Everyday Randomness

I know a ton of other people are bitching about the way Paypal handles things now, but I’m joining that bitchfest.  Paypal is driving me crazy with their new way of doing things.

Normally I pay bills through Paypal.  That way I can use the cash I have in my account, and I can pull whatever else I need from the bank account.  I put a specific amount of cash in that bank account just for bills.  Doing this helps me keep up with my bills better, and it allows me to earn cash back on the purchases using my Paypal debit card.

It looks like I won’t be doing that anymore.  I’ve already overdrawn my Paypal account twice in the last month and 1/2 because it showed me having way more cash than I actually have.  I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about this because the new way Paypal shows things ends up reporting the cash was taken out, then adding it back, then taking it out again.  It’s confusing!

So the past few weeks I’ve only been putting bill money in the bank, and I’ve been paying everything online with e-checks.  The main reason I was previously doing it through Paypal was because my rinky dink little home bank refuses to acknowledge there’s an issue with my debit card for my checking account.  It has never worked.  I’ve asked them to replace it.  They did, we activated it, and the new card doesn’t work either.  It’s extremely frustrating, but now it looks like I’m back to e-checks for everything.

My cash is just sitting in my Paypal account because I’m afraid to use it.  In the past couple of weeks I’ve paid for 3 things with Paypal.  I ordered some bath & body stuff a few days ago, and I paid for that directly with Paypal, not my debit card.  I ordered something from drugstore.com that arrived at the beginning of the week but still haven’t shown up in Paypal.  My Startup Schwag subscription is the only thing other thing coming out of my Paypal right now.  I got the email on August 2 telling me my Startup Schwag subscription payment was being taken out, but it still hasn’t shown up on my Paypal account, and I’m pretty sure the amount hasn’t been taken out.

Is Paypal’s new tactic to scare us into not touching the cash we have in our account?  I’m seriously afraid to use it, afraid it’s reading $100’s more than I actually have and I’ll overdraw again.  I’m afraid to send any of it to my savings for the same reason, so I’ve just got all this cash sitting there that I’m not touching.  It’s frustrating not knowing what has been taken out of the account and what hasn’t.  I hate the new system!