Consumer complaint received 2015-07-20
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: PA
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: Mobile wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX I had used pay pal to purchase an item. I had added my credit card and made the purchase. The " seller '' of the item did not send the item in time and I emailed the " seller '' telling her I wanted to cancel it. The next day she sent the item to me anyway and told me that I would need to be a XXXX % stocking fee but that once I received the item, if I sent it back she would give me a refund minus the stocking fee. I was angry and I immediately called up my bank and told them to stop any transactions form this seller ( and even paid the fee ). I had assumed that she would n't be able to charge me anything. When I got the item I sent it back to her and I got an email from her a week later saying she sent me a refund. 

I was immediately confused .... I did n't understand how she sent me a refund, if I had blocked the transaction from my XXXX XXXX XXXX account. Come to find out that she sent the refund via pay pal. I immediately thought that maybe something went wrong with the transaction, when I searched pay pal for answers, I saw that the refund was listed as " gift money '' or money that I could obtain to be used toward anything. I did n't touch the money because I was confused about how I had this " extra '' money. I checked my XXXX XXXX XXXX and saw no changes in my account. I went back on Pay Pal and saw that I had a " XXXX balance ''. I assumed that this meant that the seller just made an error and issued a refund on an item that she never received money for. 

Months later, I keep getting emails from pay pal about " billing '' statements. I click and see that I have a XXXX balance STILL, and that I still have the partial refund from the seller sitting in the " account '' for use. So I assume that with the zero balance and with the refund money sitting as a " credit '' that the statements I 'm getting are really about the refund money, and not about an actual purchase. 

Then last week I got a call from a bill collector about Pay Pal Credit. I was immediately confused. I NEVER signed up for Pay Pal credit. I NEVER gave them my SSN. In fact when I signed up for Pay Pal to purchase the item XX/XX/XXXX, I only gave my credit card information, my address, full name, etc, an email address and asked to purchase the item with my XXXX XXXX XXXX account ( which I later deleted to keep the seller from charging it after I cancelled the item ). Yet I was STILL signed up for this service, given a credit line, and received no paper statements or any information about this account. 

The emails that I received and " statements '' always showed a XXXX payment due, XXXX balance, and XXXX " credit '' ( from the partial refund ). So I was NEVER given information that stated that I owed anything, and that there was a specific payment I needed to make. 

When the creditors called me and told me that I owed {$340.00} dollars and that it was past due. I was confused. Not only did I not sign up for this service, but in statements and on the account it showed XXXX payment due, and XXXX balance. Now I owe {$340.00}??? 

Half of this amount is late fees and interests. 

I 'm angry that I was illegally signed up for this service. That I was charged late fees, and interests on a purchase using an account that I never authorized. That I was never given descriptive statements that showed me late fees, interests, or balance owed. And that this is on my credit report despite me not giving permission or authorization. This is fraud. They signed me up without my permission. They sent vague " email '' statements. I 'm charged all this interests. This is illegal.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief