CCB/BML Opened an account in my name with PayPal Info without consent

[funkiehouse]

Hey gang. Any thoughts on this? I opened a new Paypal account and I guess Bill Me Later/Comenity Bank decided to go ahead and open an account in my name without me wanting or requesting an account be opened. I was alerted by my monitoring service about an inquiry this AM. I'm sure they had some checked box in some unconscious place on the page where it shows that I wanted to apply for this service. I can't get back to that part of the sign up page to check because you have to open a new account with credit card info and Im not doing that again.

 

Anyway, after finding the number to call to raise hell, the lady gave me a fax number to request removal of the info from my reports. My question is should I demand payment for a FCRA violation for no PP and should I mention TILA violations for not disclosing that a credit pull was going to be preformed? I'm sure it's buried somewhere, but I do not recall anything on the page where I signed up that I was requesting BML services. I read over these things pretty well before signing up, at least I thought.

 

I will be filing a CFPB and a letter to Lisa Madigan's office no matter what, but I was winding if I should levee it at that or demand payment.

[nysbadmk8]

Hey gang. Any thoughts on this? I opened a new Paypal account and I guess Bill Me Later/Comenity Bank decided to go ahead and open an account in my name without me wanting or requesting an account be opened. I was alerted by my monitoring service about an inquiry this AM. I'm sure they had some checked box in some unconscious place on the page where it shows that I wanted to apply for this service. I can't get back to that part of the sign up page to check because you have to open a new account with credit card info and Im not doing that again.

 

Anyway, after finding the number to call to raise hell, the lady gave me a fax number to request removal of the info from my reports. My question is should I demand payment for a FCRA violation for no PP and should I mention TILA violations for not disclosing that a credit pull was going to be preformed? I'm sure it's buried somewhere, but I do not recall anything on the page where I signed up that I was requesting BML services. I read over these things pretty well before signing up, at least I thought.

 

I will be filing a CFPB and a letter to Lisa Madigan's office no matter what, but I was winding if I should levee it at that or demand payment.

 

I'm going to guess something, somewhere in the TOS states they could do this.. Or had PP to do so... I would get the TOS asap to look.

[funkiehouse]

Oh, Im sure its buried in there somewhere. My issue is that they didn't disclose that you're required to sign up for BML services (if that's the case) or that they were going to sign me up for them.

[backtobusiness]

I thought that PayPal was GECRB, and if so, what connection would it have with BML(comenity)? Unless I'm not reading your post correctly!

[funkiehouse]

Bill Me Later ^® is an open-end credit plan offered by Comenity Capital Bank (“the Lender"). IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BILL ME LATER ACCOUNT, by using Bill Me Later ^® to complete this Purchase, you apply for credit and you agree that you have read the Terms and Conditions; you authorize the Lender to review your credit report and you understand that this account is subject to interest and Late Fees and is governed by Federal law and the law of the state of Utah. You authorize the Merchant to share your personal information, including email address, with the Lender, and authorize the Lender to use that information for all lawful purposes in connection with the account. IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A BILL ME LATER ACCOUNT this Purchase is pursuant to your Bill Me Later Terms and Conditions, a copy of which is provided below for your reference. You may be asked to provide information (such as your date of birth and last four of your social security number), each time you use Bill Me Later. This information is used solely for verification purposes.

 

https://cms.paypal.com/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=bml/BMLTerms

 

This is one red flag here:

 

by using Bill Me Later ^® to complete this Purchase, you apply for credit and you agree that you have read the Terms and Conditions; you authorize the Lender to review your credit report and you understand that this account is subject to interest and Late Fees and is governed by Federal law and the law of the state of Utah.

 

I haven't made a purchase using Paypal or BML. I signed up to Paypal to add a credit card (AEMX) because there was an item I was thinking about purchasing.

 

​It looks like they basically trick you into signing up.

Edited April 17, 2014 by funkiehouse

[shifter]

Sounds like you clicked the wrong button and signed up for BML and not a PayPal account.

[funkiehouse]

Sounds like you clicked the wrong button and signed up for BML and not a PayPal account.

 

The only button I clicked was to sign up for a Paypal account.

[funkiehouse]

Perhaps I'll demand payment and removal for not invoking arbitration.

 

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BILL ME LATER ACCOUNT, by using Bill Me Later^® to complete this Purchase, you apply for credit and you agree that you have read the Terms and Conditions, including its Agreement to Arbitrate; you authorize the Lender to review your credit report and you understand that this account is subject to interest and Late Fees and is governed by Federal law and the law of the state of Utah.

[shifter]

You signed up to pay using BML. And that means you applied for credit. Maybe you didn't mean to but I don't see where they owe you anything.

[funkiehouse]

I didn't sign up with BML. I signed up for a Paypal account here:

 

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/setup-paypal-account/onboarding?execution=e1s2

[codein]

 

​It looks like they basically trick you into signing up.

