I guess I don’t really know if it is worth the risk, so I haven’t decided yet.

But I did want to say that I contacted my credit union to ask their advice about using PayPal and they said their only recommendation is to open a second checking account and use that solely for PayPal.

I have a friend who used her credit card to pay for her Netflix account and someone in that service stole customer information and went on a shopping spree. It took her two months to get that issue squared away with her credit card and she’ll never use netflix again.

I make a point to check accounts in the morning and then again in the afternoon just to catch anything that might happen early in the process. It’s a good habit to get into. If you use a work computer to check accounts, remember that some companies keep logs of what their employees are doing and any coworker with a cell phone camera can capture an image of your computer screen. The same is true every time you had a waiter/waitress your credit card.

Constantly monitoring your credit report and accounts is the only way to prevent this – short of reverting to the days when you keep cash hidden in your house and only pay by cash.

I was unaware about it being tied to checking account. This is one of the reasons I use a credit card, not a debit card.

You have every right to rant.

Phil,

Even clearing out the funds as they come in won’t save you. I always withdraw my funds as they’re received. The problem is that the paypal account is connected to a checking account. When the hacker logged into my paypal account and sent himself (or perhaps herself — I’m no good at sexing Indian names), there was no money in my paypal account, so the money was automatically taken out of my checking account. Paypal makes you have a “backup funding source,” so there is no getting around having paypal connected to your checking account (as far as I can see). I assume Paypal will refund my money, but meanwhile I’ve got bills bouncing. I don’t keep a whole lot of money in my checking account (just a little more than enough to cover my bills). I’ve reported the fraud to my bank, so I’m hoping they’ll wave their set of overdraft charges, but there’s nothing that can be done about waiving the overdraft charges by my cell phone company, credit card bill, etc. And Paypal won’t pay me for those fees.

Sorry for the rant, but I’m frustrated, and I don’t want anyone else to have to go through this. I’m hoping this doesn’t happen to anyone else. But it seems to be an arbitrary thing (the hacking). It’s not like I responded to any phishing email, so I have no idea how this person got my password. As far as I’m concerned, if it happened to me, it could happen to anyone.

Would suggest if you use it, you clear money out of there as soon as it arrives to avoid the type of problem Amy encountered.

If that’s the only way a client will pay, you’re stuck. But you also don’t have problems of payments getting lost or delayed in the mail. I’ve seen postmarks on payments that were 10 days old — and the client was only 25 miles away.

However you accept payments, learn clients’ payment policies. I have a few that pay on specific days each month, so if I don’t have a check by a week or so after that, I’m on the phone.

Thanks,
Gina

Paypal. I have never had problems with my account. I do get those phishing emails, but I delete them without opening. If Paypal really had an urgent issue with my account, I figure they can call me and I’ll call them back or they can mail me an official letter. Same goes with any account I own – if it isn’t in an official letter, I don’t respond.