So I do a website for a family friend and on that website he takes donations. He is not a non-profit but some time ago, before I started handling the PayPal end of things, his account was flagged as a non-profit and PayPal locked it and started demanding information where he could prove that he was a non-profit. He kept emailing them and tried calling them, stating over and over that he is NOT a non-profit and so the lockout was unfounded, etc. He would only get canned responses via email and was unable to ever connect with someone who could help him via phone. So when I was unable to do anything with it, we thought, hey, this account is screwed up, let’s just start a new one and forget about that one.

So we set up a new account and started taking donations on it only to find out that we are unable to add his bank information for withdrawal or anything else. The reason? It’s already attached to the previous PayPal account. So back we go with trying to log into the old account and remove that bank account, but nope, it’s locked, can’t even log in and now the message reads: “This account has been permanently locked with a $0.00 USD balance. All information associated with this account has been blocked from the PayPal system and cannot be registered with another account.” (Thank goodness there’s no money stuck in there!)

Finally we get an email response back that helps and we’re told to email compliance@paypal.com and state in some “official” jargon that we authorize removal of bank account with the last four digits of xxxx to be removed from that account and our reasons why. That was what we were told to do and that was it. So when I was at his house the other day, I sent the email for him from his account.

The response we got back was less than helpful. Now we’re told that we have to submit a bank statement to them! I mean, really, is it PayPal’s business what’s on his bank account? I’m sure they’re using it as a way to verify that he owns the account but, really, the email was sent from his account that is associated with the PayPal account and had all of his information in it and applied to an account that one can see is not even used. So that should be enough. But to make things even more wonderful, they want us to either upload the bank statement into the account or fax it in with a specific cover letter that can be downloaded from within your account. See where this is going? We can’t get into the account!

It is so frustrating. In part, because this is just plain ridiculous and in part because they should be up front about the hoops we’re going to have to jump through to get this resolved. Stop adding new requirements whenever you want to and just tell us what is going to have to happen.

So now he has money in his new account that he can’t withdrawal and he can’t even use to pay for an Ebay auction because you still have to add bank information. Pretty ridiculous. I’m about ready to give up and I’m wondering what other payment gateways we can use to take some donations and start fresh. I’m sure I can get his money out of there even if I have to open a temporary bank account to do it. I’m hesitant to try to remove my business account from my PayPal and add it to another one but maybe that would work. Unfortunately, none of the ways I can get the money out of there are going to look good – it’s going to look like money laundering or something (which is why he’s hesitant to do anything but get his bank account removed from the old account and to the new one). And I’m also left wondering what might happen with my accounts – not because of this situation spilling over or something but because PayPal seems to wield way too much power over people.

Ugh!!