PayPal gave dead number & won't answer in chat; they're stealing from my bank account. What to do?

[Lquinn]

I'm claiming that they're stealing from me by not charging my card, which is set as default, and occasionally setting me up for low balance fees from my bank because I don't leave extra money there. I've tried making a claim in the resolution center, but they just send my complaints to the poor charities I donate to instead of themselves. I've left feedback in three different places and times with no guarantee of a response. I can't find a way to make them never make an unauthorized withdrawal from my bank account again, they just keep doing it, and I shouldn't have to find and change all of these individual transactions one at a time, especially if they'll just do this again every single time I make a new purchase or create a new subscription/donation.

[PayPal_Michael]

Hello, @Lquinn. Thanks for taking the time to add your concern here on the PayPal Community Forum. I'm sorry for any confusion on how PayPal works when it comes to using a payment method linked to an account. I hope this information is helpful.

While a bank account or card or PayPal Credit account or other financial instrument may be set as a preferred payment method for online purchases, that doesn't apply to things like Billing Agreements and Recurring Payments which have to have a primary payment method set individually. Please see https://www.paypal.com/smarthelp/article/faq1054 for more information.

In addition, even when a preferred payment method is set (for online purchases and for each Billing Agreement, etc.), PayPal will select one of the other available payment methods in your account if the preferred/primary method is not available for some reason.

For example, while a card may be active and available, there are times when PayPal is told the card can't be used when we contact a financial institution for permission to charge it. There could be any number of reasons for that, but PayPal has to follow the response we receive. There may be a communication problem, a card might be expired, a verification check might have failed, or another issue could be keeping us from using the preferred card (or bank account).

When that happens, all other linked bank accounts and cards are checked and the first available is used for the purchase/transaction. This is done automatically, so PayPal asks customers to only link financial information to their account that's current and will not result in problems such as the one you mentioned if it's used.

I hope this helps to clarify things. Thanks for your patience during this time.

Sincerely,

Michael

PayPal_Michael