Consumer complaint received 2022-02-10
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: OR
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Payday loan
Issue: Money was taken from your bank account on the wrong day or for the wrong amount

Complaint:
At the end of XX/XX/XXXX I saw a notice in my PayPal XXXX XXXX account that read as follows, " PayPal Direct Deposit NEW! If you're an XXXX seller, you can set up PayPal Direct Deposit to make sure your XXXX sales are included in your future loan eligibility and enable automatic payments with a percentage of your XXXX  sales. '' This announcement is still up on the PayPal XXXX XXXX home page.Between XXXX and XXXX I completed 5 loans with PayPal XXXX XXXX that totaled {$9000.00}. By XXXX my PayPal sales had declined from using different payment platforms in my 4 online stores and I didn't qualify for a new loan. Seeing this NEW program being offered in XX/XX/XXXX, and wanting to requalify for PayPal XXXX XXXX, I switched from having my XXXX sales deposited in my credit union checking account as I had done for12 years to having them deposited in my PayPal account. My first XXXX sales deposit to PayPal was on XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted PayPal XXXX XXXX customer support to find out why I had not qualified for a XXXX XXXX loan. In the previous year I had had over {$22000.00} in sales through my PayPal account, which far exceeds the {$15000.00} yearly sales minimum requirement. Customer support told me that there was a " technical problem '' and that my XXXX sales were not being counted towards my eligibility to qualify for a capital loan! I was shocked. To this day PayPal XXXX XXXX has the announcement on their home page soliciting XXXX sellers to deposit ALL our sales into PayPal. I have been doing just that for over a year now and yet they were NOT counting them towards my eligibility.They said they would look into it. 

I called a few days later on XX/XX/XXXX and they were still looking into it. I waited two weeks and called on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a supervisor named XXXX. He said that they were still looking into it and couldn't help me. He pulled up my records and said he could see that I SHOULD qualify for a loan but that there was still a " technical problem. '' He couldn't tell me why my XXXX sales were not being counted towards my loan eligibility and he couldn't offer a patch or any other form of relief. At this point I felt I was being deceived and I contacted the Oregon State Attorney General and filledout a consumer complaint form. 

I called PayPal XXXX XXXX again on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX and there is still a " technical problem '' that prevents my eligibility. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and they were still working on it. I called PayPal 's main contact number on XX/XX/XXXX to see if someone at the head office could help me since XXXX XXXX was not doing anything. While their customer support seemed genuinely more concerned they ultimately just connected me back to the same people at XXXX XXXX and nothing had changed. 

Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX I went to the XXXX XXXX web page and it said, " Your business could be eligible for another PayPal XXXX XXXX loan. Approved loans are funded in minutes and there's no credit check. '' The five other times I got this message in the past I was approved and offered 3 different loan options to choose from. While filling out the simple two page form that asked me to verify my identity and what I wanted the loan form, I received a phone call from XXXX at PayPal XXXX XXXX. He had called to tell me that the problem should be fixed. I told him that it was allowing me to apply. I hit the apply button and within one minute I received a rejection notice. 

I was still on the phone with XXXX the supervisor at XXXX XXXX. He pulled up my rejection and gave me immediate feedback. He said my sales for the year were sufficient and that I had no chargebacks or refunds that would flag me for rejection. He said my rejection apparently was because my sales were down for a month during the holidays when I was sick and unable to work, even though they were up by 20 % for the year. He noted that my PayPal sales had tripled in XXXX over XXXX. They told me I qualify in EVERY way except for the " fluctuation '' of a bad month and that I can try again in a few months. I've had FIVE of these loans in the past and paid them all off in 6 to 12 months. 
This feels like fraud and deception. The ONLY reason I started depositing my XXXX sales money in PayPal instead of my checking account was to qualify for these XXXX XXXX which I had easily been approved for in the past. They took 5 weeks from my initial inquiry into why I wasn't qualifying to even make the website offer me the option of applying and then when it finally did I was immediately rejected. I have been repeatedly told by supervisors at XXXX XXXX that my overall yearly sales qualify me as they have in the past but that technical problems have kept me from getting a loan and that no human intervention ontheir part can help me! 

I've attached screenshots that show the following informationfrom XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX : my XXXX  PayPal Payments Standard total is {$6200.00}, my XXXX sales depositedto PayPal are {$13000.00}, andmy PayPal account shows my total sales are {$22000.00} ( there are another {$3000.00} in sales that I directly invoiced through PayPal or were received there and initiated by customers ). I have also attached images that show their solicitation to XXXX sellers to deposit our sales with PayPal to be eligible for these loans along with the screen shots of them saying I COULD be eligible ( finally! ), the two pages that solicit basic info but don't even ask how much I may want to be loaned, and then the rejection notice. 

I am furious with PayPal and feel that they have been fraudulent in their efforts to get me and other XXXX sellers to deposit our XXXX sales money with them in the hope of being eligible for loans that they will never give us. I hope that the CFPB can give me some relief. I look forward to any help you can give in this situation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation