I’ve got a warning for you if you use PayPal for your online transactions.
What PayPal is up to
There is a big blue PayPal button that if you’re not paying close attention, you think will take you to complete a regular PayPal transaction. But if you click on that big button and don’t realize what it is, you’ll find you’re actually doing a credit application through what used to be called Bill Me Later.
Doing this does a hard hit against your credit report, and you could potentially pay big interest down the road, according to The Washington Post.
This is a misleading and dishonest practice that has earned PayPal the scrutiny of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Here’s the other thing: Many times you’ll be offered a deal or discount for signing up for credit. But in a settlement with the feds, it turns out PayPal reneged on their offers of a $5 or $10 credit and didn’t give you the money!
Other than for these glaring problems, PayPal is a good payment platform and could be part of the solution to breaking up the credit card cartel strangledhold. MasterCard and Visa squeeze too much money out of everybody’s pocket — from the customers that pay with them to the businesses that accept the cards. PayPal just needs to play it straight, clean and honest to increase their viability as a payment alternative!
