I am in the exact same "boat". I have used pay in 3 for many years, never missed a payment, always settled early, my credit score as near as dammit max. This one occasion I tried to use pay in 3, and it said I was declined, I was like [Removed], no reason, no explanation just declined. From that date onwards, I was never offered it again, just like you say you can goto websites and it says they support pay in 3, yet paypals site doesn't offer it.
Then if you try and raise a ticket you get the condescending scripted response
"I am sorry to know that you're not getting PayPal Pay in 3 option and I understand this can be frustrating sometimes. Please be informed that Pay in 3 may not be available for certain merchants. Our system may also decide not to offer PayPal Pay in 3 as an option based on our internal checks. Pay in 3 is decided based on a variety of factors. Our decision process is automated. Some details our system reviews include your financial position, the information you provided within your application, and information about your usage and history with your PayPal account."
Even when you then reply saying, clearly it is is available from "certain merchants" that I use and have used before, they paypal idiots reply back .. with the exact same scripted response. Their scapegoat is "it's an automated response" ... so what, fix it then!
I work in the hazardous chemical industry, imagine I used the line "it's an automated system" when the is a chemical incident and just /shrugged..
p.s people talk about low credit scores and pay in 3 leads to debt. I personally don't have any debt to my name, my experian score is max, other credit scores are close to max. I us pay in 3 not because I can't afford but because id rather have the money in my bank and as its interest free, why bother forking out in one chunk. Like I bought a flight recently was £1300 rather pay 3 lots and keep 2 months interest than give it away, makes financial sense.
