyone,

I’m reaching out because I’m having a frustrating experience with PayPal, and I’m hoping someone here might have advice or been through something similar.

A while back, my account got hit with a limitation out of nowhere, and PayPal has been holding my funds for 180 days. I run a video animation business and have been working with a long-term client for about 2-3 years without any issues. The payment in question was for a project we’re working on, and I submitted all the proof PayPal asked for—screenshots, transaction details, and even a message from my client confirming that they approved the payment. Still, my account is restricted, and I haven't been able to reach anyone for a proper resolution.

Their customer support has been a nightmare to deal with—there’s no direct way to contact them. When I tried calling, the response was super slow, and I couldn’t even find a proper email to follow up with. It’s been really stressful and has put a strain on my business.

I’ve attached all the proof they could possibly need to review the case, but I’m stuck with no updates. Has anyone else faced something like this? Any advice on how to get them to actually respond and resolve this would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[Justbendmeover]

They are thieves. They have held my money illegally since Feb of 2024. I would recommend contacting the federal consumer’s protection agency and make a complaint on them. Also file a complaint with the better business bureau and speak to your States prosecuting attorney and see if they may be able to help you get charges filed against PayPal. They have to follow the same laws we do so if the amount is over a certain amount this company could be charged with theft. If everyone they do this to would stand up and keep reporting them to authorities then maybe they will realize the consumer is not going to continue to he ripped off by greedy corporations. Give us our money PayPal this is ridiculous. When we opened our accounts we did not know you would try to act like a debt collector. And a very bad one at that. Very disappointed in their actions and hopefully will be able to have charges pressed against PayPal for theft. One thing I do know is I refuse to allow them to keep my money. Report them to any agency that will listen.

[Ishaq321]

That's sad to hear, so by any chance you have recovered your money or not?

[Omapeggy]

I have been facing same for over 7months now. I don't know why PayPal is this way. If they don't want to let me have the money atleast a refund to my client will be ideal. The frustration is getting the best of me.

[Justbendmeover]

Report them to your State's attorney general and to the consumer financial protection bureau.  Also send them a notice requesting arbitration by certified mail.  Make sure you take pictures of the activity in your account that includes opening up the transaction and printing each and every transaction.  They have illegally withheld my 542.00 since Feb of this year and they are still refusing to take off the limitation.  Now they have went into my account and changed how each deposit made into my account looks.  My zelle deposits are now listed under transfers from a paypal debit card and it shows refund and transfer both.  How is that possible?  I have not been given an answer yet from Paypal regarding this matter. When I call in they keep telling me to contact the company who sent them a UCC filing on a LLC company that does not exist and my account is a personal account not a business account.  Consumers can not find anything online about getting assistance from any other organization except for paypal. so they have that access limited as well.  You have to be careful when wording what you want to search on the issue in order to find a few other responses from the search.  But I would recommend that you file formal complaint with your attorney general and with the consumer financial protection bureau and with the BBB.  Contact   me if you would like to sign a petition on making Paypal be held accountable for their limitations on others finances in order to make a bigger profit than what they already make.  Shame on you paypal.  Down with corporate greed.

[PayPal_Chinmaye]

Hello @Justbendmeover 

Thanks for visiting PayPal's Community Forum.

I am sorry to hear about your PayPal account being limited permanently. You can reach out to the Support Team during business hours by clicking the contact us option at the bottom of PayPal page. If your unable to login or are not in access of your PayPal account, you can connect with us via phone call as "as a Guest" (this does not require you to sign in to your PayPal account.
Hope this helps you!

Warm Regards,
Chinmayee
 

If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the Community by giving kudos to its author, accepting it as a solution, and/or coming back to assist others. Members make this Community great!

[franciscarlVa]

I contacted Paypal to find out why I was permanently restricted, but they couldn’t provide a clear reason. They mentioned it might be related to selling inappropriate services, as I only provide virtual services. I’ve been using PayPal for 10 years, but unfortunately, they can’t reverse the decision since the restriction is permanent. But what i am asking is the reason why I have been restricted?

[Justbendmeover]

I would like to say don't worry they will handle the issue but I can not.  Paypal placed a limitation on my personal account because of a filing on an LLC that does not even exist and I was told to wait 30 days and if the company did not take the money that I could not withdraw was still there the limitation would be removed.  It has been over 8 months now and still can not access my 542.00 and when I contact them via telephone and ask for arbitration they tell me I need to contact the company that sent them the filing.  I did not agree to contact a third party company when I signed up with Paypal and no where in the agreement does Paypal say if an issue comes up like this that the consumer is required to contact another company in order to get it resolved.  They refuse to give me an answer about how to go about arbitrating this issue  and when I ask the AI assistant it does not understand the word arbitration.  I wonder why.  And if that was not enough I log into my account to get a list of deposits received into my account from my employer I no longer see received from zelle and the name of my boss it shows up as a refund transfer from the paypal debit card.  I click on the transaction and it still does not say zelle it only says transfer the only way I can get it to show that it was a deposit from zelle is when I go to print the transaction and guess what? the word refund does not show up on the printed page.  I know for a fact that Paypal went into my account and changed these transactions from payments received into transfers and show them as a refund on one screen but not on the next.  So what is Paypal doing? why do they think it is okay to change a received payment into a transfer and a refund and omit the actual way it was deposited?  something fishy going on behind the scenes at Paypal.  If anyone has money in Paypal I would suggest you remove it immediately before they do you like they have done me and so many others.  They collect interest on any funds that are in these accounts and when they limit our accounts refusing to allow us access to this money they make a profit.  I think they need to be shut down. They are liars and thieves.  They are illegally withholding monies from consumers and it is unfair and unacceptable