Kiva paypal problems

[Guest]

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[RLK]

For reasons unexplained to us, Paypal program will not accept our discover or visa credit cards. AVAILABLE CREDIT LIMIT IS NOT THE PROBLEM.  What is even more frustrating, all I got in the way of feedback from Kiva was "very sorry, cantact Paypal".  Paypal answer is they are aware of the problem and are giving their 'services' free to Kiva.  Kiva is overpaying.  We just wanted $300 in Kiva gift certificates because we thought Kiva was a wonderful idea.  It would be if it worked.  Any suggestions as to a Kiva  contact that would be interested in helping us give them our money?

[Henry]

Something similar happened to me, I use a credit card on paypal that is actually my bank accounts debit card.  I know the balance of this particular account and it could sponsor many a loan!    So, I got the error, you've reached your credit limit, please fill out this form so we can have access to your bank.  Well, needless to say I didn't like this at all and had avoided all the paypal emails that kept trying to get me do just this.  Well the outcome was a nasty phone call to Paypal where nothing was accomplished, and since I needed to fund a loan for KSC quickly I had to complete the bank portion of paypal.   SO, I was forced to do something with paypal I didn't want to do to begin with.   

Do I like paypal.....well, yes, it's easy and convenient and I look for their logo where ever I'm shopping.  Do I resent having to 'hook' my bank account to paypal, (even if it already was in a way) YES I resent it, and as soon as Google or someother service is online with KIVA, and other stores, I'll switch due to this one issue. 

Hope you have success getting past this issue.  Not sure what to suggest since you were 'charging' your purchases.  But I'm sure Paypal would be happy to stick a hand direct into your checking account as they did mine.   (took about 10 minutes providing you know your online ID and password with your banking institution)

[chris]

What sort of error did you receive?

Paypal is pretty strict about what credit cards they'll accept for payment.  For instance, they reject many credit card gift cards regardless of their available balance.  I, however, had never had a problem with Paypal accepting a "real" credit card.

[ulrike]

Hi,

I wanted to add credit to my Kiva account as usual using my visa credit card, but Paypal doesn't accecpt it any more and asks me to open a Paypal account. I've seen on the net that the same happened to a canadian who wanted to start lending on Kiva. I sent a mail to contactus. Did anybody else have the same problem?
It's very frustrating since I didn't want to open a Paypal account.   

 Ulrike

[Carol]

Don't go into your Paypal account.  Just use your Credit Card.  You have to put in the numbers and info everytime that is all.  I had the same problem they only allow you to use so much before they want the cheaper way of doing business, ie you bank account.

Carol

[ulrike]

I don't have a paypal account but they don't accept anymore my credit card. So for the moment I don't add any more credit to Kiva, hoping that paypal will enable once more the use of  my visa card. But if this is happening to new lenders like in the thread

 http://www.ehmac.ca/everything-else-eh/74069-kiva-org-join-ehmac-ca-team-loan-money-change-lives.html

Kiva will loose new lenders.   

Ulrike

[YowieFreak]

http://www.ehmac.ca/everything-else-eh/74069-kiva-org-join-ehmac-ca-team-loan-money-change-lives.html

When I filled out my credit card payment, it actually authorized PayPal to access that credit card information.  The site then informed me that I still had some money in my PayPal account and would I please use that instead.  When I declined, it killed the transaction.

That thread isn't actually referring to PayPal refusing to accept a credit card per se, but instead about PayPal refusing to take money from the credit card when the person still had an amount in their PayPal account that could have been used instead.

As you don't have a PayPal account, that doesn't seem to be the case for you.

I suggest you ring PayPal's Customer Service line if you can, or else send PayPal an email.  (I doubt if PayPal has deliberately stopped accepting payments from Visa. )

[Jan & John]

Hi,

I wanted to add credit to my Kiva account as usual using my visa credit card, but Paypal doesn't accecpt it any more and asks me to open a Paypal account. I've seen on the net that the same happened to a canadian who wanted to start lending on Kiva. I sent a mail to contactus. Did anybody else have the same problem?
It's very frustrating since I didn't want to open a Paypal account.   

 Ulrike

Hi Ulrike
I just went through a similar issue with Paypal.

The web page I got actually said that I had reached *my sending limit*.
For me to continue they wanted me to *give* them my bank account to *verify* me.
I dithered around for a few days asking advice and a lot of people appear to have used Paypal for years with no problems. 
So I finally gave them my bank account. 
It took 3 days waiting while they deposited twice (minor pennies - I am now 32c richer) to my bank account.
I was asked to complete the *verification process* by telling them the amounts. 
I did that and I can now continue to use Paypal to add credit to Kiva.

However, I still always use my Mastercard because I collect AirMiles on it.
So, now when I get the Paypal page, the default is to debit my bank account but...
There is a place to click a link that says *change*
This gives me 2 more pages explaining the advantage of using a bank account
After I confirm that I really still want to use my credit card...
I get sent back to the main page where there is now an option to use my card.

I decided that somewhere down the road, if/when I decide to pull out the money invested in Kiva loans, I will then need that account linked with Paypal, so might as well bite the bullet and do it now and get it over with.

hope this help (or even makes sense)
jan

[Patricia SF]

Hi,

I wanted to add credit to my Kiva account as usual using my visa credit card, but Paypal doesn't accecpt it any more and asks me to open a Paypal account. I've seen on the net that the same happened to a canadian who wanted to start lending on Kiva. I sent a mail to contactus. Did anybody else have the same problem?
It's very frustrating since I didn't want to open a Paypal account.   

 Ulrike

Until recently, I too would add credit to my Kiva account via a credit card; I wasn't comfortable giving PayPal access to my bank account after hearing many horror stories about them.

A few weeks ago though, I decided that I wanted to start withdrawing some of my money out of Kiva and therefore, I had no choice but to open up a PayPal account.

What I did was OPEN A SEPARATE BANK ACCOUNT (with only the minimum deposit required) for the PayPay transactions.  This way, PayPal doesn't have access to my main bank account.  And, I make sure to only keep the minimum deposit in this separate bank account so this is all PayPal will ever have access to.

Also, the bank transfers are no hassel because I do them via phone automation. 

So far, this has worked out well.

[ulrike]

Thank you all for your comments and recommendations. I got the following answer from Kiva:

 Hello Ulrike, 

Thanks so much for your email.

PayPal recently changed their policy and now requires that a PayPal account is used to make a Kiva transaction. Our apologies for the inconvenience this causes.

Let us know if you have any further questions. 

Best wishes, 
Rachelle Underwood

Kiva Customer Service
www.kiva.org 


This is really a shame, because I am perhaps enough hooked to make up my mind to open a Paypal account, but I'm not sure that new lenders who just discover Kiva are willing to open a Paypal account.