topic Paypal MC Starter in Credit Cards

Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 09:54:18 GMT

Hi all. New Paypal Cashback Mastercard holder here. I'm in bed with the chronies (woot woot). My guard is up. New card questions:

Do payments to the card post immediately or does it take 9 days for new accounts? (absurd...) . When does that reduce?
Where can I see the statement closing date? (All the other banks I've been with have this on the summary page in plain sight)
Is there a way to use your paypal balance to pay off the card (Is that a feature that was removed)?
I have seen a few DP of daily reporting of balance to Equifax. Does this end after 2 months? (Wondering if I should do gardening with this one).
Does daily reporting drop the credit score daily as the balance creeps up from regular purchases to the card (that would be absurd if true).
Assuming we get past the daily reporting phase, and they start reporting only once a month, does Synchrony report the statement balance? Or the current balance on the day they report? Is that reporting day the same as the statement closing?
What is with the bootleg portal to synchrony in the paypal app? Are they planning to better integrate this at some point?
Do the email alerts work for transactions? I am planning to turn on push notifications in the apple product for the email address that the alerts come from. That way I can effectively have push notification for transactions like all of the other banks...

Thank you in advance!

Re: Paypal MC Starter

staticvoidmain — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:47:34 GMT

Here is the best I can do. Gray text denotes unhelpful responses.

1. No idea (can't remember). Usually, this is due to bank verification of sorts from first-time linking of account (could happen with any account, really — at least based on my experience).

2. I've no idea. You can subtract 23 days from your due date. If it's a Saturday, subtract one more day.

3. You can't (not directly from Sync page). Even your PP rewards have to go through PayPal, then through the bank, before you can use it (if you so choose to) to pay your balance.

4. No comment (does not apply to me).

5. Personal opinion — I would not put too much thought into it.

6. They report the current balance, on the statement closing date.

7. You need your PayPal account to access your credit card account. You can bypass going through PayPal if you want (bookmark the portal link from PayPal).

8. It should (if it is more than $1). Put $1 on the purchase notification.

Edit: Calculation was not Sunday, but Saturday.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 17:46:57 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:
Here is the best I can do. Gray text denotes unhelpful responses.

1. No idea (can't remember). Usually, this is due to bank verification of sorts from first-time linking of account (could happen with any account, really — at least based on my experience).
2. I've no idea. You can subtract 23 days from your due date. If it's a Sunday, subtract one more day.
3. You can't (not directly from Sync page). Even your PP rewards have to go through PayPal, then through the bank, before you can use it (if you so choose to) to pay your balance.
4. No comment (does not apply to me).
5. Personal opinion — I would not put too much thought into it.
6. They report the current balance, on the statement closing date.
7. You need your PayPal account to access your credit card account. You can bypass going through PayPal if you want (bookmark the portal link from PayPal).
8. It should (if it is more than $1). Put $1 on the purchase notification.

Thanks for the tips! I just called the number on back of the card to get my next statement closing date. I may have to do that once a month (what a pain) just so I know exactly what I'm working with. I like to make sure my statement balance reports the same balance (+- a few dollars) to the credit bureaus every month so I need to make sure I've got any payments in before it closes.

It's a pretty card. It's a shame they don't have contactless yet, no apple pay (can't Apple and Paypal just get along lol, I read Apple Card is blocked on paypal too...That's so petty) or that the app is not as slick as some of the other CC issuers. I'm hoping Paypal and Synchrony revise this in the near future. The app surely cannot stay this way forever? Not really a big deal to me, but it's always nice to have a slick user interface.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:19:57 GMT

1. From my experience... most payments post within a day or two, but anytime I make a larger payment it takes a week or more to post. Ive had the card over a year now. Ive called to inquire as to why and the reps are zero help.

2. Agreed it's kinda annoying... mine end anywhere between the 2nd and 5th of the month... seem to rotate.

3. Nope... can only transfer to your PayPal account.

7. I've never seen any other way to log in than to go to PayPal and then transfer to synchrony.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:40:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
1. From my experience... most payments post within a day or two, but anytime I make a larger payment it takes a week or more to post. Ive had the card over a year now. Ive called to inquire as to why and the reps are zero help.

2. Agreed it's kinda annoying... mine end anywhere between the 2nd and 5th of the month... seem to rotate.

3. Nope... can only transfer to your PayPal account.

7. I've never seen any other way to log in than to go to PayPal and then transfer to synchrony.

What would you classify as a "larger payment"? $200? Would a workaround be to submit several smaller payments so that they post within 1-2 days? I know this card has its quirks so I just want to get all my information straight on how to most effectively use the card with the least amount of resistance from the chronies.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

staticvoidmain — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:02:48 GMT

@Credit12Fico wrote:Thanks for the tips! I just called the number on back of the card to get my next statement closing date. I may have to do that once a month (what a pain) just so I know exactly what I'm working with.

