Paypal question

[Guest]

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[michael]

She Who Must Be Obeyed was looking over our Kiva portfolio earlier and asked a reasonable question.  Not being a frequent internet-based auction participant, I had no answer.  So I am turning it over to the braintrust.

Discussion:  When a loan is paid off, I know that several days later the proceeds show up as Kiva credit.  I plan to reloan these balances or perhaps donate part directly to Kiva, but for the sake of argument, if one were to opt to get one's money back, assumably there is a button to recover the funds through Paypal.

SWMBO's Question:  How exactly does this manifest - does Paypal hold the funds as a credit like Kiva would until told otherwise, or does it automatically get posted as a credit on the registered credit card, or what? 

I already answered her second question - I THINK accurately - that there are no Paypal charges for the transaction back to the erstwhile lender.  (Correct?)  But if it's posted as a Paypal credit until one asks for it to be sent, how does Paypal know the difference between these balances and, say, those received as part of an eBay auction (in order to avoid transaction fees.)

Of course, this is all hypothetical.  But I'd like to be able to answer her.  Any takers?  Anyone ever GOTTEN funds thru Paypal?

[chris]

I've never withdrawn repaid loan money, but I've often had a Kiva credit balance.

The way it works is this: you transfer money in via Paypal.  This amount goes toward whichever loan you selected.  When the loan is paid back, the amount that was transferred in shows up in your Kiva account as Kiva credit; this amount is not displayed in your Paypal account.  From your Kiva account, you can then transfer out to Paypal.  Paypal doesn't charge a fee to transfer in or out of Kiva.

So to shortly answer your question, Paypal doesn't have any knowledge of Kiva credit; it only knows when money goes in and money comes out.

[AccountAbility]

That all makes good sense.  But it does leave the question of how do you get your money which was withdrawn from Kiva to PayPal back into your hands (i.e. designated bank account)?  Does this last piece incur a fee?

[Joe]

I've also never withdrawn repaid loans, but have seen the Kiva Credit option on the site. It shows you how much you have and gives you the option to lend again or withdraw it back to PayPal, where there is no transaction fee. As Chris mentioned, when loans are paid back, Kiva hangs onto the funds as credit until you do something with it.

As for getting money out of PayPal, there is a "Withdraw" link on their menu. When you click that, it takes you to a page showing your options. I've attached an image of what it looks like below (click to expand it). There is no charge to do a bank transfer if you want your money back that way. I think that's actually the most popular withdraw option there.

[AccountAbility]

Thanks Joe. 
We don't plan to ever use the option either, but as the balance grows, its becoming one of the bigger "undocumented" assets we possess. 

Proving ownership and understanding the method for converting it back to cash are becoming more important.

[FANAFI]

Warning to all... Fees MAY be here to stay from PayPal.com! PayPal denies agreement over phone! WT#?!!!

Talked with a supervisor at PayPal.com today and she stated she knew of no such arrangement for 'no fees for Kiva.org'. Liz over at Kiva.org is researching. We are stopping ALL lending until this is resolve and PayPal apologizes to us personally. This kind of change, true or accidental could spell disaster. $25=$1.03 in fees out the back door. Emails to PayPal are as yet unanswered, so it's a 'he said, she said' at the moment until I get something in writing. This should have been resolved on Monday when it happened, it's now nearly Thursday.

-Jeff

[Diane R]

I used Paypal on Mon. & Tues. this week with kiva.org to the tune of, um, more than a couple hundred dollars, and was not charged any fees for any of the transactions.  (Of course, two of those transactions never registered with kiva.org even though they show up in Paypal, but that's a different story.)

Have people been getting charged Paypal fees this week?  Or are you saying that KIVA is now being charged fees by Paypal?!?!   

I have also stopped my lending for now until I know what's going on.  (And until I get my "lost" money back from yesterday.)

--Diane.

[Henry]

Down further in this thread is 'proof' (the snip Joe posted) from a paypal screen that the supervisor you spoke with might just be an idiot.  Wouldn't panic as of yet.   and Diane, I added funds today with no transaction fee's.  Then again, i've never withdrawn, so maybe there is something I'm not aware of.

*Step 1: Log into your Kiva account
*Step 2: Click "My Portfolio"
*Step 3: Click "Withdraw" in the upper right hand corner of the screen
*Step 4: Enter the amount that you wish to withdraw and enter the email
address registered with your PayPal account

Kiva and PayPal will process your withdrawal request, and in 1 to 2
weeks the funds will be deposited into your PayPal account. As PayPal processes all of Kiva.org's financial transactions, it is necessary to withdraw the funds into your PayPal account. Kiva cannot send you a personal check or deposit the funds into your personal bank account.

If you do not have a PayPal account, please create a PayPal account athttp://www.paypal.com. If you have any issues in creating or updating your PayPal account, you can contact PayPal at 888-445-5032 (Toll Free ' US) or 402-952-8811 (International), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. These phone numbers are staffed by PayPal employees who are specially trained to help Kiva lenders!

Will PayPal charge me to withdraw funds from my Kiva Account?No, when you request to withdraw funds from your Kiva Account, Kiva.org uses a PayPal function which charges the sender, not the recipient. Assuming 100% repayment, you will receive 100% of your money returned to you.

I guess the charge could come from getting the money from your kiva acct into your paypal account....  hmmmmm
but to withdraw from your Paypal it's "Free" if you use the first item listed below.

I also went into my paypal account and clicked on withdraw....  and here is what comes up:

[padders]

Why would you expect to know a paypal support rep to know about a somewhat private (it's not listed on paypal website), one off agreement between kiva and paypal that most likely only happened because someone high up at paypal now works for kiva. I would not worry about, the support person just didn't know and to be honest I would be more surprised if they did know.

[Peter S]

Just paid for a chunk of Kiva credit. and glad to report no PayPal fees.  ( Just the usual hidden 2.5%-ish currency conversion cost for buying US dollars with my £'s    )

Anyone having trouble, might be a good move to buy Kiva credit separately, before you loan.   If you're planning on funding more than one loan, it's useful because you have only one trip to PayPal for $50, $100, $200, $500 or whatever, and then when you loan, you can just click the "pay with Kiva credit" button at checkout until the credit runs out, which is a lot quicker and simpler than having to be sent to PayPal for each loan.   And it means your credit card bill is not littered with small Paypal-Kiva transactions.  Plus it makes it easier to see exactly how much your Kiva addiction is costing   

P