PAYPAL, Add a Bank Account...

[ST Dragon]

Hello,
I recently got an ATM / Debit card (Not credit card) which is connected to my checking type bank account. I also successfully created a Paypal account and connected it to this debit card.

After I activated the paypal account, it asked me if I also wanted to add a bank account to paypal, my IBAN Number and the name of the bank.

This message:

Withdraw PayPal Funds Directly to Your Greek Bank Account.
Add a Bank Account in Greece
________________________________________

Now you can withdraw funds from your PayPal balance to your Greek bank account. Enjoy access to your PayPal funds without incurring high international bank transfer fees.

Add your bank account
Simply add a Greek bank account to your PayPal account, and you can begin withdrawing your PayPal funds. Just make sure your bank account is denominated in Euro (EUR).

Avoid high bank transfer fees

Making withdrawals from your PayPal account is free for amounts above €100.00 EUR. For withdrawals under €100.00 EUR, you pay just €1.00 EUR.

Your PayPal funds will be converted to Euro before they are deposited to your bank account. The exchange rate for the transaction will be displayed prior to making your withdrawal.

With easier access to your funds, you can manage your business more efficiently than ever. Withdraw funds to your Greek bank account today!

I have not added my bank account to Paypal yet, as I was not sure of the risks / benefits of doing so.
So, if I don’t and leave it as it is (Paypal connected to the debit card only) will I not be able to make withdrawals from PayPal to my bank account, buy or sell stuff on-line or through ebay?
Also what are the benefits / risks of doing do?
About this quote, “Avoid high bank transfer fees”. Will I have to pay higher bank transfer fees in my transactions if I don’t connect Paypal to my checking type bank account and leave it only with the debit card?

I live in Greece E.U. and the local currency is Euro.

Please excuse my ignorance as I have never used Paypal / Ebay before, so any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I think that you just can't receive money without the bank account added. You should be able to send money though without it. I think.

[D]

I think that you can receive money now but the the money stays on your debit card and you have to manually request a transfer from your debit card to your checking account.

linking it directly to your checking account could make things easier (and a bit scarier?)
As for risks......... I don't know

So many banking terms fly all over the place.
Perhaps you can get answers on the paypal website itself or call your bank and they should have someone who knows about these things.

[ST Dragon]

Wait, if I don't connect paypal to my bank account, how can I transfer money from my debit card to paypal and vice versa, assuming that the debit / ATM card already has some money? (This is not a credit card by the way and is connected directly to my checking bank account)

I can easily withdraw/install money using the debit / ATM card from any automatic transfer money machine (ATM) that is supported by my bank. My bank account would be also updated spontaneously.

So I don't quite understand how the money transferred from the debit card to paypal is achieved and vice versa and what are the banking transferring fees in each case?

Judging by the Paypal banking term posted previously, I’m supposed to save money from fees if I connect if I also connect it to my bank account.

So how do you guys manage your transactions using paypal?


Thanks in advance.

[Skyline]

Connecting yorur checking account to Paypal makes the process a bit easier in many respects.

Any funds that you recieve to your Paypal account balance can be transferred to your checking account. It does take a few days for the transfer to kick in though. You could theoretically still use whatever funds are in your Paypal balance to make purchases, but connecting it to a bank account is the only way you'll get that money in your pocket.

Paypal does not charge fees for commuting funds between your Paypal and checking accounts, or sending money to others. If payment is sent to you from someone else, however, a small percentage of the transferred amount is taken out as a fee.

[system11]

If you don't have a linked bank account, any money you're sent has to stay as a Paypal balance.

However, I would set up an extra bank account for Paypal use. What if your main bank account was compromised? How fucked up would you be for a bit if someone emptied it. Think of the monthly bills.

Too risky...

[ST Dragon]

Yes, I have all ready done that.
There is no way I would ever link my main bank account & ATM/Debit card to the Internet!
I wouldn’t want any bastid messing around with my hard earned money!

I do actually want some of that money to end in my pocket, so linking that small secondary bank account to paypal is inevitable I guess.

How would I transfer money from my bank account / debit card to paypal in order to buy something and how would I withdraw the money received from paypal to my bank account?

Also how do you send/receive money via paypal to/from other buyers/sellers?

Thanks in advance.