 

I wouldn't put it past paypal to trick people into signing up for BML, when they are simply just setting up a paypal account. On the rare occasion when I make a purchase using my paypal account (I have BML too), I have to go through about 3 screens in order to NOT use BML as payment source. They make it real hard.

 

Now as to what level of trickery they employed to sign people up for BML, they are going to try and get away with as much as possible, until they are beat back from their methods. That is paypal modus operandi.

 

When I signed up for paypal back in the day, all I needed was an email address. Did your paypal signup process involve inputting the last 4 of your social? That is typically how BML establishes itself. You should be able to sign up for paypal without any social security number. Unless that has changed in the last number of years.

[funkiehouse]

 

 

​It looks like they basically trick you into signing up.

 

I wouldn't put it past paypal to trick people into signing up for BML, when they are simply just setting up a paypal account. On the rare occasion when I make a purchase using my paypal account (I have BML too), I have to go through about 3 screens in order to NOT use BML as payment source. They make it real hard.

 

Now as to what level of trickery they employed to sign people up for BML, they are going to try and get away with as much as possible, until they are beat back from their methods. That is paypal modus operandi.

 

When I signed up for paypal back in the day, all I needed was an email address. Did your paypal signup process involve inputting the last 4 of your social? That is typically how BML establishes itself. You should be able to sign up for paypal without any social security number. Unless that has changed in the last number of years.

 

 

They make you enter your last 4 and DOB for the Paypal part, which they said was for ID purposes. The was a reg flag to me but I couldn't find anything that said they were going to pull a hard credit inquiry for it. I got to the page below by clicking on "Add credit/debit account" from Paypal's site.

 

Edited April 17, 2014 by funkiehouse

[Guest]

BML closed mine.....

[funkiehouse]

You'll notice the second line of that page says: if you decide not to confirm, you can use your bank account or credit card but when you click on the add credit card link (which is what I did to get to this point) it takes you to this page. So when it's a new account and you haven't confirmed already you can't add a card unless you confirm this info. This is the info BML used to open the account.

 

The other thing is that I already had entered my credit card info just to get the account activated.

Edited April 17, 2014 by funkiehouse

[funkiehouse]

BML closed mine.....

 

I have a nasty letter going out by fax to them in the morning. I never wanted BML.

[studiogeek]

Funk,

I totally can see why you are pissed....

However,

If you can't get rid of it, depending on how you spend you may LOVE IT! I know I do. It is my favorite trade line to be honest. The invisibility is a godsend for me. Most of my larger purchases are made through them. I can spend heavily on it (up to 3.5K so far) for something big, get no interest for 6-12 months and pay no utilization penalty. I do this over and over for computers, electronics etc.

Good luck getting it nuked, but if you have never had it, it's possible you may wind up loving it like I do.

 

Hope all works out for you!

[nbipbm]

Personally, I would just let it go. The tradeline doesn't report to the credit bureaus, so all that will show up is an inquiry. If you can get the inquiry removed that would be fine, but I wouldn't really feel like going through a bunch of trouble over something like this.

[funkiehouse]

Funk,

I totally can see why you are pissed....

However,

If you can't get rid of it, depending on how you spend you may LOVE IT! I know I do. It is my favorite trade line to be honest. The invisibility is a godsend for me. Most of my larger purchases are made through them. I can spend heavily on it (up to 3.5K so far) for something big, get no interest for 6-12 months and pay no utilization penalty. I do this over and over for computers, electronics etc.

Good luck getting it nuked, but if you have never had it, it's possible you may wind up loving it like I do.

 

Hope all works out for you!

 

Thanks SG and I appreciate where you're coming from, but I don't want their crap. I doubt that you get the same protections as you would through a regular credit card like AMEX or whomever. I just chaps my flowers that they do this. I rarely put anything on my credit cards that I can't pay off (especially consumer goods). They only thing I would put on a card that would linger would be emergency repairs or services. Not to be snooty but just to avoid interest, fees and getting my self in over my head. It's just not a service I would ever use or ever sign up for.

[funkiehouse]

Personally, I would just let it go. The tradeline doesn't report to the credit bureaus, so all that will show up is an inquiry. If you can get the inquiry removed that would be fine, but I wouldn't really feel like going through a bunch of trouble over something like this.

 

People not speaking up is exactly why they continue to get away with it. Once you repair you credit from a job loss like I did, you don't let people like this walk all over you. This is one of the many reasons why the CFPB was created.

[studiogeek]

 

Funk,

I totally can see why you are pissed....

However,

If you can't get rid of it, depending on how you spend you may LOVE IT! I know I do. It is my favorite trade line to be honest. The invisibility is a godsend for me. Most of my larger purchases are made through them. I can spend heavily on it (up to 3.5K so far) for something big, get no interest for 6-12 months and pay no utilization penalty. I do this over and over for computers, electronics etc.

