Consumer complaint received 2020-10-26
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: PA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2020, PayPal contacted me by e-mail to inform me that they linked my XXXX card to a program that pays for PayPal purchases with the cash back on that card rather than a standard charge to the card. I had previously added this credit card to PayPal, but never requested or gave authorization to join such a program. In the e-mail, PayPal claimed that, " If you ever want to remove XXXX  Cashback Bonus from your available payment options, just go to your Wallet and select your XXXX  [ account number removed ] '' Since I did not want to be part of this program, I immediately logged into my account and attempted to access the edit page for this credit card. Instead of being able to access that page, I got an error message that said, " There were a few errors in retrieving your data. Please retry after a few minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience. '' I contacted PayPal immediately through a messaging system on their site to report the problem and ask to be removed from the program. I was in communication with a few representatives who didn't even understand the problem, much less know how to fix it. I ended up opening a formal complaint with the XXXX  XXXX  XXXX. PayPal did respond to that complaint, and in the response ( as well as subsequent e-mail and phone contact ), they did seem to understand the problem, and offered ( on several occasions ) to escalate it to a higher department. The XXXX  ended up closing that complaint after two messages from PayPal, despite the fact that a resolution was not yet reached. In nearly two months, I have continued to get the same error message when trying to access the edit screen on that credit card within PayPal. Since I can not access the edit screen for that credit card, I can not opt out of the cash back program, nor can I set the card as preferred, update the expiration date, remove the card from my PayPal account entirely, etc. Over the past two months, I have read similar reports from other PayPal users describing the same ( or very similar ) error message and inability to edit a card after being forced into this cash back program. On XX/XX/2020, I received another e-mail from PayPal stating that another credit card on my PayPal account ( this time my XXXX  XXXX XXXX card ) was added to the cash back program. Again, the e-mail told me that I could opt out. As I did two months prior with my XXXX card, I logged into my PayPal account, and attempted to opt out. However, I ran into the same problem that I've been having on my XXXX card : I get an error message every time I try to access the edit screen for that card. I never had a problem accessing the edit screen for either card until immediately after being added to this program. So, it seems that PayPal is adding customers to this program without their consent, telling them they can opt out if they choose, and then blocking their ability to opt out ( and also blocking their ability to edit other features of the card as they relate to PayPal ). I contacted PayPal via e-mail immediately after this happened and told them that if they did not get this fixed within 24 hours, I would be contacting the CFPB. As that 24 hours has elapsed, and the problem persists, I am now opening this complaint. As detailed above, I have been trying to get this resolved for just short of two months, and I think that is more than enough time to get this fixed. Now, not only is it not fixed, but it is getting worse as an additional card is now part of the problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation