Consumer complaint received 2026-01-02 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
Paypal offered a promotion to receive 20 % back if you complete a purchase using " pay in 4 '' ( which takes your total amount and breaks it up into 4 payments. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I made a purchase at XXXX for {$840.00} ( {$790.00} + tax ) and expected that I would receive 20 % back ( {$150.00} which is 20 % of {$790.00} ). When I didn't, I reached out to PayPal on XX/XX/XXXX to inquire. 

Paypal responded on XX/XX/XXXX and asked for details on the transaction and I responded with everything they needed on XX/XX/XXXX. 

Paypal responded on XX/XX/XXXX stating " The Buy Now, Pay Later ( BNPL ) 20 % cash back offer ended on XX/XX/XXXX. While we see that your order was placed on XX/XX/XXXX, the payment for the order was completed on XX/XX/XXXX, which is unfortunately outside of the promotional period. Because of this timing, the purchase does not qualify for the 20 % cash back offer ''. 

I responded that I was unhappy and was going to return the item since I didn't understand how they could do this to me Paypal replied on XX/XX/XXXX stating " Thank you for your message and for sharing how youre feeling about this. Its completely understandable to be disappointed, especially when you made every effort to follow the rules and the payment authorization timing was outside your control ''. 

This upset me as I followed the rules and they didn't reward me based on items outside of my control. I stated " As you can see in the email ( attached in my last message ) dated XX/XX/XXXX it says " We've paid XXXX XXXX for your purchase in full... '' In the financial world, saying " paid in full '' means a transaction was completed ( or at least I thought that until now ). I'm not aware of a regularly occurring transaction where the seller says " you are paid in full '' and then says you will need to wait another week before we consider this transaction complete so of course I am disappointed. It just doesn't make sense. PayPal is supposed to be a reputable company who honors the promotions they offer. Right now I feel like they are hiding behind excuses. I did my part, I would like PayPal to honor their part. 

Can you please escalate this for review by the appropriate Team who handles scenarios like this and has the ability to manually fix the issue? 

Paypal replied on XX/XX/XXXX and restated that I was not eligible due to the payment processing timelines that are outside of MY control... 

They are a payment processing company and are fully knowledgeable about scenarios like this and must be held accountable. Unfortunately, they still ran the promo and then find ways ( like mine ) to remove eligibility for items outside the control of the consumer. 

I am requesting the CFPB to step in on my behalf and hold Paypal accountable to the offer they made and that I accepted ( pay in 4, get 20 % back ). I did my part and they didn't do their part and still owe me {$150.00}. They can place the money in my account or they can mail me a check ; either is acceptable. 

Thank you for your help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief