<story><title>PayPal robbed my bank account</title><url>http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/PayPal+robbed+my+bank+account</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Vivtek</author><text>I&apos;ve been using PayPal since 2001 when I signed up in order to send Sluggy Freelance a $5 donation.  Since 2002 I&apos;ve used it increasingly for payments from my freelancing customers - there was no other convenient way to get money from Europe to America, and PayPal revolutionized the translation industry (along with Moneybookers and similar services, but PayPal is the biggest).&lt;p&gt;Not once have I had any problem with them.&lt;p&gt;Jacques, I&apos;ve had a bank - a real live regulated bank - deduct my paycheck instead of depositing it, and not notice until I complained.  Granted, they fixed it immediately when I complained, and PayPal may not, but human error does occur.  Certainly PayPal has never gratuitously deducted money from my account.</text></item><item><author>johnitsagal</author><text>How come nobody sues them? How come there hasn&apos;t been enough of an uproar to get congress involved in regulating PayPal?&lt;p&gt;Reading HN, these horror stories seem to be fairly common, or maybe I&apos;m just hearing the same stories over and over again.</text></item><item><author>jellicle</author><text>The whole idea behind Paypal was:&lt;p&gt;-- we&apos;ll do everything a bank does, but without all those &quot;laws&quot; and &quot;accountability for mistakes&quot; that the other banks labor under&lt;p&gt;Go on, look it up.&lt;p&gt;And they achieved that goal.  Paypal largely escaped regulation as a banking entity.  Banks are trustworthy with your money (to the extent that they are) not because they&apos;re magically trustworthy, but because there is a  regulatory state forcing them to be.  Paypal has no regulatory apparatus overseeing it.  Paypal will steal your money and your only recourse is to sue them.&lt;p&gt;PayPal has made the calculation that the vast majority of their customers will not sue them.  Therefore, it is profitable for Paypal to steal from these customers.  This is now common knowledge.  If you use Paypal today, you have no excuse for not knowing that they will steal your money.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>matrix</author><text>Here&apos;s the thing though: when the bank made a mistake, you had recourse. You actually had someone to complain to - you could go to a branch or otherwise deal with a human. With paypal, you have no recourse, except to hope your case gets voted to the top of Reddit and some paypal insider takes pity on you.</text></comment>
<story><title>PayPal robbed my bank account</title><url>http://www.jacquesmattheij.com/PayPal+robbed+my+bank+account</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Vivtek</author><text>I&apos;ve been using PayPal since 2001 when I signed up in order to send Sluggy Freelance a $5 donation.  Since 2002 I&apos;ve used it increasingly for payments from my freelancing customers - there was no other convenient way to get money from Europe to America, and PayPal revolutionized the translation industry (along with Moneybookers and similar services, but PayPal is the biggest).&lt;p&gt;Not once have I had any problem with them.&lt;p&gt;Jacques, I&apos;ve had a bank - a real live regulated bank - deduct my paycheck instead of depositing it, and not notice until I complained.  Granted, they fixed it immediately when I complained, and PayPal may not, but human error does occur.  Certainly PayPal has never gratuitously deducted money from my account.</text></item><item><author>johnitsagal</author><text>How come nobody sues them? How come there hasn&apos;t been enough of an uproar to get congress involved in regulating PayPal?&lt;p&gt;Reading HN, these horror stories seem to be fairly common, or maybe I&apos;m just hearing the same stories over and over again.</text></item><item><author>jellicle</author><text>The whole idea behind Paypal was:&lt;p&gt;-- we&apos;ll do everything a bank does, but without all those &quot;laws&quot; and &quot;accountability for mistakes&quot; that the other banks labor under&lt;p&gt;Go on, look it up.&lt;p&gt;And they achieved that goal.  Paypal largely escaped regulation as a banking entity.  Banks are trustworthy with your money (to the extent that they are) not because they&apos;re magically trustworthy, but because there is a  regulatory state forcing them to be.  Paypal has no regulatory apparatus overseeing it.  Paypal will steal your money and your only recourse is to sue them.&lt;p&gt;PayPal has made the calculation that the vast majority of their customers will not sue them.  Therefore, it is profitable for Paypal to steal from these customers.  This is now common knowledge.  If you use Paypal today, you have no excuse for not knowing that they will steal your money.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jacquesm</author><text>&amp;#62; Certainly PayPal has never gratuitously deducted money from my account.&lt;p&gt;I&apos;m happy for you and hope that you will never be in my shoes.</text></comment>