It’s no surprise that those of us using PayPal for any kind of online billing are transferring those funds into our bank accounts with greater frequency. Why let it sit idle there when it could be safe and sound, here at home, in an interest bearing account, after all?
Odds are that the wobbly state of the economy has a lot of folks pulling incoming funds out of their internet piggy bank a bit faster these days. As in get-it-got-it-move-it faster.
Well, PayPal’s no dummy. They rely heavily on interest gleaned from your cash sitting in their bank, and can see the virtual coin jar getting low. Their ledgers need to reflect cash on hand in pretty hefty sums to keep the shareholders happy and the lights turned on. So what do they do?
They promote plastic.
A recent email blast to account holders touts the convenience of having a PayPal debit card, validating the theory. Rather than require you to go through the hassle of logging in, transferring cash out of their coffers, then waiting 72 hours for the funds to move, they offer the convenience of just whipping out that nifty PayPal card. Easy. Quick. Hey, it’ll even make you grin with glee like that handsome guy in the ad.
While keeping your bucks in their bucket, earning interest, calming the shareholders.
I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, per se, or that PayPal is in any kind of financial bind. Just find this an interesting twist on “Here, let me hold onto that for you….”
Hmm. I don’t think so.
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I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
You do realize that by giving PayPal a federal ID number (aka Social Security number for individuals), they will pay you interest on your PayPal account, which right now is about double what my local Chase bank is paying.
For years everyone has been expecting PayPal to migrate into banking services, its a natural evolution.
When I first read the headline, I thought you were going to mention that in certain cases PayPal won’t even give you access to transferred funds (pretty sure mostly from eBay sales) for 10 days.
Very interesting for someone considering using Pay Pal. Thanks for the information from you and Greg Marshall’s comment too.