What you need to know about PayPal Credit
After been a customer of PayPal Credit for several years I have become aware of its pitfall’s and things to be aware of when you sign up for an account.
The Good Points
It is easy to get a credit limit with them even if its is small and its all about managing the account.
- If you buy something on credit pay it off as soon as possible and try and double the the contractual minimal payment.
- They often raise your credit limit as your credit file gets better.
- They offer buy 0% interest if paid by a moth that is set on an offer (see negatives).
- Sellers offer different APR rates.
- Pay by instalments.
PayPal Credit is a great way to get your credit rating up if you want to buy a car or your home in the future with a good APR.
The Bad Points
Over the years I have noticed a few bad points that you have to keep in mind when running a PayPal Credit account.
- Follow the short month of February the March payment may fail and they will not notify you of the payment failure until the next bill when the minimal payment has doubled.
- If you are behind because of the above and you write a letter of intent (this is a legally recognised letter) to bring your account up to date they will ignore the letter of intent and issue 2 defaults on your credit file for the same missed payment and apply 2 late fee’s (if you only make the next minimal contractual payment and pay the arrears the next month).
- They will ignore all requests to contact you via email and will only contact you via the PayPal app that you can not download for your own records, they also have the ability to modify, adjust and delete messages that they post in the app to suite there needs.
- If you put a complaint in your not given time to add proof’s such as bank statements when fund are available for payments due and they do not attempt to withdraw these funds (refer to 2nd point above), they just disallow your complaint.
- Buy 0% Apr if paid before a date – if you have a balance on the account you can not put extra funds on the 0% Apr offer to clear it before the date when it has to paid off by, you have to clear the full balance (yes its almost fraudulent).
- They may operate in your country but they disregard the Financial regulations operated there and a dear to the ones where they are physically based.
- Pay by Instalments – To be fair I like this feature but if you want to pay say the the ones with a higher interest rate off first by paying extra funds to that instalment then you can not do that you have to pay the full balance and put extra payment on the full balance only.
- If you have concerns or a complaint the investigatory department is quick to say no to your concerns without looking at other related messages, emails or even asking if you have any proof or anything else you want to submit before making a descission.
Conclusion
All in all I do like the service that PayPal Credit provides and for the best part they do get it right but my observations and complaints you see on review sites lead me to believe that they could do better.
I would say is they did the following that the service that they provide would be much better and would make you think that they are a customer focused business.
- Let you put extra funds on instalments with higher Apr.
- Let you put extra funds on 0%Apr offers to complete payments before the end date of the 0% offer.
- If you fall behind and send them a message with your intentions to catch up they should acknowledge that letter of intent or at least work with you to clear the arrears.
- If you want to receive replies via email they should accommodate this.
- Let you print or download messages in the message centre so you can keep your own records.
This would just be a step in the right direction for the company to build trust in the community about there products and brand.
Personally I have had the March payment fail twice over the years, when funds have been available for payment.
It is disappointing because these are the only missed payments I have had in years with them and my bank has no record of them attempting to take funds for them payments and the communication I have had with the customer services department over the years has been good and they have answered any questions that I may have had but on the other hand the complaints department is lacking and they just seem uninterested and quick to make a discission without asking for any proofs or even asking for more information to back up your complaint..
Update
I have been in contact with PayPal Credit about a pattern emerging with the March Payments failing every year following the short month of February when funds are available and the bank has no information that a payment was attempted and they don’t seem to be bothered and not all customers are effected but I believe it is an issue that need rectifying as its effecting peoples credit scores and ability to get a mortgage and other things.