AA issues with large Paypal transactions?

[Anonymous]

I've read a few threads on this forum where people have used their credit card for a large Paypal transaction and received AA from their creditor as a result.  I've heard of anything from the card being frozen due to potential fraud up to and including a CC being closed down. 

My question is whether or not there's any risk associated with these types of transactions if you call and verify them first with your creditor?  I know you can call the fraud department for your CC and inform them of your intent to make the large Paypal payment, give them the date you'll be making it and the exact transaction amount, etc.  Upon making your payment, usually Paypal will call you within a few minutes and verify the transaction through their automated system. 

Anyway, if protocol is followed and you inform your creditor ahead of time and they say everything will be all good, will it?  Does taking these steps eliminate the changes of AA completely, or are there still horror stories out there even when following proper protocol?

[Anonymous]

My PayPal horror stories have been of AA initiated by PayPal itself & not a card issuer (freezing all funds in my pp account, locking me out of bank account tired to the PayPal account). That being said, I can't help but feel like even if you called into your creditor & informed them of the upcoming PayPal purchase and are told it's fine, you never really can be sure it won't trigger FR or some other type of AA.

Considering the wide range of answers to the same question depending on who you happen to get on the phone/chat (don't have to look far on this forum for examples) at a creditor - can you ever be sure there's no risk? I picture it like this: you call and inform fraud of purchase, they tell you it's on and thanks for notification, you go and make a large PayPal purchase with the card, meanwhile in another department that looks for manufactured or other strange spending outside the scope of regular stolen card fraud your large PayPal transaction sends up a flag and triggers financial review.

I'm not saying it'll happen but I would always prepare yourself for the possibility of it happening. I never trust PayPal on account of past experience. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I don't think they're as worried about fraud as manufactured spending. I've seen a lot of people, even on here, who start talking about doing so. I know it's a no-no to discuss so that's all I'll say.

I've never had any issues with Paypal, though my largest transaction was only $300ish if I recall correctly.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.  Hopefully I'll be all good.  This is a Citi account, BTW.  I called the fraud department (which CS told me to do) before making the transaction.  The fraud department seemed ok with it.  I told them I've heard horror stories about AA from larger Paypal transactions and if that was going to be a problem I wouldn't make the payment using my CC.  The agent sent me a text code to verify who I was, which I immediately read back to them.  Then they just asked if the purchase was going to be made today, which I said yes to.  Then they asked the exact dollar amount of the transaction.  After providing that info I was told that everything was noted on my account and there would be no problems with the transaction.  A few minutes after completing the transaction I received an automated call from Paypal to verify the transaction was genuine as well.  This was my first Paypal transaction since having my Citi account and likely my last, so this is an isolated transaction and not one that they'll be seeing again and again.  Hopefully there are no issues.

[Anonymous]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Is it from an established seller /company? What was the purchase & price?

[Anonymous]

Yes the seller seems established.  Purchase price was about $1900 / audio equipment.

[Credit_hawk]

I've spent thousands via PayPal with my credit cards without any issues. I never knew there was issues. I don't worry so much about AA I just live life and things seem to work out.

I remember the first time I spent $1,800 on PayPal over the usual small dollar stuff I would buy I got a text or it may have been an automated call from them saying "press 1 if you recognize this purchase or 2 if you don't" and that was it. Never had a problem though.

[Anonymous]

I Regularly transfer money using 'send money' on paypal with credit cards and have never run into any issue. I have been doing it for years. My largest transaction though is 1000$. But i regularly transact just under 500$ using credit cards. 

Credit cards dont mind as long as you are authorizing it. Paypal gets fees for this. And they have never given me any trouble for it.  Infact paypal 'Bot' often hides sending from 'bank' options and highlights just credit card options as payment methods . Lol. Its weird like that . Many times i had to log back in after few hours to send money from bank ' without fees' option. The ' bot' needs to know your habits  so be on the good side of paypal 'bot' everything will be fine.  positive association with paypal bot means - add money to your balance , give it money while you transact with ccs, also show you have confirmed bank accounts and use them and dont do many withdrawals or instant transfers on the same day and if and when the Bot calls you ,take the phone and confirm your purchase. Thats it. Lol

[Anonymous]

easy peasy. Never had trouble 

[Anonymous]

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@Credit_hawk wrote:

I've spent thousands via PayPal with my credit cards without any issues. I never knew there was issues. I don't worry so much about AA I just live life and things seem to work out.

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Good to hear this.  I'm surprised you haven't heard about issues though with using credit cards through Paypal.  There have been a good deal of threads about this problem, with people citing AA being taken against them and even some cases where CCs have been closed.  I remember a couple of months back a guy started a thread that stated that Chase closed ALL his CCs (He had maybe 3) because of a large Paypal transaction.  I guess the best thing to do is be proactive and maintain communication up front with your creditor if you plan on making a large purchase.