[SAM]

Yes, I have all ready done that.
There is no way I would ever link my main bank account & ATM/Debit card to the Internet!
I wouldn’t want any bastid messing around with my hard earned money!

I actually connected my PayPal account to my one and only one bank account. It actually quite safe linking it to PayPal, since PayPal couldnot take money from your bank account without your permission (Your banker control this not PayPal). PayPal can only put money into your bank account but not otherwise. They can only get money from your credit/debit card.

How would I transfer money from my bank account / debit card to paypal in order to buy something and how would I withdraw the money received from paypal to my bank account?

I don't know for your case, since you could actually store Euro in your PayPal account. But for my case, the bank exchange rate for USD to my home currency is normal 1 to 7.8, but PayPal only offer my 1 to 7.6 in my withdraw. I am lossing >2.5% in the withdrawing money to my bank account!!!

Thus, I rather spend my PayPal balance than withdraw it.

Also how do you send/receive money via paypal to/from other buyers/sellers?

PayPal only charge fee from money receiver. It cost nothing to send money to others. To send money, the money receiver would tell you his/her PayPal account's name (his/her registered eMail address) and the total amount of the payment.

Then you just login your PayPal account, click send money, type in the money receiver's account name, the amount, transaction detials, and select a registered shipping address from the list. Click confirm send, and it is done. No sharing of your finical information, quite safe.

Just reverse the process, when you want others to send money to you.

[ST Dragon]

My ATM/Debit card is a VISA Electron.
I also just noticed that my Status in Paypal is "Unverified (New)"

Well, my balance in my Paypal account is zero (0), so how am I supposed to transfer money from my debit card to my paypal account and actually buy something?

However, I did try Paypal's "send money" form as a test, but I got this:

Before you may make this payment, you must enroll in PayPal's Expanded Use Program and enter your Expanded Use Number.

Enroll in PayPal's Expanded Use Program
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PayPal offers an Expanded Use option to help you get the most out of your PayPal account. Just complete our easy enrollment process to enjoy these Expanded Use benefits:

No Account Sending Limit - send unlimited funds from your PayPal account.
No Withdrawal Limit - withdraw unlimited funds from your PayPal account.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to Enroll in the Expanded Use Program

You're just three steps away from the freedom of Expanded Use:

Step 1:
Authorize PayPal to charge a €1.50 EUR Expanded Use Fee to your card. (You will receive a €1.50 EUR bonus in your PayPal account after you complete enrollment.)

Step 2:
On your next credit card statement (monthly transaction history), find the 4-digit Expanded Use Number that will be printed in the item description section of the charge. It may take 3-4 business days for the number to appear on your statement.

Step 3:
Log in to your PayPal account, click the Complete Expanded Use Enrollment link on your Account Overview, and enter your Expanded Use Number.

When you enter your Expanded Use Number, your enrollment will be complete. You'll have access to unlimited sending and withdrawals, and you will become a Verified Member of PayPal!

Click Get Number to authorize PayPal to charge €1.50 EUR to your credit card ending in 7008.

Get Number, Cancel

What is this?
Is this because my Paypal Status is "Unverified (New)"
Will I get a verified status if I just add my Bank account to Paypal and actually skip this "enroll in PayPal's Expanded Use" thing.

[Ganelon]

Yes, you don't need to sign up for this expanded use nonsense to become verified. It sounds more dangerous too.

Anyway, adding a bank account is pretty much required for Paypal. Once you reach $1000 (or was it $2000), you can't do anything else until you sign one up.

SAM is also right on the account security. While somebody may steal your password, Paypal can't take anything out, sometimes to the detriment of an honest buyer...

[Specineff]

I think that if you don't add a checking account, Paypal will treat your transactions from your debit card as if it was credit. Meaning that users of plain vanilla non-business accounts like me, can't accept your payment without upgrading to the We'll-charge-you-for-everything business acct.

That expanded use crap sounds suspicious. All I had to do when I added my checking acct and the visa card connected to that account was to allow them to make two deposits in some cents, and tell them the amount of the deposits. That was the verification process, and all has been smooth ever since.

[Vexorg]

I haven't actually withdrawn money from my Paypal account (other than sending it for transactions) in some time now. Having signed up for the money market account, my Paypal balance is paying interest that puts my bank's savings account to shame.

[ST Dragon]

Thanks for all the info.
I appreciate that!

By the way, I noticed that as long as I’m not verified, I can’t send any more than 100 Euros (To buy stuff). The limit will be lifted only when I enter the 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number and become verified.

Is it the same case for all unverified Paypal users, or is this some new protection measure from Paypal?

[SAM]

By the way, I noticed that as long as I’m not verified, I can’t send any more than 100 Euros (To buy stuff). The limit will be lifted only when I enter the 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number and become verified.

Is it the same case for all unverified Paypal users, or is this some new protection measure from Paypal?

It was 500USD for me. And this amount is cumulative, not from a single transaction. Thus you will need to verify your PayPal account very soon.

Again this verification process is very safe. PayPal just charge the registered card for a very small amount. The amount would then transfer into you PayPal account, so you won't loss any money in the verification process. Then the 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number would appear in your next Credit Card statment next to the transaction.

The real risk lie in lossing your PayPal account to someone. Since your PayPal account could theortical make payment up to the credit limit of your Registered Credit Card + the balance you got in your account.

So inorder to reduce risk, you should registered a credit with a low credit limit to the PayPal account. Mine PayPal's credit card only got a credit limit of USD1,000. And this is the credit card I normal use for online purchase.

Anyone also got the pratice of using a low credit limit credit card for online purchases?

[ST Dragon]

The thing is that my card is a VISA Electron ATM/Debit-card only, not a credit card. So it is limited by the exact amount I put in my account/debit card and only use it to get money from the ATMs, which is a good thing. But I don't get any monthly Credit Card statements since I’ve never used it for any credit card transactions. So where am I supposed to get this 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number that is supposed to appear in my next credit card statement (monthly transaction history) which I have never gotten until now.

This morning I checked the ATM's transaction history receipt and someone has begun the withdrawal of 1.5Euros + 1 Euro. (It is not complete yet and doesn't say if it is paypal and has no 4-digit number. Also I don't know what that extra 1euro is for?))
I asked the bank and they said that they don't give any monthly credit card statements for ATM/debit cards like mine, only for credit cards & it might appear in my card's transaction history-log when the transaction is complete.

That might take 4-10 days.

Personally if I knew that it would have been so complicated, I would not have bothered with Paypal.
If the worse comes to worse how do I delete/cancel my PAYPAL account and have all my info removed/deleted for paypal?
This is not a very good start.

Thanks in advance.

[SAM]

The thing is that my card is a VISA Electron ATM/Debit-card only, not a credit card. So it is limited by the exact amount I put in my account/debit card and only use it to get money from the ATMs, which is a good thing. But I don't get any monthly Credit Card statements since I’ve never used it for any credit card transactions. So where am I supposed to get this 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number that is supposed to appear in my next credit card statement (monthly transaction history) which I have never gotten until now.

This morning I checked the ATM's transaction history receipt and someone has begun the withdrawal of 1.5Euros + 1 Euro. (It is not complete yet and doesn't say if it is paypal and has no 4-digit number. Also I don't know what that extra 1euro is for?))
I asked the bank and they said that they don't give any monthly credit card statements for ATM/debit cards like mine, only for credit cards & it might appear in my card's transaction history-log when the transaction is complete.

That might take 4-10 days.

Well, it takes me about the same time to see the 4-digit Paypal Expanded Use Number when I verified my Credit Card two years ago.

Once you went through the verify process every goes smoothly. And PayPal only did this verification process once. If you change your PayPal account's registered credit card, PayPal would not ask you to verify the new registered card again.

The card I registered for my PayPal account now is not the card I use to open the account. This verification process seems to be the only troublesome part of the registration process.

Actualy I only gone through the Expanded Use Verification process months after I first open my PayPal account. One day I found that I cannot withdraw anymore money from my PayPal account, I then start going through the verification process. (I start selling at eBay right the way, and not buying anything til many months later.)

Personally if I knew that it would have been so complicated, I would not have bothered with Paypal.
If the worse comes to worse how do I delete/cancel my PAYPAL account and have all my info removed/deleted for paypal?
This is not a very good start.

Well I guess that shouldn't be hard, if there is only a null balance in your account. But since you are already done half the hardist part why just wait for 2 weeks and complete the process.

On the mean time you could still make and receive payment via your newly opened PayPal account.