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PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

theguardian.com

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Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#21

Post by shaicoleman »

Reminds me of my experience with Skrill (Moneybookers).

Skrill charged me €50/month inactivity fee (€600/year), after 6 months of inactivity, without notifying about changing of terms and conditions or any warning that my account is inactive.

The only email they sent was that they were introducing a change to the terms and conditions about charging €1/month after 12 months.

PayPal's €10/year inactivity fee after 12 months is reasonable, especially if they warn users in advance. However, this is one of their "boiling-the-frog" tactics, and I'm sure these fees will significantly increase in the future.

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#22

Post by resoluteteeth »

katsura wrote: post #12
vmception wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

password managers let you store the one time password key. this removes the "two factor" nature of two factor, but retains the one time password nature of one time password. I honestly can't relate to people losing their access because something happened to their phone. The QR code is just a string of letters and numbers and you can save the QR code and the string of letters and numbers. I've been doing this for like…

Do they have the that though? When I turned the 2FA on it was only SMS option, so if your phone number is lost you are out of luck.

I thought they had added support normal TOTP now but if not you can probably still use the old method of generating a Symantec VIP style ID which has allowed you to use any TOTP app with paypal for years.

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#24

Post by Tsiklon »

katsura wrote: post #12
vmception wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

password managers let you store the one time password key. this removes the "two factor" nature of two factor, but retains the one time password nature of one time password. I honestly can't relate to people losing their access because something happened to their phone. The QR code is just a string of letters and numbers and you can save the QR code and the string of letters and numbers. I've been doing this for like…

Do they have the that though? When I turned the 2FA on it was only SMS option, so if your phone number is lost you are out of luck.

PayPal 2FA via OTP has apparently been available for at least 6 months

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#25

Post by wikibob »

mysterydip wrote: post #14
lumberjack wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same exact problem! I wanted to delete my account, just in case, but I cannot login. I haven't used Paypal in over 10 years. Their "service" is really not needed anymore.

If you sell on eBay, Paypal is heavily integrated, to the point I'm not sure you can complete a transaction without it.

That is going away

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#26

Post by numpad0 »

cute_boi wrote: post #6
katsura wrote: post #3

Well, I'm glad I don't have money left there, because I had two factor authentication turned on, and for some unforseen circumstances, I lost my phone number. PayPal customer service is actually quite hard to contact, because every possibility they give you requires you to log in. I found an email address somewhere, but when I wrote them telling them about my situation, I got an email that if I log in I can check the…

same here. Lost 2fa due to water damage on phone. and all the data was irrecoverable. Now even if i give every data their customer service don't care. From that day i haven't used any 2fa and just use password manager with additional backup.

I keep a separate phone next to home PC and enroll that for 2FA as well. That’s as secure as a sticky note on monitor, that is to say it’s airgapped.

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#27

Post by jghn »

lumberjack wrote: post #5
katsura wrote: post #3

Well, I'm glad I don't have money left there, because I had two factor authentication turned on, and for some unforseen circumstances, I lost my phone number. PayPal customer service is actually quite hard to contact, because every possibility they give you requires you to log in. I found an email address somewhere, but when I wrote them telling them about my situation, I got an email that if I log in I can check the…

I have the same exact problem! I wanted to delete my account, just in case, but I cannot login. I haven't used Paypal in over 10 years. Their "service" is really not needed anymore.

A lot of e-commerce sites will take PayPal these days. I like to use that vs giving my credit card information. Granted, I prefer to use things like Apple Pay but there are circumstances where PayPal is the only indirect payment form I have in common with a site

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#28

Post by colejohnson66 »

exabrial wrote: post #17

Fairly unethical, though their rationale is probably something like 'hey everyone else is doing it!' My state has a law where it account goes dormant for a long time, the balance is turned over to the state. The state sees this as revenue, but an individual can submit a claim online and recieve it for no fee, up to 10 years I think.

I think every state has a “lost money” system, but some do have a time limit for the obvious reason that people die after never claiming it.

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#29

Post by vmception »

gregoriol wrote: post #19
vmception wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

password managers let you store the one time password key. this removes the "two factor" nature of two factor, but retains the one time password nature of one time password. I honestly can't relate to people losing their access because something happened to their phone. The QR code is just a string of letters and numbers and you can save the QR code and the string of letters and numbers. I've been doing this for like…

Storing the second factor in the same password manager as the password is a lot like having a post-it with the password on your desk: it's practical, but defeats the purpose. But to add to this, I wouldn't ever set up a 2FA on a service that doesn't allow multiple second factors, and mostly static backup codes. Having only one (ie. device) is a much higher risk, of being locked out, than having the password stolen.

If your password manager is compromised you are screwed.

When looking at the actual attack vectors though it is vastly improved:

Mitigated - Online attacks on your account at any service

Mitigated - In person attacks on your account due to post-it notes

Mitigated - Losing your phone which was the only way you could generate a one time password

All this drama is mitigated, turning a disaster into a 5 second recovery.

Re: PayPal introduces new fee for dormant accounts

#30

Post by colejohnson66 »

vmception wrote: post #9
trzeci wrote: post #4

Making sure that discussion will not heat without checking the content: > PayPal is to introduce a £9 “inactivity” fee for anyone whose account has been dormant for at least a year, but still has some money left in it. So it applies to money that's left on account. Once the balance is 0, there is not extra cost. It's not that I'm happy in particular, as I have account there also, and I had to transfer remaining money…

Nice, a bailin. But sure, most banks have fees like that, and typically don't for a few years just to attract the broke people that were looking for an account with no fees. Then they turn them on.

There’s also “low balance” fees. You have less than $300 (or whatever) in your account? That’s $5/month.
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