Paypal sent out notice of their new User Agreement to take effect on October 19, 2016. The new agreement appears to backtrack from the current restriction of paying with a credit card when you have a Paypal balance.
The old terms include an ominous note that:
If you do not want to use your Balance, you can withdraw it before making a payment….If you select a Preferred Payment Method but have available Balance in your Account, your Balance will be used to fund your payment first.
These details are absent from the new terms. Going forward, the only time Paypal won’t use your preferred payment method is, “if you select a credit card that has expired.” Otherwise, it’s your choice.
We already saw an inkling of change back when Paypal inked a partnership deal with Visa and promised not to push people from Visa to bank ACH payment. From the new User Agreement, it sounds like they are changing the forceful use of Paypal balances as well. We’ll have to wait until October to see for certain.
To check your default payment setting, go to Settings (icon on the top-right), then Payments. On the right side is your in-store preferences, and on the bottom-left is your online preferences.
A long overdue change…
