Paypal warning - OFAC screens

bedfordshire_mum

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I wanted to warn people about a problem I've been having with Paypal. They have frozen £45 of my money, I can't use Paypal for any purchases, and they won't even talk to me about it. Why? I tried to buy theatre tickets to a London show called "Vamos Cuba" through the "Kids Week" theatre website and it triggered their OFAC scan.

The day it happened, I got an automated email asking me to fill out a US government form to unfreeze the information, but it needs lots of information I don't have (such as the OFAC programme the money was frozen under). I phoned up and was told that it had been manually reviewed, and a refund was made, but it would take a few days to go through.

That was two weeks ago, and it hasn't been cleared up, and now they won't even talk to me about it. I emailed their OFAC support team, and got the same automated email back again. Phone support refuse to talk to me, and say I can only contact the OFAC team by email.

Meanwhile, because the money is 'frozen', my Paypal account is 'negative' - even though they have taken the £45 from my bank account and not refunded it. So I can't make any payments via my Paypal account and have had to move all recurring payments to other payments methods.

I can't make a Financial Ombudsman complaint until 8 weeks have passed.

I am fuming, but not actually struggling for cash because of the £45 - but for some people or for larger amounts this could be really serious so I wanted to let people know that this can happen.

xylophone

Now that is excessive!

What next, Ali Baba?

bxboards

I would definately go down the Complaint route. It's unacceptable for a someone with a UK Paypal account so be asked to comply with US law.

I would make the Complaint on principle, as it will cost Paypal money, and is off course completely indefensible to freeze funds in this instance, as you are not under US jurisdiction.

bedfordshire_mum

Unfortunately, I think PayPal both can and must enforce US law, since it's a US company - one reason to be wary of PayPal if you're in the UK.

But in this instance, there was no breach of OFAC - I wasn't trading with Cuba, I was buying tickets to a London show with Cuba in its name. So the error is Paypal's, and by hiding behind OFAC and refusing even to talk to me, I can't get it fixed.

UPDATE: I tried calling PayPal AGAIN today (fourth time) and religious avoided using the word "OFAC" but explained that my money had been frozen, and yet they seemed to think that I owed them money. The lady on the phone looked at the account and said that a refund had been applied in the wrong direction - effectively double-charging me instead of giving my money back. She said they will fix it within 72 hours. Of course, that's what they told me two weeks ago, so we'll have to see if it's true.

Still, if true, then they have been refusing to talk to me and asking me to fill in a government form when it was their typo!

ceredigion

Not a US company or law
Registered in Luxembourg and your contract is set under English law. There is a fire wall between it and the American parent company.

14.3 Governing Law and Jurisdiction. This Agreement and the relationship between us shall be governed by English law. For complaints that cannot be resolved otherwise, you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the provision of our Services without prejudice to your right to also initiate a proceeding against PayPal in that context before the competent courts of and in Luxembourg. In simple terms, “nonexclusive jurisdiction of the English courts” means that if you were able to bring a claim arising from this Agreement against us in Court, an acceptable court would be a court located in England, but you may also elect to bring a claim in the court of another country instead. English law will apply in all cases.

Ballard

It is utterly ridiculous that they've messed you around like this. It's a sad case that financial organisations are petrified of falling foul of the US and I hope that you soon get a satisfactory solution.

In my last job I regularly had to pay several million EUR to a Cuban company and NatWest needed to do extra KYC before they'd do it even though there was no involvement of any US institutions.

In the job before that some USD got blocked because the payment referenced one of my managers in London and his surname indicated that he might be Cuban (he wasn't).

masonic

bedfordshire_mum wrote: »

Meanwhile, because the money is 'frozen', my Paypal account is 'negative' - even though they have taken the £45 from my bank account and not refunded it. So I can't make any payments via my Paypal account and have had to move all recurring payments to other payments methods.

You say that they've taken money out of your bank account. Presumably that is by Direct Debit. Contact your bank for a full and immediate refund if that's the case.

If you paid by debit card, then you may be able to initiate a chargeback via your bank for non-receipt of goods.

bedfordshire_mum

So... after admitting that this was their mistake, they've credited my account with £45. Which undoes the incorrect 'refund' that made me appear to owe them, but still means that they have the original £45 that they took off me. Next round of phone calls tomorrow.

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