DPop Paypal Debt for minor

spc1968

First time poster and apologies if this has been dealt with before (I did search)

Over Christmas I discovered a letter addressed to my son (13 years old) from a debt collect agency chasing him for £150

When I asked him about this he told me he had set up a drop shipping business. He was advertising items on DPop accepting cash via Paypal, transferring the receipts to his bank account then purchasing said item from Ali Express.

His explanation is that Ali Express delivery times were 4 weeks or so and his customers demanded their money back via Paypal protection thus creating a debt. Being a niaive 13 year old he said he deleted his paypal account when he got the letter and it has since been frozen so I cannot check what the current position is.

I want him to learn a lesson from this but ideally not at my expense. I am assuming the customers have had their deliveries now as it has been 4-6 months so if yes in theory the debt shouldn't exist.

Surprisingly there appears to have only been one letter so far and no reference to proceedings.

Given the rise in these sites and under age kids using paypal I wonder whether others have foudn their child in a similar position and if so what they did to resolve.

Thanks very much 

Brie

Is it legal for a person under 18 years to sign up for credit of any sort?  I'd be asking paypal for the credit agreement.  Might mean going through the debt agency asking for a copy and potentially a subject access request.  But as a lesson in financial management this would be a great thing for you to direct your son through so he learns the error of his ways.  

born_again

Good news is they can't take him to court due to his age.
But he must have lied about his age, as you need to be 18 to open a pay pal account.

https://www.paypal.com/uk/legalhub/useragreement-full

I would inform the company of this fact.
Then a nice word about this being a learning curve & to remember that while was a good idea, perhaps a bit more thought about his entrepreneurial idea's & run them past you 1st 👍

soolin

spc1968 said:

First time poster and apologies if this has been dealt with before (I did search)

Over Christmas I discovered a letter addressed to my son (13 years old) from a debt collect agency chasing him for £150

When I asked him about this he told me he had set up a drop shipping business. He was advertising items on DPop accepting cash via Paypal, transferring the receipts to his bank account then purchasing said item from Ali Express.

His explanation is that Ali Express delivery times were 4 weeks or so and his customers demanded their money back via Paypal protection thus creating a debt. Being a niaive 13 year old he said he deleted his paypal account when he got the letter and it has since been frozen so I cannot check what the current position is.

I want him to learn a lesson from this but ideally not at my expense. I am assuming the customers have had their deliveries now as it has been 4-6 months so if yes in theory the debt shouldn't exist.

Surprisingly there appears to have only been one letter so far and no reference to proceedings.

Given the rise in these sites and under age kids using paypal I wonder whether others have foudn their child in a similar position and if so what they did to resolve.

Thanks very much 

As has been said you cannot open a PayPal account until you are 18, so the implication is that the son lied, or there is a possibility that it was opened in a parents name. It is unlikely that very much ID was requested at first, but that could be overcome by just using parental details, any full verification would not have taken place until there was a healthy run through of funds. 

As for the debt, yes it exists as OP have admitted that PayPal had to pay out on the INR claims, the fact that the items arrived later makes no difference. 

The question about how to deal with a debt for an under age user might be best addressed on the debt board here on MSE. However it is also worth noting that PayPal will try and recover the money through easy means, so care opening PayPal accounts in the future, or operating ones in the parents names needs to be taken. 

forgotmyname

born_again said:

1,   Good news is they can't take him to court due to his age.

2,   But he must have lied about his age, as you need to be 18 to open a pay pal account.

1,   Yes under age.

2,   Possibly worse?   Did he commit fraud which maybe a criminal matter?