Confirmation not working with new NatWest debit card

[KerryForest]

Got a new debit card from Natwest (different number and type from the old one). Deleted old card and added new one but confirm process did not complete successfully. Deleted card and tried again. Card was added to account but got message "can't confirm". Today I deleted the card again and this time even the add step doesn't complete ("try again later"). Have called Natwest and Paypal but nobody seems to be able to tell me how to do the confirm. Paypal even says I don't need to confirm! How do I get rid of that red warning triangle?

[Dolcetta]

Hi KerryForest - did you manage to resolve the problem? I am still waiting for help after 12 days.

[KerryForest]

No Dolcetta. The problem is still there - in fact it's worse now. Initially, when I tried to confirm the card that was already registered to my PayPal account, the confirmation was declined. NatWest said this was PayPal's doing not theirs. PayPal said, "don't worry about it, you can still use the card". Foolishly I persisted with trying to get the confirmation to work. I deleted the registration and attempted to input the card data again. This time the data was rejected. I thought maybe if I waited a few days and tried again I might get lucky but it still didn't work. The card is probably blacklisted due to the multiple attempts. I'm thinking of giving up on my card and trying my wife's (which is connected to the same NatWest account) but I'm not sure if the different name might be an issue. It's hard to believe PayPal can't figure this out and give us a resolution!

[Dolcetta]

It’s beyond frustrating! I’ve had 12 days of repeated I instructions that don’t work, including 2 messages that say they have identified it to be an issue within PayPal. However, despite promises to fix this they still haven’t and now they are saying try again after 48 hours. I’ll let you know.

[KerryForest]

Does anyone have any further information on this issue? I'm still getting rejections from PayPal and Findmypast. However, I know my Mastercard Debit card from NatWest is good. Ancestry.com accepts it when I update my payment details and I also paid for a marriage certificate from ScotlandsPeople using the card. The thing that PayPal and Findmypast have in common (which is not used by the other 2 companies) is the verification step whereby a charge of £0.00 or £1.00 is attempted, triggering a confirmation code from NatWest via a text message or voice call. Both PayPal and Findmypast reject the code and in the case of PayPal, on subsequent attempts to update card information, it doesn't even try to make the £1.00 charge. I guess they have now blacklisted the card.

[Dolcetta]

I am yet to pick up my replacement card so will update next month. I suspect you’re correct though in card being black-listed.

[KerryForest]

I think I have now found the reason why PayPal seems to reject the addition of a NatWest Mastercard debit card as a new payment method. Not only do I have this problem with PayPal but also with the family history site Findmypast. The key is that in order to verify the card they each do a trial charge of zero GBP. NatWest responds with an authorization code but this is rejected (presumably by Natwest because of the zero amount) and the process to add the card fails. Today I went through the same process with another site (MyHeritage) but they charged a non-zero amount. This triggered an authorization code from NatWest and it worked. PayPal used to charge 1 GBP and then refund it. They need to return to this method or find another way to avoid the rejection.

[Dolcetta]

Interestingly, I cancelled my NatWest debit card and requested a new one. I added this to my PayPal account without any issue!

[KerryForest]

Was there a zero GBP trial charge and authorization code from NatWest involved for PayPal to accept the new card? Is the card a Mastercard?

[Dolcetta]

No. I suspect the old card was causing the problem and the new one went through without a hitch.