@Anonymous wrote: 2. Agreed it's kinda annoying... mine end anywhere between the 2nd and 5th of the month... seem to rotate.

You should at least know your due date. Statement is 23 days before the due date. If that day falls on a Saturday, it's the Friday before. I kinda use this formula in my Sheets:

=IF(WEEKDAY(DATE(CurrentYear,MONTH(CurrentMonth)-1,DueDateSynchorny-23))=7,

DATE(CurrentYear,MONTH(CurrentMonth)-1,DueDateSynchorny-23),

DATE(CurrentYear,MONTH(CurrentMonth)-1,DueDateSynchorny-22))

It's been correct 100% of the time so far. My statement closes on the resulting dates and Synchrony reports on those dates as well. Different lenders have different calculations based on their due date. Only some actually have a consistent day-of-month (Chase, Barclays, Capital One), while some like Synchrony and Amex take weekends into consideration. Not sure why Synchrony is not displaying it on their website.

@Credit12Fico wrote: I like to make sure my statement balance reports the same balance (+- a few dollars) to the credit bureaus every month so I need to make sure I've got any payments in before it closes.

It will report the statement balance since they report at the same time as the statement is generated. (Which means your current balance is equal to statement balance, no need to prepay). The only exception is of course if you have a late transaction which for any reason did not make it to the statement (or any payment plan, maybe?).

@Anonymous wrote: 7. I've never seen any other way to log in than to go to PayPal and then transfer to synchrony.

@Credit12Fico wrote: ...or that the app is not as slick as some of the other CC issuers. I'm hoping Paypal and Synchrony revise this in the near future. The app surely cannot stay this way forever?

It can and it probably will, unfortunately. As mentioned, you can bookmark the redirect link. When you visit that link, It will ask you for your PayPal credentials, and you will get to the Credit card page without visiting PayPal landing page. (I explained it briefly here) Not a dedicated app, but many apps just use their mobile website anyway.

Edit: Updated permalink.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:04:05 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:

8. It should (if it is more than $1). Put $1 on the purchase notification.

I have done a test purchase to pay a utility bill with the card. Email alerts are set. Now I'm learning all of the quirks...

Are these correct:

The credit limit (in Paypal and in the Chrony portal) does not update until a pending transaction is officially posted.
Only place to see pending charges is the actvity page, not through the Paypal app.
The email alert did not show up yet after making the charge, so I presume email alert only comes through when the transaction posted 1-2 days later?

Is that how the card works? This card was a neccesary evil for me, so I'm willing to work with all the pains for now. I hope after enough annoying phone calls to their customer service line just to ask when my closing date is, they might realize they ought to include it in the app....I read that Venmo (a paypal owned company), will have a credit card soon with a slick app experience (no Chrony portal), so I can only hope that Paypal have a plan to skim off some of the investment in the Venmo interface, to benefit the Paypal credit card experience. I do think this card will have a better app in 1-2 years so it doesn't really bother me right now.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

staticvoidmain — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 19:58:37 GMT

@Credit12Fico wrote:
1) The balance (in Paypal and in the Chrony portal) does not update until a pending transaction is officially posted.
2) Only place to see pending charges is the actvity page, not through the Paypal app.
3) The email alert did not show up yet after making the charge, so I presume email alert only comes through when the transaction posted 1-2 days later?

1. Yes. You will however see the pending transaction reflected in "Available to spend" (It will be your credit limit, minus balance, minus pending).

2. Correct. The PayPal app is just displaying info provided by Synchrony , which is a card summary.

3. Did you check your spam/junk folder? Also, make sure to tick the checkbox. (I admit I haven't set this up myself, but that is how they explained it).

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:18:42 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:
@Credit12Fico wrote:
1) The balance (in Paypal and in the Chrony portal) does not update until a pending transaction is officially posted.
2) Only place to see pending charges is the actvity page, not through the Paypal app.
3) The email alert did not show up yet after making the charge, so I presume email alert only comes through when the transaction posted 1-2 days later?
1. Yes. You will however see the pending transaction reflected in "Available to spend" (It will be your credit limit, minus balance, minus pending).
2. Correct. The PayPal app is just displaying info provided by Synchrony , which is a card summary.
3. Did you check your spam/junk folder? Also, make sure to tick the checkbox. (I admit I haven't set this up myself, but that is how they explained it).

