Wrong payment source used - prefered card is not used

[Elliehime]

I have two cards defined on my account.

American express- default card- prefered card- it is valid, no issue with limits, use it almost daily.

Mastercard - was there as a back up, forget even it is still there since I dont use it at all.

I have made two purchases in USA dollars, told the vendor charge it to my PayPal account, and I fully expected it to be charged to my American Express card- which is my default prefered card for my PayPal account.

but I see that charges went to mastercard!!!

it is not just inconvenience but

1) what is the point of having prefered card if PayPal is going to ignore it

2) it actually has costs for me since American express would have given me better exchange rates for this and also point 

I contacted support chat but they simply told me transaction is over. yes that is how I know it went to wrong card, because that card was surprised and send me e-mail. I don't get it, isn't this PayPal's miss? is there really nothing they can do? 

I didn't even get an explanation on why it went to other card (I asked) 

so here I am, frustrated that PayPal does not even offer an explanation. not sure what will this post do, but here it is.

[sharpiemarker]

@Elliehime 

Perhaps, you have automatic payment profile set up with the merchant by chance? An automatic payment’s payment methods are not controlled by the preferred payment method settings on the Wallet page but by the Automatic Payments settings page.

To access automatic payment settings, go to settings > payments > manage automatic payments, click merchant name.

Sometimes the availability of certain payment methods may be limited based on that particular seller or the third-party website you are using to complete the transaction.

Did you recall seeing that AMEX was the selected payment method during checkout, not just expecting AMEX would be used.

You can try asking merchant(s) to cancel your order(s) to do the transactions over.

[Elliehime]

Thanks for the replying but I do not think that is the case for this.

I do not have any automatic payment setting defined per vendor. This was not a reoccuring payment, It was one time transaction. 

I only have one automatic payment setting which is "for online purchases use the Amex card". It is visible under settings > payments > manage automatic payments, as prefered way of paying. 

I did not do the transaction myself, I give vendor my paypal to be charged, and they charged it online. So I am not sure, but I do not think vendor will be seeing or chosing where it is going to be charged at. 

therefore I think issue lies with PayPal, by all definitions this was online purchase, and I had Amex as my prefered method -which is valid active card so no chance of being declined but for some reason it did not go to that. 

and yes, technically I can ask vendor to cancel and redo, aside from being extremely inconvenient and it is not guaranteed that vendor will even agree, I don't see how this is vendor's problem. Also as long as reason is not clear, what is stopping from this happening again ?  At least an explanation would have been nice.

[ingmarp]

That is a well know security weakness in Paypal. It uses whatever card it wants and does not care about your will.

[tomturner]

Why doesn't paypal at least give a warning before switching from preferred to other payments methods?

Furthermore, why does paypal not notify and confirm the other payment method/source it choses prior to transaction completion?

[JustCharra]

I've been with PayPal for nearly 15 years and it just happened to me for the first time.  I had a subscription for Canva that I had put on hold for three months because I wasn't using it that much.  I have always used one specific card for all my PayPal purchases and it has been my default preferred card for years.  It's not expired, it is still a very valid card.  My Canva came back to renew after the hold and honestly I had forgot about it.  Instead of coming out of the preferred card account as it had for several months before, it came out of my husband's card account.  We have only used his card in PayPal for one emergency payment months ago.. no other transactions period.  It was not set as preferred EVER and I had never used it for any online purchases at all yet PayPal decided to change what card they defaulted to.  No reasons given.  I immediately removed all cards except one from my account.  Very disappointed with this happening given it's never been an issue before and especially since PayPal cannot give a reason for it happening.

[PayPal_Bindu]

Hello @JustCharra 

Thank you for posting in the PayPal Community and welcome!

I understand your concern about your subscription funded from a different payment method. For the safety and security of the network, PayPal internal system reviews every transaction before its approved. If the system finds any risk associated with the transaction, it may block the activity temporarily or limit the payment options. It looks like the system wasn't able to debit from your preferred payment method due to risk and charged the next available payment method to complete the transaction. 

Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused,

Bindu

[beadhead]

I have had this same problem many times recently. The PayPal pop up window shows something other than my preferred method, which is currently a Visa card. When I click the 'Select other source' pull down, my preferred method isn't there.  I have checked my account each time and the preferred method is correct in my wallet. I tried selecting another method, then re selecting my preferred method, then tried to pay again. No luck; it just defaulted to a different (non preferred) method.

This really sucks, and I hope it gets fixed soon.

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @beadhead, 

Thanks for posting in the PayPal Community! Congrats on your first post! 

I understand that you haven't been able to use your preferred card lately, and I'm sorry to hear that. I recommend visiting this Help Center article for some troubleshooting steps for payment declines. From what you've mentioned, I believe you're running into our Security System. The Security System reviews all actions on PayPal, and if it determines there's a higher risk than normal, it can limit what payment methods are available. To help with this, you'll always want to log in using one consistent device with your location services turned on. If you've made quite a few attempts back to back, try allowing 48 hours before your next attempt and then reaching out to Customer Support if that one doesn't go through. 

I hope you can make the payment using your preferred card soon! 

- Meghan

[tomturner]

Should not paypal at least give a warning before switching from preferred to other payments methods?

And, notify and confirm the other payment method/source it choses prior to transaction completion?