bargainshare.com > Paypal To Collect SS # & DOB Info

coreynyc

2-19-05, 2:07pm

Not a hot deal but getting audited by the IRS definitely isn't hot. If you sell on Ebay, this is very important info. Therefore I think this belongs in IRD where it will get more exposure than in Finance. I understand if the mods feel otherwise.

I just closed my money mkt acct with them, I usually don't keep much $ in my Paypal acct anyway. Basically you can still use Paypal as normal, your money just won't earn any interest

QUOTE

Dear xxxxxxxxxx,

Pursuant to section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the U.S. Department of
the
Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission require PayPal
Funds to
obtain, verify, and record the following information for each investor
in
the PayPal Money Market Fund:

- Name
- Address
- Date of Birth (for individuals)
- Tax Identification number (Social Security number for individuals, or
employer identification number for businesses)

As of February 27, 2005, PayPal will begin collecting date of birth
information (for individuals only) for all existing investors in the
fund
who made their initial investment after October 1, 2003. This is
required
by Federal regulation, and is in addition to investor information
(i.e.,
name, address and tax identification number), that has been previously
collected, verified and stored for all investors in the PayPal Money
Market
Fund.

If you consent to PayPal obtaining, verifying and storing your date of
birth information, you do not need to take any action, and you do not
need
to contact PayPal.

If you do not wish for PayPal to obtain, verify, and store your date of
birth, you must redeem your investment in the fund and close your
PayPal
Money Market Fund account no later than February 26, 2005. To do that
you
must:

- Log in to your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/
- From the PayPal website, click the "Money Market" link at the bottom
of
the page
- The last sentence on the page reads, "If you wish to close your Money
Market Account, please click here." Click the word "here"
- Choose "Close Money Market" to close account
- You will receive a message that you have closed your Money Market
Fund
Account successfully

If you prefer to furnish PayPal with your date of birth information
yourself, you must
close your current Money Market account per the instructions above, and
then sign up for a new Money Market account. To do that, you must:

- Log in to your PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/
- From the PayPal website, click the "Money Market" link at bottom of
the
page
- From the Money Market page, click on the "Start Earning a Return
Today"
link at the bottom of the page

Sincerely,
PayPal

jon2249

2-19-05, 3:01pm

This is only if you have a money market account account rite?

nallur

2-19-05, 3:44pm

Your title is completely misleading. You make it look like PayPal is going to start collecting SSN from everyone. They are only going to do for people with a moneymarket account.

Alan

2-19-05, 3:58pm

Go into any bank and open an account. The same info is required. They'll also run your credit report. I don't know what that has to do with security, but that's what the banks do now.

munichkid

2-19-05, 4:49pm

IMHO, Big Gov't wants t know who, what , when, and why.
Orwell's 1984 run amuck

izx

2-19-05, 4:53pm

QUOTE(munichkid @ 2-19-05, 7:49pm)

IMHO, Big Gov't wants t know who, what , when, and why.
Orwell's 1984 run amuck

Big Brother requests your presence at the Ministry of Love for a friendly chat about your feelings on the Government....

doctor_ido

2-19-05, 6:24pm

Respons to Alan and others,

I don't have a problem with my bank knowing my ssn and dob. They have always treated me with every curtesy and their integrity is unquestionable. I know who they are, I can go and see them or call them if I have a problem. Additionally they have a number of organizations they must report and defend their actions to, boards of directors, local, state and federal government oversight organizations with regular financial audits.

I dare say that "paypal" lives up to few if any of these standards. Thats why our eyes get big and we want to vomit when paypal asks for these pieces of info.

Wizard83

2-19-05, 7:01pm

You guys are correct that Paypal is not a bank and rarely lives upto the normal bank requirements. I think thats what the class action lawsuit against them was all about.

Based on all the stories I have heard including some first hand from a life long friend of 25+ yrs, NO MONEY should be left in your Paypal account anyway.

They can decide to FREEZE your account for suspicious activity and keep your money. Or atleast make it very hard to get back.

This PAYPAL MONEY MARKET Fund is the worst Ideal I can think of.

So if you have to use paypal for your ebay sales, do not use the Money Market option, keep the balance low and transfer it out to another account where you can earn interest, such as NETBANK.

Cheers

Wizard83

qwex

2-19-05, 9:15pm

as many sucky experiences as I've had with banks, I think I trust paypal less. I'll stick with ING direct

Krunk

2-19-05, 9:37pm

QUOTE(qwex @ 2-19-05, 9:15pm)

as many sucky experiences as I've had with banks, I think I trust paypal less. I'll stick with ING direct

yep. i used to actually put all my money in paypal for the interest, but ingdirect is FDIC protected + has a higher interest rate! i still got a nickel from paypal once a quarter, but now that they're requesting me to allow them to retrieve my personal data, i went and immediately closed my money market account.

another thing i found annoying was that they said if u dont do any action, they'll go ahead and look up your info. to retrieve such personal info, i'd say would require action and closing the money market account should be set to default.

