My paypal account (business) got "Limited access" status this morning, citing the reason -

"Your account has been closed due to excessive credit card registrations and removals. If you feel that we have closed your account in error, please contact PayPal Customer Service."

The reason behind this is,we cannot use a credit card from India to make a Paypal payment or any oonline payment that does not require a Verified by Visa password. So our credit card issuer gives us a feature called Netsafe whereby we create a Netsafe card of certain amount and use that card but for 1 transaction only. So I have to pay 8 people today - I have to create 8 netsafe cards and use them, that is add and remove.

I have tried to call up paypal but hung up after a 45 minute wait.

Any one can shed some light? I have to make a few payments and I am completely stuck!

Continually adding and removing Credit & Debit cards from your profile does send a red flag to PayPal, especially if you're doing it that many times in such a short period of time (i.e. 1 Day). While you may not have an alternative, it does look suspicious in their eyes which is why your account was flagged and limited.

The only way to get them to drop the limitation is to contact them via their contact form or call in. They flagged my account a few weeks back when I was updating my CC and changing my address to my new one but after calling and sending over proof of address, the account was restored to normal.

It was frustrating at first, so I can understand, but some changes simply send up a flag more than others.

Michael,

It says my account has been closed- does that mean its over? Or it can be restored? I have emailed them with the detailed credit cards statements and all, problem is I have not been contacted yet. Just too tensed!

If you're still able to login and access information, I wouldn't think that it's actually closed, rather, severely limited. In such a case, there's really nothing you can do but wait it out and keep trying to call.

I spent nearly half and hour on hold until someone picked up when I called in, so when calling, don't expect a quick answer. When sending in a contact e-mail, generally a response makes it way through 24-48 hours later from my personal experience.

PayPal is great until something like this happens, then things get a little slow. That's my only real complaint about them, everything else works as it should.

Thanks. I wish if any Paypal employee was around here in this forum, to check the case and settle it faster!

...

The reason behind this is,we cannot use a credit card from India to make a Paypal payment or any oonline payment that does not require a Verified by Visa password. So our credit card issuer gives us a feature called Netsafe whereby we create a Netsafe card of certain amount and use that card but for 1 transaction only. So I have to pay 8 people today - I have to create 8 netsafe cards and use them, that is add and remove.

I believe there a lot of banks issuing credit cards which are verified by VISA. Using such NetSafe cards are good for one time purchases. Paypal dislikes them.

Contact a decent bank (AxisBank?) and get a verified VISA credit card.
Best way is to call up Paypal and explain the situation. (I don't think Paypal employees are on WHT)

Good luck.

I believe there a lot of banks issuing credit cards which are verified by VISA. Using such NetSafe cards are good for one time purchases. Paypal dislikes them.

Contact a decent bank (AxisBank?) and get a verified VISA credit card.
Best way is to call up Paypal and explain the situation. (I don't think Paypal employees are on WHT)

Good luck.

Reserve Bank of India, the governing body of all Indian banks, have made a rule whereby, EVERY credit card of Indian origin if used online, the card holder has to punch in his verfied by visa password at the last step of checkout.

http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=4844&Mode=0

Not just the card no./cvv2/expiry date. All merchants, rather most international merchants, do not have this option of accepting the verfied by visa password. Thus as an alternative we have to use the netsafe cards which are pre-verfied-by-visa.

I bank with HDFC bank http://www.oifc.in/news_february09_011.asp in India for years and use their gold credit card which is one of the best.

Paypal should know the situation for Indian Credit cards and should have a way around.

Yes I agree and I'm aware of that.
I have credit cards from AxisBank and DeutscheBank which're verified by VISA. I've gone through your problem earlier.
Try speaking to your bank about this (corporate or business cards)

I think the email from PayPal said out the reasons to close your accounts clearly: excessive credit card registrations and removals. This is would be taken as a suspect of money laundering. Of course, you could withdraw your money from the closed account after 180 days. :(

My account got reinstated today.

"After further review your account has been found exempt from our credit card registration limits. Your account is fully reinstated and can register additional cards.

