Now it's Paypal that doesn't get it!

So when I married I created a joint account with my spouse, and cancelled my old personal bank account.  My spouse signed up for Paypal with the new joint account.  And then my Palpal account stopped working, because my bank account was closed.  BUT when I tried to sign my new bank account to it - I couldn't.  Because the bank account was already associated with some other user's account (my spouse's).

This seems OK - who needs Paypal anyway, you can just pay with a credit card, right?  But when I went to do that, I was told - no, you cannot pay with this credit card, because it is associated with some other paypal user's account (my own).

People complained when I called Google sexist for not thinking through their policy decisions and how they might affect people (mostly women) who are "exceptions" to these policies.  How many women in the world have a joint account with their husband, and just because their husband signed up first for Paypal, they are now prohibited from having their own Paypal account? (Paypal offers a solution - sign up for a Paypal credit card and you don't need a bank account.  But I have a stop on all new credit card signups due to my purse being stolen, and I don't feel like lifting it to get a credit card that I don't need and don't want). And yes - I "get" that if I signed up first, it would be my husband who was out of luck, so really the discrimination is against people with joint accounts, not women.  Blah blah blah... but in my case he was quicker about getting to Paypal with that new account.

I undestand the security reasons why Paypal wouldn't want to let someone sign up for a Paypal account with a bank account already in use by another Paypal customer.  But there are legitimate reasons for joint accounts (mainly marriage but other reasons too).  The banks have obviously recognized this.  Paypal functions essentially as a bank go - between.  So why can't Paypal allow for joint accounts in cases where proof of a joint account or spousal relationship is sent in?

They've just made it impossible for me to buy things from vendors that only use Paypal - unless I completely terminate my Paypal account, freeing up my own credit cards... or if I use my husband's Paypal account - or sign up for their credit card.

Am I right to be annoyed?  (And an advance note to any of you who may suggest that spouses shouldn't have joint accounts - that train has already left the station, let's discuss reality and not some fairyland where nobody has joint accounts.)

Comments

[Michelle Berry]

Thank you for posting! I never thought how using a joint account could affect users using the same card. I will have to check into this.

[Mel L., MBA]

Pay Pal takes internet sercurity much to serious to where it prohibits them from properly servicing their customers. I now use another alternative payment method for my business because of a similar incident with them.