Good luck getting it nuked, but if you have never had it, it's possible you may wind up loving it like I do.

 

Hope all works out for you!

 

Thanks SG and I appreciate where you're coming from, but I don't want their crap. I doubt that you get the same protections as you would through a regular credit card like AMEX or whomever. I just chaps my flowers that they do this. I rarely put anything on my credit cards that I can't pay off (especially consumer goods). They only thing I would put on a card that would linger would be emergency repairs or services. Not to be snooty but just to avoid interest, fees and getting my self in over my head. It's just not a service I would ever use or ever sign up for.

 

They have not made a dime in interest off of me, and won't ever....... but I get the "over my head" thing. Good luck getting it all removed.

[funkiehouse]

The reason why they don't report it is so people don't think/know that it's credit and don't realize it is until something goes wrong and they assign it to a CA. I sure many people just think the credit inquiry is just for ID verification, which is why nothing much gets said. I'm also willing to bet many people don't realize they have pulled a report because they don't follow their reports that well. If it's not deceptive, I don't know what is.

[nbipbm]

The reason why they don't report it is so people don't think/know that it's credit and don't realize it is until something goes wrong and they assign it to a CA. I sure many people just think the credit inquiry is just for ID verification, which is why nothing much gets said. I'm also willing to bet many people don't realize they have pulled a report because they don't follow their reports that well. If it's not deceptive, I don't know what is.

I'm not sure what would lead you to believe that it isn't credit. You buy an item and pay for it later; that's what credit is. I didn't say let them walk all over you. I said perhaps try to get the inquiry removed, since that's the only thing that could possibly be "damaging" the credit report. Anyone can do what they want, but I just wouldn't bother. Much like how people spend much time on the telephone when a hard pull is done after they were told it was a soft.

[moosetracks]

BTW: Paypal requiring SSN & DOB is not for ID verification it is to be able to send you a 1099 if you exceed 20K in income or 200 transactions in a year...

[codein]

You'll notice the second line of that page says: if you decide not to confirm, you can use your bank account or credit card but when you click on the add credit card link (which is what I did to get to this point) it takes you to this page. So when it's a new account and you haven't confirmed already you can't add a card unless you confirm this info. This is the info BML used to open the account.

 

The other thing is that I already had entered my credit card info just to get the account activated.

 

I see they are weaving you into forms in order to get your DOB and last 4 social. And really once they have your name, address, zip, dob, and the last 4 of your social, they have you completely without getting the full social. They would need to confirm your full social, if you received over $20K of incoming payments in order to issue an IRS 1099-K.

 

As far as I understood, you should be able to sign up for paypal with only email, name, address, and a checking/debit/credit card on file. Maybe this has changed and they forcing everyone to give enough info for BML to activate and if you don't bob and weave well enough, then they stick you with BML and a credit pull. It's deceptive and dirty pool. I think the CFPB would have a field day with paypal and the stuff they do like payment holds, perhaps this issue is a new one as they are trying to stuff BML down people's throats. Paypal has been careful to skirt banking/money transmitter laws, just hanging out around the fringes of a quasi bank, so they don't have to comply with full banking regulations.

 

If you want to stir the pot on this type of behavior you could reach out to ecommercebytes.com and mention how new paypal accounts are getting tied into a credit check and signup for BML.

[funkiehouse]

 

The reason why they don't report it is so people don't think/know that it's credit and don't realize it is until something goes wrong and they assign it to a CA. I sure many people just think the credit inquiry is just for ID verification, which is why nothing much gets said. I'm also willing to bet many people don't realize they have pulled a report because they don't follow their reports that well. If it's not deceptive, I don't know what is.

I'm not sure what would lead you to believe that it isn't credit. You buy an item and pay for it later; that's what credit is. I didn't say let them walk all over you. I said perhaps try to get the inquiry removed, since that's the only thing that could possibly be "damaging" the credit report. Anyone can do what they want, but I just wouldn't bother. Much like how people spend much time on the telephone when a hard pull is done after they were told it was a soft.

 

 

I didn't say it wasn't credit. I know it's credit. It's part of the deception on their end. If they came out and said "were checking your credit" they wouldn't have most of their business. The thing is that they open credit in my name without me wanting or requesting it. This type of credit does nothing but make them money and promotes spending. If it doesn't help your credit, you're only getting it to buy crap and that's what gets people in over their head. Otherwise you would just pay for whatever it is your buying. I'm not worried about me using it and getting into trouble with it, but it's taking advantage of people who get these small credit lines and max them out because they may not see it the same way you would a regular credit card. Maybe they send you what looks like a card, I don't know because this just came up today.