Thank you for using PayPal,

The PayPal Team"

Ofcourse, I had to follow up with the customer service properly.

This was the second time in 5 years that Paypal limited and reinstated my account upon clarification with documents and all. So, I believe if you are on the right side of the line, there is nothing to be feared of using Paypal. Just my opinion.

Thanks Michael, Spacerich and AirJordans :agree:

PS: Spacerich, I talked to my bank and Axis Bank yesterday. They clarified that there are no such credit cards that can be used on a verified by visa non-compliant website without putting the verified by visa password. That is a RBI rule. If the website is verified by visa compliant, you do not have to put the additional password at the end. If the website is not verified by visa compliant you do need to key in your verified by visa password at the last step OR use a Netsafe card. I wanted to clear this because most people will be misguided by your statement on Axis bank.

If the website is not verified by visa compliant you do need to key in your verified by visa password at the last step OR use a Netsafe card. I wanted to clear this because most people will be misguided by your statement on Axis bank.

I just called up my AXIS bank fellows to confirm. This RBI rule has exemptions. If you have registered as " Corporate Customer " and got (International) Business / Corporate cards -- then you don't have to follow all these. You need to inquire properly and read their terms completely. :agree:

Cheers.

I just called up my AXIS bank fellows to confirm. This RBI rule has exemptions. If you have registered as " Corporate Customer " and got (International) Business / Corporate cards -- then you don't have to follow all these. You need to inquire properly and read their terms completely. :agree:

Cheers.

This is the RBI circular.

http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=4844&Mode=0

I do not see an exemption anywhere. RBI generally do not keep hidden facts.

If they are doing a breach of the circular, they can be serious trouble anyday.

I told you before, I'm completely aware of that.

All the business in India don't have to go thru this ****, at least, as of now. Though with slight change, different conditions apply for personal usage and for business usage.

I don't have to prove you every time. Hope you find a better bank soon can explain you the things. Good luck.

I have international cards from ICICI, SBI & Barclays, ICICI is attached with Paypal no problems till date to make server payments through Paypal. All cards are registered with Verified with Visa & Master Card secure payment. When used directly on national and international sites without Paypal it does goes to the respective sites for the password, but while paying through Payapal funds are drawn from the CC without asking for Verified with Visa password.

I am not sure why aritrim faced this problem, is your card not international?

I have international cards from ICICI, SBI & Barclays, ICICI is attached with Paypal no problems till date to make server payments through Paypal. All cards are registered with Verified with Visa & Master Card secure payment. When used directly on national and international sites without Paypal it does goes to the respective sites for the password, but while paying through Payapal funds are drawn from the CC without asking for Verified with Visa password.

I am not sure why aritrim faced this problem, is your card not international?

Yes its international gold.

Anyway, Paypal is very nice also Lear… they give me some tips on how to restore my account’s access. I will need to fax them valid photo IDs which include my passport, my driver’s license, and my identity card. Not only that, they require a copy of utility bill to proof I am actually staying at where I told them. If you think that’s all, you are wrong, they need some bank statements and proof of a bunch of the latest transactions on my Paypal account! How am I going to trace back all these transactions…. headache coming!

aritrim, I empathize with you. I used to have about a dozen monthly PayPal subscriptions to different overseas providers being paid through my card linked to the PayPal account. Everything was fine since 2006, but the subs started failing one by one since September 2009 because of the RBI regulation.

So, since September 2009, I have been paying manually, using the NetSafe cards. Mine is an international HDFC card too (Platinum Plus), but it didn't matter and transactions kept getting declined. I had, in fact, registered for VBV when HDFC first introduced it in 2006 or 2007, so the transactions weren't getting declined because of that.

I wrote to PayPal in September and they replied saying they were aware of the problem, were working on a resolution, but wouldn't give an ETA.