//krunk (^_^x)

Cirrus

2-20-05, 12:59am

QUOTE(doctor_ido @ 2-19-05, 10:24pm)

Respons to Alan and others,

I don't have a problem with my bank knowing my ssn and dob. They have always treated me with every curtesy and their integrity is unquestionable. I know who they are, I can go and see them or call them if I have a problem. Additionally they have a number of organizations they must report and defend their actions to, boards of directors, local, state and federal government oversight organizations with regular financial audits.

I dare say that "paypal" lives up to few if any of these standards. Thats why our eyes get big and we want to vomit when paypal asks for these pieces of info.

I'm pretty sure that Paypal has been collecting SSN info for a money market account even before now...

coreynyc

2-20-05, 1:47pm

QUOTE(nallur @ 2-19-05, 6:44pm)

Your title is completely misleading. You make it look like PayPal is going to start collecting SSN from everyone. They are only going to do for people with a moneymarket account.

Which part "is completely misleading"? The part where I said "Paypal" or the part where I said that they're going "to collect SS # & DOB info"?

PLEASE go ahead and try to to prove what I said is misleading.

For the record, I think most people who use Paypal have money market acct's with them. Why would anyone turn down interest?

seattle

2-20-05, 2:12pm

QUOTE(coreynyc @ 2-20-05, 2:47pm)

Which part "is completely misleading"? The part where I said "Paypal" or the part where I said that they're going "to collect SS # & DOB info"?

PLEASE go ahead and try to to prove what I said is misleading.

For the record, I think most people who use Paypal have money market acct's with them. Why would anyone turn down interest?

Paypal has been asking for SSN (for a long time now) if you try to open a business account or money market account ......So that is the reason why many DO NOT have a money market accout. You may have just got lucky. I am not sure about DOB

Colebert

2-21-05, 2:38am

QUOTE(coreynyc @ 2-20-05, 4:47pm)

Which part "is completely misleading"? The part where I said "Paypal" or the part where I said that they're going "to collect SS # & DOB info"?

PLEASE go ahead and try to to prove what I said is misleading.

For the record, I think most people who use Paypal have money market acct's with them. Why would anyone turn down interest?

The part where you DIDN'T SAY MONEY MARKET. duh.

how come almost every "they took all my money" horror story involves some guy selling porn or cell jammers? PayPal isn't perfect, but you can definately come to a "separate peace" with it if you are wise and take enough precautionary steps.

garsh

2-21-05, 3:14am

QUOTE(coreynyc @ 2-20-05, 4:47pm)

For the record, I think most people who use Paypal have money market acct's with them. Why would anyone turn down interest?

Because we heard horror stories about paypal keeping money during a dispute, so we resolved to simply remove all money from paypal immediately and place it in our bank account. So we didn't bother with a money market account.

Please let cooler heads prevail in this thread. Nallur shouldn't have said that the title was "completely misleading". All that was needed was a little clarification that paypal doesn't collect this information unless you have a money market account with them (am I understanding this correctly?).

Colebert

2-21-05, 11:39am

the title is misleading because it omits information that informs the reader that it is only under curtain circumstances.

bad form.

crimson

2-21-05, 12:04pm

I can see the words "Close Your Money Market Acct With Them!" in the 2nd line of the title. There is no confusion.

Now can we please dispense with the nasty retorts and thread crapping? There are other places and forums that enjoy that sort of thing, and frankly, many of us left those places because we didn't care for it.

AMS

2-21-05, 1:44pm

The title is made at the original poster's discretion. The OP has chosen to not make a title change, and the Bargainshare Team has not deemed a title change necessary.
Please continue with the original subject matter. If you opened this thread and took the time to read it in error, we apologize for the inconvenience.

AMS
Bargainshare Moderator

sullise

2-23-05, 12:20pm

Despite CoreyNYC's over-reactionary post, the fact is, everyone want's PayPal the be held accountable for it's handling of money, yet now that it's trying to comply with banking and federal laws, it's some big scandal? Slowly but surely, PayPal is going to have to come under banking laws..this is just a start.

The only reason to be so worried is if you're trying to scam your taxes and not declare income from PayPal business transactions. But, gee, if you withdraw you money into your checking account, the bank records that..lol..so if the IRS REALLY wanted to nail you, they'd easily do it.

As for the PA and relevency of recording this info, without getting to political for or against (since we have a forum for that, right Crimson?), the idea is that we need to be able to trace terrorist and other criminal funding cash flow. The harder you make it for them to hide the money the more you slow them down. While this does have the flip side of privacy concerns, it's nothing new, banks have reported these things for decades. The PA is simply forcing the obscure channels into the flow. While the PA is not perfect, it's purpose is not evil, only that like any tool, it can be used for good or bad and needs to be continually monitored, reviewed and adjusted to keep it from being abused.

Colebert

3-6-05, 3:10pm

i called my account rep last week and he told me that unless you have the money market feature, SSN# is used ONLY for idenification purposes and your financial data is not involutarily reported to the IRS.

tonka

3-6-05, 7:22pm

i think its only a matter of time before your forced to give that info to ebay.
iam suprised they have not made you yet.the gov is losing alot of possiable tax
money.