I'm in the UK so this may not apply across the board. Sorry for the longish preamble but I need to explain the background to what happened to me earlier today (Tuesday) prior to PayPal putting my withdrawal on hold. Some weeks ago, I finally decided to change my PayPal account to my married name. I uploaded my Passport and marriage certificate and this time it worked. My PayPal account was in my married name. So far, so good. Then I tried to remove the account in my single name. This was some weeks ago. At the time (October) PayPal said there was a payment pending, so I could not close the account. I sent a message to customer service and spoke to someone on the phone who told me to wait for the payment to clear. The payment still had not cleared by November and I still couldn't remove the bank account from my "Wallet" even though I had now closed the account with my bank. The last email I received from customer services told me to try to use the Classic site. The link they gave me took me back to the mobile (?) site and the wallet. They told me that if I had no luck I would have to ring them so they could identify who I was for security reasons. So. I've been a site user since possibly as long ago as 2001, maybe earlier? But because I changed my name, it's as if I've had to go back to square one. Sorry to rant on. Somebody paid me for a doll on Tuesday and I was all set to transfer the money to my bank account. As it happened it was a timely sale as I had gone overdrawn. But when I activated the transfer, I got a message from PayPal saying that the payment had been put on hold for security reasons for 24 hours. I rang customer services and spoke to a nice young woman who told me repeatedly that she could do nothing because it was part of their security system. I asked to speak to a manager and spoke to a polite young man who listened patiently to my rant and said the same thing. They could do nothing because it was part of the security system. He opined that the transfer had been put on hold because it was a larger sum than usual (£200) and I hadn't made such a big withdrawal to my bank since March! And I'd recently changed my name and my account details. It also struck me, with some grim humour, that a couple of my most recent transactions had been with sellers in Russia (!) Both transactions involved me buying dolls. So, I'm pretty fed up but feel completely helpless. The transaction still states that it's pending and could take 0-3 days. My bank account did go overdrawn and I will be charged £5 (GB Pounds) which isn't a huge sum - but I had foolishly thought that I would be able to avoid it! In the UK, someone (an institution) putting a hold on your money is illegal, though I imagine that by agreeing to PayPal's TOS and using their site, I've granted them some kind of waiver. And goodness knows what legal system they operate under. I'm not happy. I've been a pretty loyal customer for however long but it seems this is wholly unimportant to PayPal, who can't recognise who I am despite my submitting a passport photo and marriage certificate. Has anyone got any advice?
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