PayPal And Credit Cards: They’re Lying To Us

I’m generally a big fan of PayPal, but I don’t like being lied to: PayPal advertises that you can pay with a credit card using PayPal. I swear you used to be able to do exactly that, but you can’t any more: you only get the option to pay with a credit card if your PayPal balance is zero dollars. If you get a PayPal invoice from someone for $100, and you have $20 in your PayPal account, you can’t use your credit card to pay the $100…you can only use it to pay $80, and the remaining $20 comes from your PayPal balance. This is doubly irritating when you try to not pay via your PayPal account, and instead just pay with your credit card – if you’re using a credit card that’s attached to your PayPal account, PayPal won’t let you use that card, it forces you to sign into your account and pay it that way. Frustrating!