Help - Paypal debt

help1200

Hi all

Desperately need help please.

I used paypal to pay £3300 to an organisation. I made a mistake of assuming a payment had been made into my bank first as I had been assured it would be. So, they £3300 worth of payments went through paypal no problems with it stating the funds had been successfully taken from my bank account. Today I have spoken to the bank and found out the payment into my bank account hadnt taken place (I have been let down badly by someone who shall remain nameless) and so the dd requests from paypal for the money will be rejected.

This will leave my Paypal account balance in negative and Im guessing they are going to chase me for the money. I havent got the money to pay it now as I wont be receiving the money into my account in the near future.

Im not trying to shift the blame, I should have checked I had the money safe in my account. However, where do I stand with this? Surely Paypal/my bank shouldnt have allowed the payment to go through if it wasnt there? What should I do when Paypal come knocking for their money?

Any help or advice appreciated please

Thrifty_Pixie

what organisation did you pay? can you not get the £3300 back? if it was a purchase you have 30 days to return/cancel.

but yes, you really should've checked the money was in your account as it's illegal otherwise i think. as far as i'm aware the onus is on YOU to make sure the funds are there as PayPal is just an intermediary who forward the money and then claim it back from your bank account. the first your bank will have heard of it is their claim for funds.

i think i'm right in this, otherwise i'm sure someone else will be along soon.

help1200

Unfortunately it wasnt a purchase, it was a payment for services so cant return.

I completely agree I am at fault here and should have checked. But I didnt and Im now in this situation. Surely paypal should have some mechanism where they check before paying otherwise essentially they are acting as a credit agency?

Any advice on how to deal with it would be greatly appreciated.

Thrifty_Pixie

help1200 wrote: »

Unfortunately it wasnt a purchase, it was a payment for services so cant return.

I completely agree I am at fault here and should have checked. But I didnt and Im now in this situation. Surely paypal should have some mechanism where they check before paying otherwise essentially they are acting as a credit agency?

Any advice on how to deal with it would be greatly appreciated.

ah that's a shame.

did PayPal actually state the amount had successfully been taken from your BANK account? or your PayPal account? don't forget when they list the transactions on PayPal there is a delay between those two stages, using saying 'pending' or something.

i always thought Paypal were a kind of credit intermediary anyway? they must be if you can pay through them without having anything actually in your PayPal account? there is always a delay of some sort transferring money between accounts so some 'credit' would be needed?

you'll have to read their small print to see what their T&C's are, but i'm guessing it'll say something along the lines of 'ensure you have the money available before purchasing through PayPal'. that's where they'll get you, unfortunately.

i would contact them and see if you can arrange a monthly payment plan, explaining what's happened. i know not what you want to hear, but at least you will get the money back from 'the person not to be mentioned' at some point?

help1200

I always assumed they only used money that they knew was there as I had never signed any credit agreements etc with them. I have read their t's and c's and doesnt mention about it being my responsibility to ensure money is there.

Again, not trying to shift the blame but surely this is a gaping hole in their business. I have contacted them to try and arrange a payment plan but if this is a common occurence, they must be losing thousands having to then try and collect the debts. I could have spent even more im sure if I was that way inclined to try and screw the system - im sure there are people out there that would?

Thrifty_Pixie

having just googled around a bit i've come to the conclusion (right or wrong! i'm sure someone will tell me ) that when you attached a bank account to your PayPal account you are implicitly agreeing to abide by the same rules as you must when using, say, a debit card, as that's the T&C's of your bank (i.e. that you should make sure funds are available before any transactions). therefore they shouldn't HAVE to check your balance.

i'm at a bit of a loss as to why the transaction went through if they're NOT acting as a sort of credit-holding house between your payee and your bank, otherwise it should've been rejected like a debit card or credit card would at the till. remember that you don't always need to sign a credit agreement these days - you can tick a box online!

i'm not sure about all this, i'm just surmising, so i hope someone more knowledgeable comes along. i'd like to know too!

hopefully they'll agree a payment plan with you

DCFC79

Duplicate thread here