Why PayPal gets on my nerves
Jan. 28th, 2008 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenkI think I know why I am so ready to assume the worst of PayPal: because they've been pushing my boundaries for so long.
Every time I log in, I'm prompted to link a bank account to PayPal. Every transaction? They prompt me to link a bank account. This, to me, is the financial equivalent of a repellent co-worker nagging me for sex. Or trying to squat in my house.
I don't use my debit card online. I've noticeably limited how much I use it at stores (approaching never, actually). Online payments are setup on my bank's side, not the mortgage company's side.
Yes, I do limit how much money is in the checking account. Surplus money gets transferred to savings or invested elsewhere. But I have to think long and hard about letting someone else's typo clean out my bank account, and really? It's not something I like to do.
PayPal, of course, is not a person. It's a company. Its policies have nothing to do with my boundaries. Electronic transactions are cheaper than credit cards, yes, but it's also easier to open a fraudulent credit card than to maintain a fraudulent bank account - so from PayPal's fraud prevention mindset, linking a bank account is safer.
But I'm not worrying about me defrauding PayPal's customers. I'm worrying about limiting access to my checking account.
Having Amex as a buffer between me and PayPal is good for me, rationally and emotionally. I feel more secure. Each time PayPal nags me to remove that buffer, I feel that PayPal is trying to remove that security. So now that I feel that PayPal is always going to try to slip a fast one past me ... this happens, and I am primed to put the worst possible spin on it.
Because I've built a reflex of distrust where PayPal is concerned.
Why haven't I canceled the account? Because it does offer a convenient method of payment for eBay, and I have some items I am thinking of selling. Of course, if I do sell something significant, collecting the money from PayPal would require ... drumroll ... linking a bank account.
I've been working on reducing my accounts and such, but a separate account just to link with PayPal might be a compromise I could deal with.
Every time I log in, I'm prompted to link a bank account to PayPal. Every transaction? They prompt me to link a bank account. This, to me, is the financial equivalent of a repellent co-worker nagging me for sex. Or trying to squat in my house.
I don't use my debit card online. I've noticeably limited how much I use it at stores (approaching never, actually). Online payments are setup on my bank's side, not the mortgage company's side.
Yes, I do limit how much money is in the checking account. Surplus money gets transferred to savings or invested elsewhere. But I have to think long and hard about letting someone else's typo clean out my bank account, and really? It's not something I like to do.
PayPal, of course, is not a person. It's a company. Its policies have nothing to do with my boundaries. Electronic transactions are cheaper than credit cards, yes, but it's also easier to open a fraudulent credit card than to maintain a fraudulent bank account - so from PayPal's fraud prevention mindset, linking a bank account is safer.
But I'm not worrying about me defrauding PayPal's customers. I'm worrying about limiting access to my checking account.
Having Amex as a buffer between me and PayPal is good for me, rationally and emotionally. I feel more secure. Each time PayPal nags me to remove that buffer, I feel that PayPal is trying to remove that security. So now that I feel that PayPal is always going to try to slip a fast one past me ... this happens, and I am primed to put the worst possible spin on it.
Because I've built a reflex of distrust where PayPal is concerned.
Why haven't I canceled the account? Because it does offer a convenient method of payment for eBay, and I have some items I am thinking of selling. Of course, if I do sell something significant, collecting the money from PayPal would require ... drumroll ... linking a bank account.
I've been working on reducing my accounts and such, but a separate account just to link with PayPal might be a compromise I could deal with.
