I have 2 PayPal accounts - can I send money to myself with a credit card?

finance-boy · 24 August 2008 at 2:30AM

Hello. I have two PayPal accounts (one Premier and one Personal - I think this is okay) linked to different bank accounts and different email addresses. I've used these before to transfer money between bank accounts.

I also have a credit card that gives me 0% interest on purchases for 1 year (HSBC).

I'm a bit cash-strapped at the moment. Would it be possible to "pay" myself with my credit card, via PayPal? If so, would this be charged as a purchase? Would there be any other fees involved that would make my card accrue interest? I really want to keep my card completely interest-free, since the interest-accruing part of one's balance is invariably the last part to be paid-off.

I figure if anyone can help me, it's you guys.

Thanks,
Dan

Toilet-Duck · 24 August 2008 at 3:18AM

Yes you can it works fine, however if paypal find out they would probably suspend you account and freeze your funds...

CarlSmith_2 · 24 August 2008 at 6:03AM

True, paypal does random check on accounts that has "suspicious" activities.

normanmark · 24 August 2008 at 7:30AM

It wouldnt be classed as a purchase afaik.

finance-boy · 24 August 2008 at 12:54PM

How do they define suspicious? The same IP address? The amount of money transferred? Similar-sounding account names? I understand that it's okay to send money between bank accounts using PayPal - would a credit card be so different?

Also, if they did freeze my account, how long would it take to get my money back?

JoseChungsDoomsday · 24 August 2008 at 5:04PM

they do the checks because what you would be doing is technically breaking money laundering laws. It's a good idea, however if they catch you, you're screwed...

[Deleted User] · 24 August 2008 at 8:17PM

Surely the drawback is the fee which Paypal knocks off the amount transferred?

finance-boy · 24 August 2008 at 11:13PM

Well, I was going to send it from a business PayPal account to a personal PayPal account, so I don't think there would be a fee. I wouldn't really care anyway, as long as the fee didn't accrue interest.

Also, I thought it was only money laundering if the money came from criminal activities. If they did freeze my account, would I be able to get my money back? How long would it take?

DesG · 25 August 2008 at 2:08PM

6 months I have heard.

Richard019 · 25 August 2008 at 2:58PM

finance-boy wrote: »

Well, I was going to send it from a business PayPal account to a personal PayPal account, so I don't think there would be a fee. I wouldn't really care anyway, as long as the fee didn't accrue interest.

Also, I thought it was only money laundering if the money came from criminal activities. If they did freeze my account, would I be able to get my money back? How long would it take?

Dictionary.com definition of laundering in relation to money:

"To disguise the source or nature by channeling through an intermediate agent."

Funds of a criminal origin are only mentioned as an example.

B.E.N · 25 August 2008 at 2:58PM

Ignore all the people on about "Money Laundering" - seems to be the latest buzzword combination on here.

Paypal have been known to freeze accounts for suspicious activity - lots of criticism of the company - just google "Paypal Sucks", but I can't see why it'd be seen as suspicious (in a criminal funds kind of way). The only problem would be if their computers detect it as suspicious and automatically freeze the account.

It wouldn't matter that you're using different email addresses, as, presumably, the accounts both belong to you, and are named as such. So, they'd "know" anyway.

If you're worried about it, couldn't you just set up another Paypal account in a friend's name, from another computer?

I have 2 PayPal accounts - can I send money to myself with a credit card?

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