Consumer complaint received 2019-11-22
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: KY
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Unexpected or other fees

Complaint:
On XX/XX/19 I sent {$1000.00} to my son XXXX XXXX via Paypal. Paypal sent me an email saying they had sent the amount of {$1000.00} but my son only received {$970.00}. My son then ascertained that Paypal had kept the missing {$30.00}. That is, the lost money was not due to any fees charged by his receiving bank. Paypal actually sent an email to my son saying they had deposited {$1000.00} in his Paypal account but the bank only recorded {$970.00} in deposit. I wrote to Paypal through their Resolution Center and requested an explanation for the loss of the money in the transaction and the inaccurate reporting of the amount Paypal 's transaction ID for the money exchange was Transaction ID : XXXX The Paypal Dispute Case ID was Dispute Case ID : XXXX I got a form letter from Paypal saying my initial request for an explanation of their taking the {$30.00} with no indication of where the money went didnt meet their qualifications for a billing dispute. This was their entire reply to my request. I submitted an appeal to Paypal in which I had to include a frivolous attachment in order to get their software to even accept my appeal. Paypal sent me a second impersonal email, which again did not speak to my complaint in the least, saying my complaint was not valid but offering no explanation as to why it was not. I searched the Paypal website but was not able to find any explanation for why they might be taking this cut of the money from monies I was transferring to my family. My son later realized that Paypal had been taking this cut for at least three months. I have been sending my son $ 1000 monthly via Paypal for a year before Paypal started taking this cut. I have noticed that now, when I send money to family on Paypal, once I enter the amount Paypal sends me to a screen which says they are giving me a 'protection ' plan. There is no choice on the screen except to accept the 'protection. ' It is clear that Paypal has entered the Protection racket, but I was surprised to see them doing it in such a public manner unlike the private, personal 'protection ' offered by less legitimate loan services which they appear to be emulating. It was a nice little XXXX dollars and it would have been a shame if something happened to it but I would have liked to have been given an opportunity to understand the nature of the 'protection. ' Paypal clearly does not want me to know, and declines to discuss, their protection racket. I have stopped using Paypal as I told them I would if they did not offer me an explanation for their unexplained appropriation of my money, but I would like the CFPB to ideally make Paypal quit taking people 's money in this underhanded way or at least make the transaction transparent to the customer so that the legal mechanism by which the company takes their cut is documented and explained in the transaction. As it currently stands, Paypal tells the customer they are transferring the money at no charge, then does charge a fee, then denies or refuses to explain why they charged the fee they said they were not charging. This sort of financial transaction should be left in the hands of organized crime and should not be allowed in so called legitimate money handling services.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation