PayPal Credit - BEWARE!

jwil

EssexHebridean wrote: »

jwil You can opt out of the emails in your marketing preferences as mentioned earlier in the thread - I did my opt out at the weekend. Absolutely agree about wanting to opt out of the "Apply for Paypal credit" thing being pushed at me when I so much as pay for a £2.99 purchase on eBay though. I'm not interested, I'm not GOING to be interested.

Yes, I don't get the emails, just the payment thing. I wish I could opt out of that.

Deeeliteful wrote: »

That's because Ebay own Paypal and the same reason you will not find Paypal on Amazon.

They don't own paypal any more, they split a couple of years ago. Amazon have got their own payment system, hence not offering paypal.

SleeplessinSuffolk

I've just encountered PayPal Credit.  I wanted to buy a Dell computer and saw that Dell currently offer 0% interest for a year if the computer was paid for with PayPal Credit.  This seemed a good idea - so I applied and was given a very generous credit limit.  Much more than needed for the laptop.  The transaction went smoothly and the laptop is great... I'm a big fan of Dell machines, not least for their excellent technical support.
PayPal credit is another issue!!  I remember taking out credit in the good old days and leaving the store knowing
1. The monthly instalment.
2.  The number of months
3. The APR
4. The vendor's account name, account number, bank name, and sort code so that I could set up a direct debit.
Not so with PayPal!!!  What they offer (as someone less naïve than me would spot) is a credit card without the "card", so I suppose PayPal Credit is a good name for it!
After a protracted phone call with PayPal, I still have insufficient information to set up a Direct Debit.  They WON'T tell me the monthly payment (though I'll be pi**ed off it it isn't a twelfth of the purchase price), the monthly pay-by date, a sort code and an account number. Why?  Well their telephone adviser on more than one occasion mentioned that I might want to use my remaining credit and so the information I sought may change.  The laptop was about 30% of the credit limit they offered me when I applied for PayPal Credit, so no doubt they will flood my inbox with new offers to extract the remaining 70% of what they are prepared to loan me.
It's at times like this I remember my first visit to London.  I was 17 and fascinated by the ads on the underground escalators.  There was on which sticks in my mind today - 50 years on.  I can't remember the advertiser - it was for a building society savings account.  The text was:  REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAVED UP FOR SOMETHING BEFORE YOU BOUGHT IT?

Takmon

SleeplessinSuffolk said:

I've just encountered PayPal Credit.  I wanted to buy a Dell computer and saw that Dell currently offer 0% interest for a year if the computer was paid for with PayPal Credit.  This seemed a good idea - so I applied and was given a very generous credit limit.  Much more than needed for the laptop.  The transaction went smoothly and the laptop is great... I'm a big fan of Dell machines, not least for their excellent technical support.
PayPal credit is another issue!!  I remember taking out credit in the good old days and leaving the store knowing
1. The monthly instalment.
2.  The number of months
3. The APR
4. The vendor's account name, account number, bank name, and sort code so that I could set up a direct debit.
Not so with PayPal!!!  What they offer (as someone less naïve than me would spot) is a credit card without the "card", so I suppose PayPal Credit is a good name for it!
After a protracted phone call with PayPal, I still have insufficient information to set up a Direct Debit.  They WON'T tell me the monthly payment (though I'll be pi**ed off it it isn't a twelfth of the purchase price), the monthly pay-by date, a sort code and an account number. Why?  Well their telephone adviser on more than one occasion mentioned that I might want to use my remaining credit and so the information I sought may change.  The laptop was about 30% of the credit limit they offered me when I applied for PayPal Credit, so no doubt they will flood my inbox with new offers to extract the remaining 70% of what they are prepared to loan me.
It's at times like this I remember my first visit to London.  I was 17 and fascinated by the ads on the underground escalators.  There was on which sticks in my mind today - 50 years on.  I can't remember the advertiser - it was for a building society savings account.  The text was:  REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAVED UP FOR SOMETHING BEFORE YOU BOUGHT IT?

Knowing the account name, number, sort code etc does not allow you to set up a Direct Debit and never has, Direct Debits are setup by the credit company so you simply need to log into your PayPal account and give them your account details and set the monthly direct debit amount to be taken. 
PayPal credit is just like a credit account so you have a minimum monthly payment you need to pay but can pay more if you want and it will be interest free for 12 months in your case. But all this information is available on the website and on your PayPal account so i don't know why your struggling to understand.

capuchin

I’m over £1000 in debt with them, £9,200 credit limit. It seems that as long as you make a transaction with them, they’ll keep raising it every 6 months like clockwork. Doesn’t matter what the transaction is, or whether it’s simply a regular standing order type payment. 

I was buying something from eBay. The option kept appearing. Eventually I clicked it. It then became super convenient to “just click.”

redux

redux said:

I was going to post it before, but then edited it out. £5000 limit. I haven't been over £350, mostly around £30 to 50

I see this thread came back.

In view of the previous post just above about credit limit increasing, I thought I'd quote my post from two years ago and say my limit is still the same, and typical monthly spending average similar, though lower the last 3 or 4 months.

I did use an offer of spreading something interest free over 10 or 12 months. The minimum monthly payment was the fraction of this plus £5. I actually paid the share of this plus all the previous month spending, thus staying interest free.

Some comments as before, caution about letting it get away, and echo the OP's remarks about the rather high limits

EssexHebridean

I asked for the thread to be reactivated (thanks Sourcrates!) as I am still increasingly concerned about the sheer number of those arriving new to these forums and needing help who show paypal credit among their list of debts. 

Redux nails it really IMO - for someone who uses it as a way of essentially doing "buy now pay later" - spends within their limits, only on planned purchases, completely ignores any increases to credit limits and clears the balance before any interest is payable it can be a useful tool. When it is being used as an additional easy line of credit by someone who is already struggling though, those increasing credit limits can easily lead them into significant trouble.

I said elsewhere on here, it also wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if some time down the line lenders start looking very negatively at PP credit appearing on someone's history - if that was to happen, it could well have an impact on ability to get decent mortgage deals, for example. definitely something to bear in mind - and before anyone says "that won't ever happen" we said that about payday lenders in the first instance, too!  

@capuchin - it's how easy they make running up debt that really bothers me - out of interest, if you spent right up to that limit they have now given you, would it be affordable for you to pay back?

Just remember - if you've gone to, for example, Ebay to make a purchase, the money is sitting in your bank ready to pay, there is NO reason to click on the link for Paypal credit. Just stick with your plans - buy, pay. If you DO decide to go the credit route for example for 0% interest, make a solid plan from the start to ensure that the balance is cleared, and beware of the temptation to then just use the credit line to make further purchases. 

Graham1982

Hello everyone:

I do think that PayPal Credit is just an easier way of buying non-planned purchases or there is less take up time. I remember similar to what someone posted above (I think), you could go into DSG (PC World, etc) and buy a laptop back when they were a bit expensive i.e. close to 1k. If you passed the credit check you could then buy now, pay a year later with Black Horse Finance, with no interest to pay. The pro of this was you probably decided ahead of time that you needed said laptop and therefore spared some thought for how you were going to pay for it. That being said, much like PayPal Credit, the moment you stepped out of the interest free terms you were wacked with 29.9% APR (or something).

I think the major problem with PayPal credit is that you can use it to buy anything (I think) with the credit facility you have available so the ability to graze on rubbish is the problem that I think manifests itself for some. Using me as an example, I love messing about with old tech etc. If I wasn't disciplined enough (which I now I am) I could be late night browsing and just make impulse purchases, which surely debt finance shouldn't be for.

EssexHebridean

Just bumping this back up again as it never hurts to keep it in people's minds, particularly in light of the rising cost of living currently. 

RosaBernicia

Thanks for this bumping this EH, interested to see it. 

I have been avoiding PayPal Credit, and am seriously considering avoiding PayPal altogether because I don't want to accidentally click the credit button.  It takes actual concentration to avoid it.  The limits people have mentioned here just remind me of the days I used to get credit card cheques in the mail and I find the whole thing worrying too.  Now that lockdown is lessening I don't need to buy online from as many different companies and I'm trying to stay off 3bay... I will probably just live with putting in a credit card number instead.

EssexHebridean

Oh the number of times I've nearly accidentally clicked that "apply for credit" button - and they put it there even for the tiniest transactions too - I presume if the transaction is below the limit and you click it it then tells you haw much more you need to spend to reach the threshold - grrr! I default to Am@z0n these days over the Bay of E partly for that reason.