1. Yep I just noticed that the credit limit and available to spend update after a few minutes.

3. Thank you. Yes that is how I have the alerts pages setup. Everything is ticked and set to $1 when I look in the mobile app, and everything is ticked when I look in a web browser from a PC. I was not emailed for the utility bill. Maybe this is not considered a "purchase" as it is not "physical goods" but there's no way they are checking that...

I will check google for some data points of this feature working the way I imagine. I thought I was clever in getting my phone to send push notifications for the alert email address. I imagine we'll get a new app down the road.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:34:31 GMT

Also, it appears that you can indeed make a payment using the " Paypal Balance" in a Paypal Cash plus account? Has anyone ever tried this?I see this verbiage in the one-time payment page of the Chrony portal from a web browser on windows:

"By authorizing this Payment, you also authorize PayPal to transmit to Synchrony Bank information about the funding sources available in your PayPal account in order to facilitate the payment. If you choose to pay with PayPal balance, it must be able to cover the payment on the posting date. If it can't, the payment will be cancelled."

Again, I don't know the functionality since I do not have a balance posted to the card yet. But will verify later and report back in case someone finds this later. In theory, this ability to pay using the paypal balance should mean that once you instant deposit your rewards to your paypal balance, you can simply push the rewards straight back to pay off the card without doing a bank transfer first.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

staticvoidmain — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:34:06 GMT

If that is the case, I stand corrected. Never tried it.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:36:06 GMT

Fundamental question.

Is it possible to make payments to the card before statement closing? In order to reduce the balance reported to the credit bureau to achieve a 1-4% utilization? I.e if I spend $1000 on the card, can I pay it down to $500 before the statement actually closes?

Right now, i don't have the option to make a payment at all. Which is somewhat scary....But I don't know if it's because nothing is posted and it's a new card, or it's because you can only make a payment after statement closes, towards a statement balance, and no more than that.

That would be a strange way for a card to work wouldn't it? I typically overrun what I want reported to the bureaus, then pay it down before statement closing to get optimal utilization reported. Is that possible to do with this card?

Re: Paypal MC Starter

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:58:37 GMT

I would not use a Sync card to try and manage an Azeo or credit utilization issue. Too many times we have seen Sync report off cycle.

Its a great card imo , its not complicated to use so imo dont try and over think it. Use it, and either pay as the charges post or let your statement cut then pif. Simple is always best with Sync imo.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

Credit12Fico — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 06:12:00 GMT

I can confirm. The paypal balance can be selected as payment method when making a one-time payment through the mobile app portal. It will even show you your paypal balance on the spot from the portal (which is ironic considering how poorly integrated the portal is with PP). This works as instant statement credit more or less since rewards can be deemed instantly to your balance and you can push it right back to pay the card.

It doubt this is a big deal for most people. I personally just don't like having money "in thin air" waiting on bank transfers.

As a bonus, when you request the Paypal Cash Debit card (not the prepaid product, but an actual ATM card serviced by Bancorp), your Paypal balance becomes FDIC insured. I have zero interest in actually using the debit card, it's getting sock drawered. I just wanted the FDIC insurance on what little Paypal balance I have. When the jig is up with Paypal and the Chronies, I want to be made whole by the FDIC.

I can also confirm that a backup payment option (in case the PP app goes down, or your card is not showing in the PP app which all have happened before according to my research), is to call the number on the back of the card and use automated service to make payment. Just want to have all my bases covered.

And finally, while the portal has an "alerts page", the latest reports from the Paypal Community forums is that this feature is not working yet.

What I'm hoping from this card going forward are alerts and contactless to become available. Bizzare that a card is issued in 2020 without this...Hopefully Venmo card interface can trickle back to the Paypal MC program.

Edit: For any contactless payment junkies, you can load your Paypal Cashback Mastercard to Google Pay or Samsung Pay if you have android and samsung products. A bit trickier for apple users since PPMC not supported in Apple Pay because Apple hates Paypal. If you have an apple phone, but also have an android smartwatch linked to your apple phone, you can add PPMC to your google wallet on iPhone. Then use the android smartwatch to complete the contactless payment in-store. Really just temporary as I'm sure Synchrony will issue contactless version of this card in the next 1-2 years.

Re: Paypal MC Starter

staticvoidmain — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 12:22:52 GMT

I wish PayPal brings back the PayPal MC as a backup for the PayPal debit card. Not only did the card have contactless, but also, all transactions are within PayPal and you can view it all there (the only time I signed in to Sync was to pay the card, or when I travel since the debit has FTF). The extra 1% back was just a bonus.