Consumer complaint received 2019-11-10
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
This all occurred on the evening of XX/XX/2019. I have various financial accounts linked through PayPal including two credit/debit cards, my checking account, and PayPal credit. I have repeatedly attempted to use my PayPal account to pay for merchandise through an online retailer, XXXX, and PayPal has refused to make the payment each time that I have attempted to do so. I have tried to make payment using my checking account linked to PayPal, my debit card linked to PayPal, and PayPal credit. My checking account has more than sufficient funds in it for the payment and I have more than enough available credit on my PayPal credit account for the payment. I contacted both my financial institution, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the issuer for PayPal credit, XXXX XXXX, and both told me that there were no restrictions, limitations, or holds on my account to prevent payment. After XXXX XXXX  told me everything was okay, the representative asked me to wait while he contacted PayPal to determine the problem. However, he did not return to the call and I was transferred to PayPal " security. '' I informed PayPal security of the issue and it confirmed that it was blocking my payment to XXXX for risk and security reasons. When I asked what that meant and for further information, the representative refused to give me any additional information. I affirmed to the representative that I was indeed attempting to make a purchase at the XXXX website and she did not care and told me that any future attempt would also be refused. When I questioned why PayPal was denying payment through my own checking account, she refused to answer and just restated that the block was done for security reasons. It is unbelievable to me that PayPal offers it services as a means of making payment to websites and then refuses to facilitate the very payments it offers to make and outright denies them for no reason. Even after PayPal was contacted by telephone and I provided all the necessary information to verify my identity, account, and the fact that I was making a purchase at XXXX, PayPal continued to refuse to make the payment and denied it for all future attempts as well. There is no security risk associated with my attempted purchase and PayPal has not only interfered with my attempted use of my own funds from my checking account but it has completely prevented me from making the purchase using my own funds. It has also reneged on its offer of credit through PayPal credit as I had more than sufficient credit available to make the purchase but it simply refused to permit the purchase to be made using PayPal credit. My PayPal credit account is in good standing and always has been. There is no reason for it not to permit the purchase. After encountering this problem, I went to the PayPal website and to its users forum section for PayPal credit. I was surprised to see that hundreds of other members of PayPal have had the exact same problem and received absolutely no assistance from PayPal when they informed it of the issue and sought a remedy. PayPal is a scam and engaged in fraud. It can not hold itself out to be a processor of online payments and then refuse to make those payments for no reason when requested. It is also misrepresenting the nature of its credit business when since it never advises a consumer at any time that it will selectively and unilaterally determine to deny the use of available credit for no reason whatsoever. I can not imagine any other regulated financial institution being able to get away with the arbitrary and capricious business practices that PayPal is engaged in. It is unconscionable to think that XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, or any other financial institution could do what PayPal does and not be held accountable by regulatory agencies. It should be noted that I previously used PayPal credit to make purchases online without issue just a few days prior to this and have also been able to make a payment to it without issue just a few days ago.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation