Daddy Dee Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 In the process of purchasing a Dell notebook... Paypal is an option for payment. Good. Normally I just make PayPal instant payments that are drawn directly from my checking accout. Perhaps, because of the size of the payment, Papal defaults to credit card only payment. Not a problem, but if I wanted to pay with a credit card, I could do that direct. OK, so I initiate a transfer of fund from by checking account to my PayPal balance to handle the purchase. Is there any reason why it should take PayPal two or three business days to post my balance AFTER the funds have been withdrawn from my account? I'm not a tech type, but I know electronic transfers are instantaneous. Even allowing for the money to be drafted from my account one day and taking another day for PayPal to post the transfer, that would seem to be all that would be needed. Is the two or three days just a way they can earn interest on my money before it is posted to my account? The PayPal customer service FAQ says how long it takes all depends on the user's bank. Can this be true? It seems my bank would be done with it once they take the money from my account. Any help or commiserating appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Dee, Sounds like Paypal is playing the float game. You'd think the fees would be enough! Was the money immediately withdrawn from your bank account but delayed getting into your Paypal account? If so, they're playing games and probably making a TON of money! I'm pretty sure that's illegal these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 9, 2006 Author Share Posted January 9, 2006 Gary, Yep, that's what they are doing. The transfer was reflected in my checking account first thing this a.m. PayPal doesn't project having the balance available until Jan 11th. Hopefully they will post it before then. If they don't, it would be a worthy thing to check out the legal issues. They would indeed make a ton of money if they do this as a routine practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Federal reserve regulations specify the maximum float allowed. I believe that today that figure is three days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 You should be able to change funding options and have the money taken from your checking account. However, they will just do the "float game" on the other end, meaning they'll make the seller wait for funds to "clear" before he can withdraw them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Here's another interesting practice that has not, to my knowledge, been successfully challenged, although it has been tried: Example, you've got $1000 in the bank and write the following checks in order: $20, $100, $100, $50, $50, $20, $50, $900. Of course, that's not good, and you should expect to bounce a check and pay a fee, right? Check this out: Let's say all checks hit the bank in the order you wrote them and on the same day. Normally, if they were posted in order, the first 7 checks would be good, and you'd bounce the last. I've heard from lawyers I've worked with and who tried to challenge the following, that some banks re-shuffle the checks in order from greatest to smallest. So, now they are in this order: $900, $100, $100, $50, $50, $50, $20, $20. That means, thanks to the bank's re-shuffling and not leaving them in the order they came in, you have 6 bounced checks. So, instead of a $25 bounce fee, you have bounce fees of $150 and a hell of a mess to clean up with creditors. Gotta love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted January 10, 2006 Share Posted January 10, 2006 none of this is a surprise......... PayPud is Notorious for doing that, on both ends they've got your money ...and thier gonna float it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 Today I talked with the Arkansas Asst. Attorney General in charge of consumer stuff. She said she had investigated that issue with her own bank. She had been perturbed because on her internet banking she would "send" a payment from her account but it would take days before the bank cut the check to send to the receiver. She said she never could find that they had a legal problem as long as the float was short. I know this is all in what PayPal discloses, it is just an irritation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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