I am not sure RBI offers any exemptions like that. What's really happening is that the sites you are using the card on have implemented VBV and Mastercard Securecode. Apparently, not all merchant sites do this automatically. I know this because sites such as Namecheap, Aweber and ServInt were failing transactions when I used them in Septmember, but are now going through smoothly. And, I am using the same card they were declining previously and because of which I had to use NetSafe, single-use, virtual cards generated against my real credit card. And, yes, I can now complete transactions on them without having to enter in the VBV password at the end of the checkout process. Reason? They have implemented the VBV/Securecode integration into their ecommerce processes.

aritrim, stop using PayPal for your payments and talk directly to your merchants instead. It's likely they will implement VBV and Securecode. This is what I did and they probably listened because there were other Indian customers who complained. The only hassle is that of having to pay manually, but most merchants also let you store the card and charge it automatically each month, which is pretty much equivalent to your Paypal monthly sub. Not all merchants may have the rigorous security sytems that PayPal has to protect your card info, but if PayPal won't be bothered to fix this problem, what can one do?

One thing that doesn't seem to have been commented upon is the fact that Indian credit card holders opening a new PayPal account can only operate a limited account. For removing sending and receiving limits, PayPal needs a linked debit or credit card which it charges $1.95 for verification. If the charge fails (because of the RBI regulation that PayPal hasn't implemented), the account can't be verified and would be quite limited.

Anyone experienced this?

@ ramdak5000 my subscriptions created 1, 2, 3 years back are still working on Paypal, same card same Paypal, same clients no problem at all ever. To use same card otherwise on other sites needs VBV/Securecode password since RBI regulation.

My latest payment through Paypal subscription was on 14-Dec-2009 which I created on 15-Aug-2008.

About opening new accounts, one of my known to person did that last week using SBI credit card successfully.

@ ramdak5000 my subscriptions created 1, 2, 3 years back are still working on Paypal, same card same Paypal, same clients no problem at all ever.
Mighty strange! I had my last remaining subscription fail me on 3rd December 2009. Same card since 2007.

This gives me a thought. It's probably to do with the merchant sites not implementing VBV/Securecode. I am going to try and test a subscription again with the same card.

To use same card otherwise on other sites needs VBV/Securecode password since RBI regulation.
To clarify - this VBV/Securecode password thing is only on Indian merchant websites (or, any other country that mandates it). On foreign merchant sites, all they need to do is to integrate VBV/Securecode into their checkout processes. I pay manually at least on 3 different foreign merchant sites. And, I have never seen a password requirement till date.

About opening new accounts, one of my known to person did that last week using SBI credit card successfully.
Ah, great to hear. My client will be relieved to know this. Thank you for the tip. ;)

To clarify - this VBV/Securecode password thing is only on Indian merchant websites (or, any other country that mandates it). On foreign merchant sites, all they need to do is to integrate VBV/Securecode into their checkout processes. I pay manually at least on 3 different foreign merchant sites. And, I have never seen a password requirement till date.

It asks for VBV/Securecode at WorldPay, so may be they have it integrated.

BTW what cards you guys are using that is not working with Paypal, my VISA & Master from ICICI, Barclays & SBI are working fine (mine is a business account with Paypal).

First of all, when u used Netsafe card then why u gave your paypal id????

I use to make payments to various services using both Netsafe Card and Paypal, but whenever I have to use Netsafe card then I never put my primary paypal id instead I use my secondary ids to create new paypal account with that card and then simply leave it.

Reason, simply the netsafe card can't be used for recurring payment so there is no need with it. second alternate option is to load your paypal with the desired amount of funds using Netsafe card and then use your paypal id to make payments, much easier way though you will loose few dollars in doing so (transaction fees) but it is worth than having such trouble.

I also don't get one point, why you can't use your real credit card with them. I have successfully used Axis Bank Credit Card with paypal on 24th Dec 2009 without any problem.

Info : HDFC Netsafe Card can also be created without Credit Card by using Debit Card.

hello aritrim how u contacted Paypal for this Problem. Tell me the method to resolve this Problem. (Your account has been closed due to excessive credit card registrations and removals. If you feel that we have closed your account in error, please contact PayPal Customer Service) I am in urgent.

Edit: Never mind

Edit: Never mind ):

Paypal supports India, we have a business account with them and for us it's working fine.

Edit: lol you edited it quite fast.

Yea, a while back from what i read paypal didn't support india but i went through their site and it appears they do support india now lol