Consumer complaint received 2016-06-16
Product: Debt collection — I do not know
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed — Debt resulted from identity theft
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (OH)

The Chargeback / Dispute policies of PayPal have taken my account to over negative $ XXXX dollars and now they 're turning me over to a collection agency. 

I 've been a member of PayPal for many years. I 've never had an issue until now. My ex-roommate moved out owing me over {$13000.00} in XXXX of 2016. She moved back home with her parents. Her father gave her access to his credit card. Between XXXX and XXXX she was paying on what she owed by making payments through PayPal. After making several payments, she got into an argument with her Father. He was mad and started disputing the payments she made with his bank. His bank generated a dispute for each of the payments in her name. They said she disputed the payments. I immediately tried to resolve the issue by working with her. She accepted full responsibility for the chargebacks and admitted I was not at fault. She submitted a notarized letter stating that. She 's made several attempts to address the issues via calls and emails, but no matter what she did, they could n't do anything. They have no process or procedures in place to resolve issues with the buyer 's bank when the buyer is at fault. PayPal did n't do anything to meet her request and transfer the debt. From my side of the transactions, I 've done everything I could to show them, the payments were valid and it was a personal transaction and not something bought and sold. PayPal 's chargeback and disputes department said ; they would present the information to the bank. They said ; since the PayPal account owner admits the charges were valid and stated she was authorized by her dad 's card, that I did n't need to worry. Eventually, the first set of chargebacks were closed against me. They said they would appeal the banks decision. More and more chargebacks were closed against me and I asked for a contact and the name of the bank. I was denied this information and was left helpless to resolve the issues. I did n't know the bank, whose card was used, or a single contact to address the issue. PayPal said they protect that information, but they still expect me to accept responsibility. The result is ; my exroommate committed fraud and identity theft and I 'm being held responsible for her illegal activity. PayPal 's expects me to pay over {$6000.00} for an issue they did n't help me resolve. Their reason for not supporting me, is these transactions are n't covered by " seller protection policy ''. PayPal said they have no way to transfer the debt to the buyer, even though she is at fault and accepted responsibility. Because of PayPal 's inability to place responsibility on the person at fault, they 're attempting to collect from me without providing any support or opportunity to address the issue with the bank making this claim. 


If you do business on PayPal and someone buys merchandise with a stolen card, you are responsible to pay back the amount of the transactions made and you wo n't have access to the funds to run your business. No matter what, because someone broke the law, the company that says they 'll protect you, holds you responsible to pay.