My apologies, I did not know where to put this.
I went on an app spree yesterday and in doing so I got the Paypal Smart Connect. Today I get an email stating my Paypal account is frozen. Not spam and not fishing. No phone numbers and no links. They also addressed me by my first and last name. I logged into my account in a protected window and sure enough, its frozen. I can't even close it. I called them to make sure and its legit. I asked what prompted this.
Ok, you're going to need a little back story. I will try to be brief. My PP account has been open for 16 years. It has been a Verified Premier Business account the entire time. I used to own and operate a performance auto parts manufacturing business from my home. I ran it for 9 years and ran literally hundreds of thousands of dollars through PP back then. A few years later the fad faded and the bottom fell out of the "Fast N Furious" bubble so I closed shop and went back to school. Not once did they ever ask me anything about my business. They didn't even ask for my Tax ID #. In 2011 I started a new business and just changed the info on the account to the new business name. I have never used PP for this business, just personal stuff because what I sell is on PP's restricted items list. I can't even run card transactions through them.
So the girl told me they are doing this to all their unverified accounts, personal and business and that it is because of the Patriot Act, which I find funny since it has expired. What I do is not illegal in anyway and is infact heavily regulated by a government agency.
I have to submit proof of address, SS#, and any business licenses I might have to get Verified. I logged into my PP account and sure enough, that is what they want. I cannot furnish this to them and I do not want to. I think they cherry picked me for this because of what they think I do. I think they are profiling based on my business name and they want me to prove what my business is all about so they can close my PP account themselves, even though I don't run transactions through them. She said she could change me to a personal account but it would still be frozen. I have been verified for 15 years. This seems awfully fishy. Is this happening to anyone else?
@tcbofade wrote:No, it's happening to you because you opened EIGHT synchony bank accounts in one day.
Paypal smells something fishy.
Actually it was 5, the others were other lenders but I see your point. How would they know about that? They are not linked to Synch. Atleast that is what the lady told me. And why not just say hey, you applied for too much credit in one day and we want to make sure you are who you say you are?
@tcbofade wrote:
@MyLoFICO wrote:
@tcbofade wrote:No, it's happening to you because you opened EIGHT synchony bank accounts in one day.
Paypal smells something fishy.
Actually it was 5, the others were other lenders but I see your point. How would they know about that? They are not linked to Synch. Atleast that is what the lady told me. And why not just say hey, you applied for too much credit in one day and we want to make sure you are who you say you are?
My bad. They are absolutely linked to Synch. Paypal Smart Connect is owned and operated by Synchrony. Synchrony sees a red flag, they send some sort of alert to Paypal who locks you down quickly.
Few financial institutions are willing to tell you why they do what they do...they don't want to help the bad guys outsmart them. I'm not suggesting that you are a bad guy, but like any other corporation, their priority is to protect themselves.
Sorry that this happened to you, and it MAY resolve itself in 30 days or so.
I never thought of it that way. Makes sense actually. I will provide the documents they requested. Worse case scenario they shut me down because of my business. Best case scenario they just tell me I can't process those types of transactions which I am totally cool with. Thanks for the opposing view, I will post back after everything is cleared up either way.
I submitted the documents. We will see if your hunch is correct. One look at my license and if its for what I think, they will close my account. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
@MyLoFICO wrote:I submitted the documents. We will see if your hunch is correct. One look at my license and if its for what I think, they will close my account. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
Oh come on, the picture can't be THAT bad... 
You'll be fine. Breathe.
Hahaha!! I lol'd in real life. I have other avenues I gcan go through to do what I do through them so it's not a big deal. I will be extremely surprised if they keep my account open.
@ojefferyo wrote:What exactly is so bad that they want to shut you down as soon as they see the license?
Paypal has a list of industries they will not deal with when it comes to running credit cards. Any transactions dealing with these will be reversed no questions asked. It is well known in this particular industry. And while it is a side job for me, my transactions can range from $200 - $12k for a single sale. I don't need that kind of money being charged back to me as a very small business so I avoid PP and use a card merchant I know is friendly, but I keep PP open for personal stuff (when family needs to send or receive) and I get cash back on my PP debit card. It was just kind of a nice thing to have and it was an old verified account, until now.
Edit: My apologies, I forgot to mention that I do not wish to get into the type of business here. Just in case that is what you were asking.