PayPal account frozen for 6 months

pidge76

I have a feeling this won't be news to some of you, but what I'm after is some advice on how to get around this!
Our PayPal account has been frozen due to us using a nickname instead of a legal name when opening it two and a half years ago, as everybody does with email addresses, ebay accounts, forums etc.
The account contains £500 of our children's spending money and they will not release this to us for six months. This will leave us with no opportunity to take the children to the cinema, out to the farm etc for six months, so after their school summer holidays.
Our argument is that they do not specify at time of registration that the account name must be in your 'legal' name, nor do they specify the account must be in your 'legal' name in their terms and conditions. At no point do they request proof of I.D. ('legal' name) when opening an account. They therefore they cannot withhold our money, 'legally', once they realise two and a half year later that the account/username is in fact in a nickname.
Moneygram, Weston Union and all banks all do this. PayPal are the only ones who do not.
They are refusing to do anything other than escalate our complaint to be reviewed within 72 hours, but have confirmed in writing that it is unlikely we will be able to access our money within the next 6 months.
PayPal has a dedicated forum full of complaints about their policies, along with previous history of being investigated by Watchdog and they are still freezing people's accounts with no warning and no appeal process.

KatrinaWaves

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5960669/paypal-holding-funds-for-6-months

Oddly familiar.

Anyway you were signing up to a bank, its a financial product, of course you use your own name.

How on earth did your childrens money get into paypal?

davidmcn

When you sign up they ask for your "first name" and your "last name". Do you really think they need to add a note saying "this means your real names, not made-up ones"?

Comms69

Literally what makes you think the answers are different from your last post...

Undervalued

I assume you were "wirralite" a couple of days ago but, in the unlikely event you weren't, I suggest you read the thread linked in first reply to today's tirade!

I agree PayPal enjoys a "mixed" reputation, although personally I have never had a single problem with them.

However, how anybody can be stupid enough to sign up for a regulated financial product with a false name is beyond me.

As one of the replies on the other thread correctly explains, your problems may well not end at a six month delay.

waamo

The terms and conditions clearly state no fake identities. This is a situation entirely of your own making.

marcarm

Won't somebody think of the children

askmeaboutsofas

Again?

they do not specify at time of registration that the account name must be in your 'legal' name, nor do they specify the account must be in your 'legal' name in their terms and conditions. At no point do they request proof of I.D. ('legal' name) when opening an account. They therefore they cannot withhold our money, 'legally', once they realise two and a half year later that the account/username is in fact in a nickname.

But they do. From their terms and conditions, which you are supposed to read and have to agree to during the sign up process:

1.7 Eligibility. ...
If you are not acting for the company that employs you, the new Account must be in your own name only. This Agreement applies only to Users who are residents of the United Kingdom and Relevant Countries. If you are a resident of another country, you may access your agreement from the PayPal website(s) in your country (if applicable).
...
9. Restricted Activities 9.1 Restricted Activities. In connection with your use of our website, your Account, or the Services, or in the course of your interactions with PayPal, a User or a third party, you will not:
...
e. Provide false, inaccurate or misleading Information;
...

I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding on your part, and not an attempt to get around an account ban from years ago (as was the case for the previous poster on this topic) but the facts remain the same. You used a fake name/nickname/pseudoname and this is not allowed in their terms and conditions. There's no point getting all sovereign citizen about it, they don't have to specify that you use your "legal name" - it says right there it needs to be in "your own name". They are holding your money for 180 days as that is the maximum amount of time under which the people who bought from you can claim their money back.

stragglebod

In the UK it's legal to use any name you like, as long as you're not doing so for fraudulent reasons.



The phrase 'in your name only' means that you can't open an account on behalf of someone else, not that the name you use has to match the one on your birth certificate.


Whether using a different name to get around a 'ban' is fraudulent or not is a matter for a court to decide. Large corporations might well try to persuade you that it's fraud or illegal to do something that breaches their terms and conditions; I'm not so sure.


My view is that Paypal can only do whatever the T&Cs say they can do in the event of you opening up another account after getting 'banned'. So what do they say about that?

davidmcn

It is of course perfectly legal to use more than one name - but if you give Paypal a name which doesn't appear on any of your ID or other bank accounts then it's going to be queried. And the OP is obviously aware of what financial institutions typically require, so why they chose this course of action beats me.

And if the institution suspects they're not dealing with the correct person or that there's other criminal activity going on, then they're obliged to withhold the funds (or report the matter to the authorities and wait for the go-ahead), irrespective of what their T & Cs say.

George_Michael

stragglebod wrote: »

In the UK it's legal to use any name you like, as long as you're not doing so for fraudulent reasons.


The phrase 'in your name only' means that you can't open an account on behalf of someone else, not that the name you use has to match the one on your birth certificate.

Which is fair enough provided that when opening a financial account in a name that isn't normally used to identify you in everyday life, you are willing to accept that by using this nom de plume it's almost a 100% certainty that you will encounter problems due you being unidentifiable when any identification or verification checks are carried out.