Posted on 05/05/2020 8:25:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
David Charles needs his $1,200 stimulus payment, but he can’t get a straight answer about where his money went.
“I’m starving because I need this money and no one cares,” Charles said.
The IRS website shows that his money was paid to his PayPal Mastercard, a prepaid card, on April 29, but the card shows no such payment, and customer service representatives have offered no answers, he said.
He says he activated the card for the sole purpose of obtaining his stimulus money faster than through a check. He does not have a bank account because of his low income and responded to a PayPal advertisement about getting stimulus money quickly.
“It takes an hour just to get someone on the phone and then they tell me, ‘There’s no money there. Check with the government. It’s not our problem, it’s yours,”” Charles said.
Charles, who suffers from chronic health issues and does odd jobs for a modest living, was struggling before the pandemic. Now, he has fewer jobs to do and even less money. He was hopeful the stimulus would make an immediate difference in his life.
“I was really counting on this money to be able to take care of some bills, get me some new shoes and stuff, and help me to get some transportation going,” Charles said.
After five days of waiting on hold for hours and getting no answers from PayPal or the IRS, Charles turned to Better Call Behnken.
8 On Your Side reporter Shannon Behnken reached a PayPal spokeswoman who promised to look into the situation and try to resolve it. Within hours, Charles received a call from the company that his money was on his card.
Although it is still unclear what went wrong, Charles couldn’t be happier.
“I am paying bills,” he said. “I am glad I don’t have to worry about this anymore.”
This is not news. I suspect it will get zotted shortly.
PayPal? Poor people have poor ways. Jesus said the poor will be with you always. And this guy is a prime example of why that is true.
Having had to play telephone tag with bureaucrats and bureaucracies, I fully understand his frustration, and I’m glad this story had a happy ending.
35 minutes and gong strong!!
Guess you don’t hold much sway :)
Why isn’t it news? Just the socialists don’t like it.
This story is ridiculous. One person who didnt have the brains to call Paypal HQ and problem was so minor that it took one phone call from one reporter to fix it that day!
If the guy was facing death and the reporter got him a kidney that would have been news.
I don’t understand him not having a bank account, and then opening up a paypal account and card just for this purpose. Perhaps he doesn’t want a record of just how much he really makes with those odd jobs.
Yeah, I think I see what the problem is, right away.
No bank account because of being low-income/ I’d say he has something under the table going on and wants to stay off the grid...
The PayPal card is issued by a bank, not PayPal itself.
“The PayPal card is issued by a bank, not PayPal itself.”
And the bank ain’t doing the PayPal card for free. I’m guessing there’s a fee associated with the use of that card. The guy’s probably looking at giving up 1% to 3% for each transaction. Surely there are banks out there that will cash US govt checks without a service fee?
Yep. You can start with a $4.95 monthly fee and $.50 if you simply check your balance at an ATM.
https://www.prepaidlf.com/terms/paypalCHA.pdf
ML/NJ
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