How to Delete Your PayPal Account

Yesterday, #DeletePayPal was trending on Twitter. This is not an expression of solidarity with the Daily Sceptic, although PayPal’s attempt to close our account, along with that of the Free Speech Union and my personal account, seems to have been the beginning of the company’s recent difficulties. Rather, it is a response to a change to its Acceptable Use Policy that the company announced last week, whereby it was about to grant itself the right to fine customers $2,500 if they spread “misinformation” or offended members of various victim groups. By “fine” it meant help itself to $2,500 from its customers’ deposits, so, not surprisingly, many people decided to withdraw their funds and close their accounts. That, in turn, prompted PayPal to do a reverse ferret and announce that its message setting out the changes to its Acceptable Use Policy had been sent in “error”. Cue general hilarity, including this tweet from Brendan Carr, a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission: “@PayPal says its misinformation policy ‘went out in error’. Because who among us has not fat fingered a new, seven-page policy that would take away peoples’ money for publishing ‘misinformation’ – and then released that new policy on accident?”

UPDATE: @PayPal says its misinformation policy „went out in error.“

Because who among us has not fat fingered a new, 7-page policy that would take away peoples‘ money for publishing ‚misinformation‘ — and then released that new policy on accident?

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) October 9, 2022

I suspect many of PayPal’s customers won’t be reassured by this change of heart and will continue to be wary of the woke payment processor. Consequently, I thought it would be useful to reprint a guide to closing your account produced by BGR.

First things first: Make sure to withdraw any money you have remaining in your PayPal account before you get ready to close it. Click that link to learn how to do so — and then, once any lingering issues or balance is taken care of, here’s how you’ll delete your PayPal via the company’s website.

1. Click the Settings icon, next to the words “Log out”.
2. Click Close your account under “Account options”.
3. Enter your bank account number if you’re asked to do.
4. Finally, click Close Account.
   
   

If you want to delete your PayPal account from the app instead:

1. First, log into the app.
2. Click on the Profile icon in the upper-left corner.
3. Scroll down until you see the option to Close your account.
4. After tapping Close your account, next click on the Close Account button.

One final, important note: Any unpaid money requests are automatically canceled after closing your PayPal account. Also, you will lose any unused redemption codes or coupons.

Worth reading in full.

If you need further guidance, Tech Insider has produced a video guide.

Stop Press: A reader reports that when he tried to close his account he got a message saying: “We’re sorry, we’re not able to process your request right now. Please try again later.” I wonder if PayPal’s recent behaviour has produced the digital equivalent of a run on the bank and it cannot now return its customers deposits because it’s invested them in financial products it cannot now liquidate without incurring large losses? If anyone else is having difficulty closing their PayPal account, please contact us here.

Stop Press 2: PayPal’s stock is down 6%. Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge has more. The Zero Hedge Twitter account says: “Anyone caught shorting this woke payment platform will be fined $2500.”