More PayPal IPO Problems
from the will-they-never-end? dept
Will PayPal ever go public? Today they found out more bad news as Louisiana has told the company that they have to stop allowing Louisiana residents to use the service. However, PayPal says they'll comply - but are likely to contest the order. Even with that going on, they say that they'll really (no, really) try to go public this week. I find it odd that Louisiana just decided that PayPal wasn't legal in their state - right as the IPO was coming up. However, the article points out that a number of states are looking into whether or not PayPal is running an illegal bank (which many people think they are). PayPal is a useful service... but I'm not sure I'd want to leave any money with them.
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Paypal
Among other dodgy activities Paypal engage in, this is a doozy:
In order to validate an account, one must provide data proving US residence, bank account, tax status, etc.
The problem is that they allow non-USA accounts, but if there are any complaints about them or their automated system "flags an account for possible fraud" then they lock it - requiring the validation stuff above before they'll even look at an appeal.
Needless to say, anyone outside the USA isn't able to provide such data.
My account got locked down in exactly this way without my even having accessed it - it was created, had USD100 in it and was locked
less than 24 hours later when the balance was checked.
Goven PayPal's subsuming of idle accounts, it's an easy earner for them to steal money from foreigners by simply doing this to low value accounts, garnishing the interest until they finally get to claw the account back into the main cash pool.
Most accounts I've heard of this happening to are USD10-100 value - too small for most people to be bothered pursuing given the enormous time and aggrivation factor trying to chase American companies from outside the USA.
There's potential for a large class action suit against the company, not to mention varous federal and california state charges. Hello Comptroller of currency....
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