Is It Safe to Leave Money in a PayPal Account?

1. 96

   eugbugposted 6 years ago

   Usually I do until the exchange rate is favourable.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Although Paypal is totally trustworthy, I don't think it's worthwhile leaving money with them because in doing so, under certain circumstances, you give them the control of it.  I never have thought it a good idea to give control of your money to anybody else, especially stockbrokers!

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   2. 93

      poppyrposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I usually do keep money in it, but that's because I use it a lot. I usually don't keep more than 50GBP in there, though.

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2. 85

   paperfacetsposted 6 years ago

   I do not have to deal with exchange rates, but I have kept my balance in Paypal so it can build and then I transfer to the banking account for spending. I also use PP whenever it is a choice of payment when buying on the Web. My balance has never run into troubles at PP.

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3. 92

   lisavollrathposted 6 years ago

   I've used PayPal as the payment processor for my business since 2005, and never had any problems leaving a balance in my account.

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4. 96

   eugbugposted 6 years ago

   I use my dollars balance to buy stuff priced in dollars on eBay etc, to avoid a currency conversion fee.(3% I think).
   According to this answer on the support community, funds shouldn't be left for more than 3 years or the account is treated as dormant.
   
   https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Acc … d-p/219658
   
   Hopefully the U.S. dollar will have risen in value against the Euro before that!

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      incomeguruposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      "...so just don't go three years or more without logging in at all..."
      It will be treated as dormant account when you leave it without logging in at all.

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5. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   I have been using PayPal for my business since 2002 and I too have never had any problems. However, I now keep a zero dollar balance at PayPal because I move all payments to my checking account upon receiving them. I am doing this now because I have a long-term client who I don’t particularly trust.

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6. 0

   Timothy Andersonposted 6 years ago

   I don't usually leave too much money in PayPal.  I sell stuff on eBay and one time a guy in England was put on an eBay investigation.  Even though the investigation had nothing to do with my transaction with him (a month earlier), PayPal froze my account for 10 days during the investigation and I couldn't access my funds or use the account during this time.  Since then I make sure to transfer the majority of my funds into my checking account which PayPal cannot control.  Just my two cents....

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7. 92

   Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

   I leave very little in my PayPal. I like the money in my banking account.

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8. 96

   Gregory DeVictorposted 6 years ago

   I'm with you Kenna!

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9. 95

   DrMark1961posted 6 years ago

   If Paypal were to go offline and you have so much in there that you would become hungry or homeless, it is too much.
   Do you feel safer dealing with a brick and mortar bank in Ireland? Is that 3% really that big a deal? I do not like my banks here in Brazil but I still would not leave more than a few hundred dollars in an internet bank.

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   1. 96

      eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      It's not the 3%. I'm going to have to pay that anyway. I'm just waiting for a better return on my dollars!

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      1. 94

         Marketing Meritposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I sometimes do the same thing. It all depends upon your source of income and what you can afford to lose. If it's primarily from HubPages, then you don't really have anything to worry about. If you're earning income via other sources and start building up a history of disputes and charge-backs, then I probably wouldn't worry about the exchange rate.

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         1. 96

            eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            No, it's solely from HubPages.
            There is an option to add a One Time Password (OTP) to an account (received via SMS) for each login. So this adds an extra level of security.

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10. 91

    Rochelle Frankposted 6 years ago

    I really like the convenience of PayPal. My husband has a very small business online, and a surprising number of his customers come from other countries. PayPal makes the currency conversion easy and quick. Also requesting  shipping charges or giving refunds is a cinch. He  likes the fact that he does not have to deal with collecting credit card numbers from customers, which gives them a sense of security, as well.
    It's easy to transfer balances to your personal accounts... some times it is even easier to spend it on Amazon.  :-)

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    1. 92

       Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       That's exactly what I do. I can't always trust people who promise to pay me, so I move what they pay into my own bank ASAP. But for little online shopping, especially around the holidays, or for cheap things I will order from Ebay, I may keep a few dollars in there at times. I've never had a problem.

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11. 87

    Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

    I've heard too many stories of people losing money they kept in their PayPal account, so I don't risk it

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    1. 94

       EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       They sometimes freeze business accounts for various reasons. But I have never had any issues as a personal user. I normally transfer big amounts of money I get from PayPal to my bank soon though. If it something less than $100 or so I just leave it on there sometimes. PayPal has a business debit card and I got it for free. It is nice for when I want to buy something right away.

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12. 96

    eugbugposted 6 years ago

    Should we be upgrading our PayPal accounts to a business type if we receive payment from HubPages?

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    1. 94

       EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       I doubt the amount of transactions would warrant it.  It is more for a store that gets many transactions in  a day.

