Why do instant transfers take exactly 12 hours?

[m802]

I have added a bank account and verified it. When I withdraw money to it, I'm told that the expected arrival date is "immediately".

I see "Communicating with Bank" or similar and a spinning circle before that's replaced with "Your transfer has been delayed".

Apparently, it needs additional checks. Which "may take up to 12 hours".

Precisely 12 hours later, to the minute, I get the email to say the money has been transferred, so it's not a banking issue, the withdrawal has simply been stuck in a "queue for checking".

Going the other way - if I add funds from that account via Faster Payment to PayPal, this works flawlessly and straight away.

The delay with withdrawals has so far happened with every withdrawal except one which was the smallest amount, circa £12. That's the only one that went through properly and was processed as per the information on the screen: "immediately". Incoming payments are from multiple people.

I have a couple of simple questions..

- What additional checks?

- How come these additional checks always take precisely 12 hours? It's an enormous coincidence.

Thanks,

Mark

[PayPal_Martina]

Hi m802,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Community! 

Generally, if a withdrawal remains pending for 72 hours, it may be as we will occasionally hold a withdrawal for further review. This review can happen for various reasons but, in general, is because our internal security system reviews every transaction before it's released in order to provide a safe online payment service. Usually, the maximum amount of time that the transfer might take is 72 hours.

You can find here more information. 

I hope this helps!

Martina 

[m802]

Thanks. However, that reply does not address the questions I asked, which were:

What checks are being performed - and, how come these always take precisely 12 hours?

[PayPal_Martina]

Hi m802,

Thank you for getting back to us! 

In general, the timeframe may vary. It may be that, for your account, the system does not need the whole 72 hours to make sure that the payment is safe. The checks are automatic and performed by the system based on internal processes. Due to this, I would not be able to specify which specific checks the system completes. 

Thank you for choosing PayPal.

Martina 

[Killrats]

That's **bleep** and you know it. You're being complicit in a criminal action and are just as guilty. PayPal will use any measures they can, both legally and illegally, to stop you from accessing your money. They expect you to tire of attempting to access it and will just spend it through their platform. It's holding people's lives hostage; Paypal is a criminal organisation that should be treated as such.

[SusanJoy1]

Oh and if you call and ask them about it they will basically call you a liar stating it never says 12 hours it says 72. 

[catalint]

Same issues with me , they are lying to us , let s do something about it , they using our money , they charge us for each ebay transactions , hold funds etc..i m using ebay and paypal more than 12 years but both became worse than ever imagined  !

i will sort my issue and proceed with closure for both account it is stupid what s happen , banks are like nothing   compared with paypal policy !!

[EldinR]

The same thing happened to me, this morning the second time.

I've transferred a LOT of money, Never, I mean never in my life I had this issue and suddenly last 2 days this **bleep** happens.

And the main problem is, PayPal support sucks! That's the worst support online. Calling them doesn't work, a nice lady just hang up, support takes up to 24 hours and the answer is "We'll see what can we do" and general answer, like I'm talking to a bot and again they resolve nothing.

The main problem is, we have no one to complain about. They live because of us, that's the main rule here and switching to another service is closer then ever.