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    2. 91

       Tinskyposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       In Australia it is regulated by the APRA as a payment facility. My account is also a business account. I contract out my online writing services to businesses, some pay me through PayPal. PayPal only charges when I invoice, by keeping a small fee when my clients pay. It has never affected my HubPages earnings. I've had the account for possibly two decades and never a problem. I also use it to pay for online business expenses, like the hosting of my website. I transfer a certain amount back to my standard business bank account every month, but keep a "float" with PayPal. I try to get paid in advance for my personal writing services so I don't transfer the money to my account until I've actually completed the work and the client is satisfied.

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13. 84

    kaiyan717posted 6 years ago

    Used it for years for all income through multiple platforms and never had any trouble with them. Love paypal.

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14. 76

    Fenixfanposted 6 years ago

    To answer eugbug, it's not necessary to upgrade to a business account. Either way, you will have to claim HP earnings on your taxes. I would only upgrade if you are using the Paypal account to purchase items for business use or if you plan to write off expenses paid via Paypal. I would also like to put my two cents in as it pertains to the original topic of this post. My account has been compromised a couple times by foreign hackers. One was from Columbia. The other was from some Asian city. In both cases, I notified Paypal and they refund the money that was transferred without my consent back into my account the same day. Paypal has been very good to me.

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15. 92

    Nell Roseposted 6 years ago

    Funnily enough, I only left money in for a while once, when I went to withdraw it, it had lost 2 dollars! No idea why! this was after taking the payments for exchange of currency.

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16. 89

    WryLiltposted 6 years ago

    I left some USD in my Paypal for a few weeks over the Trump election and made a nice little sum of money. I usually track exchange rates before I cash out.

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17. 92

    jansharesposted 6 years ago

    I usually transfer client payments to my business account right away. I suppose it's safe though, never had a problem. I think there's an option to use PayPal like a "bank" complete with a "debit" card but that benefits PayPal (as TIMETRAVELER said) and not you. I guess there's a convenience factor but a bank account is probably better to hold money.

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18. 93

    Titiaposted 6 years ago

    I have a PP account in $$ and I have one in Euros. Everything I earn from HP and my Zazzle store I leave on my $$ account and with that $$ accouont I pay all my internet bills. I would lose too much money on exchange rates If I would cash it in or put it in the bank. I've never had any problems with PP and I'm using it for years and years. Ok I don't get interest but in my country the banks don't pay interest anymore either.

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19. 85

    Express10posted 6 years ago

    It is likely safe but I would not leave large sums of money in a PayPal account because that money could be earning you money elsewhere.

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20. 84

    psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

    I know people who have had personal accounts frozen too, sometimes for no clear reason.  For that reason I do not leave  large amounts of money in Paypal.

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    1. 96

       eugbugposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       An account will get frozen if you receive over a threshold amount in a year. It's to prevent money laundering. Then you have to submit photos of documents to confirm your identity such as a driver's licence and passport. This happened to me (last year I think).

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21. 61

    paradigmsearchposted 6 years ago

    I did not expect to see negative posts here, but I see there were a few. Personally, it's all been good.

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    1. 92

       Jean Bakulaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       I sometimes keep about $25.00 or so in the Paypal account so I can buy something from Ebay or something inexpensive, I shop online a lot. But I wouldn't keep a large sum in the account, although I've never had trouble in the years I've used Paypal. I get payments for my small, home business from many countries without problems. It seems safe.

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22. 79

    holliesandhealthposted 6 years ago

    I agree with you. Typically, if I see my Paypal account empty, I'd get nervous and try to squirrel some money in there. The more the better is what I always think.

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    1. 87

       Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Why?

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23. 98

    theraggededgeposted 6 years ago

    If there's no money in my Paypal account it just gets taken from my bank account. I never leave money in PP but I pay for things with it all the time.
    
    Edit: you don't need money in Paypal - it's a payment processor, not a bank.

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    1. 93

       Titiaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       That wouldn't work for me. If I would empty my $$ PP to my € bank and then pay something in $$ I lose money two times over through currency exchange. I don't earn that much on HP so it's only a few hundred dollars.

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       1. 98

          theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Ah, I see. At the moment the exchange rate is in my favor as the £ has dropped against the $ and most of my PP purchases are in £s.

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24. 96

    eugbugposted 6 years ago

    Depending on your country and bank, a possible option to avoid Paypal's currency conversion fee is to open a dollar account. Then transfer to your "normal" current or deposit account when the exchange rate is better.

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25. 86

    Lorelei Nettlesposted 6 years ago

    I have used PayPal for years and have never had an issue. I use it to shop as well, so it's nice to have a balance in there to pay for things. I don't keep huge amounts however, I transfer those to my bank.

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