Is paypal more secure than using a credit card?

[jazz4cash]

And if you listen to Clark Howard never ever ever use Zelle. There are apparently no protections for the users of Zelle.



I stick with Apple Pay.

So I wonder what the heck does that mean? Using your example of a dedicated account with a balance slightly more than the xfer amount, how could I get hacked? Just asking. The issue I hear of with Zelle is if you send funds to the wrong account it is impossible to correct the error.

 

[retire48in2018]

Hack - need new cards. Card number is compromised. Have to dispute fraud charges and wait for resolution (or temporary hold).

Perhaps no access to account until new card

 

[slowsaver]

I haven't had any fraud through paypal, but I admit I don't use it much.

When I need to put my credit card into a "new" site or one that I don't trust, I generate a 'virtual account number' from my citibank credit card. More info here: https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers

These are really good for one-time purchases. You can set the expiration date and the charge limit on every card you generate. So, I make a lot of cards expiring in 1-month. You can make a card that expires in 2-years, but I noticed these virtual account numbers can be a little flaky at times. So, if you have a monthly charge from someone, it may randomly get rejected and you have to create a new virtual account number.

 

[jollystomper]

I have never had a problem with Paypal, though I use it primary to send gifts to family members living far away. I buy from Amazon a lot, and use their card (and use 99% of the time only there) to get the purchase discount.

Once a year my chase cards gives an extra discount for PayPal purchases for a quarter in the year, so in those quarters I used PayPal for as much as possible (even for gifts, in place of a bank withdrawal). No issues there, either.

When our credit cards have been hacked, it has never been from an online retailer. It was mainly been from restaurant use. With more restaurants now having the pay station at your table or the cashier counter, or bringing it to you there), that is becoming less of an issue.

 

[statsman]

Most times, the use of PayPal isn't so much about being more secure as it is not giving the credit card information to another online site, as others here have indicated.

Another reason is there are times where you can make the purchase via PayPal without the creation of yet another online account and password. Some sites won't let you make the purchase without an online account, but they will if you use PayPal (or similar). Oh sure, they'll get your name and address for the shipment, but that's it.

 

[Morgan22]

And if you listen to Clark Howard never ever ever use Zelle. There are apparently no protections for the users of Zelle.

I don't understand his stance against Zelle. I would think the same could happen with PayPal or Venmo? We use Zelle for friends and family. We've also used it in the past to pay rent to our landlord when we were renting. But we always do $1 test payment first to make sure we input cell phone # or email correctly when setting up a new recipient. Never had a problem.

If anyone asked/fished for funds directly through Zelle we would just ignore and delete the request. Same as we would for PayPal or Venmo. (We've used PayPal or Venmo in the past, but have all switched over to Zelle.)

 

[jazz4cash]

Hack - need new cards. Card number is compromised. Have to dispute fraud charges and wait for resolution (or temporary hold).

Perhaps no access to account until new card

Sorry. Were you responding to me? If so, I don’t think hacker gets the card number.

 

[j3cowan]

I experienced a lack of security using Pay Pal, when it confused me with another person with a like name from another state. I hadn't used my account in quite awhile and didn't recognize the credit card numbers that had expired, so I put new credit card information in and then saw that the address was wrong, essentially I was updating someone else's account with my information then I couldn't erase it...it took a phone call to have this other persons account deleted along with any of my information. To me that was a security glitch.

 

[Timeisprecious]

Sure - I get my whole credit card cash back reward. 3% (3.75%) in some cases.

So which credit cards offer 3%+ cash back with no annual fees?

 

[audreyh1]

So which credit cards offer 3%+ cash back with no annual fees?

Bank of America Cash Rewards VISA for a category you select. I use the online shopping category.

 

[sengsational]

Another good use, if you want to cancel a subscription that requires a phone call, use one of these virtual numbers on the account and then set the max to $1 so the subscription "bounces" at the next payment.

As a bit of a PSA, if your CC doesn't offer virtual cards, you can set up a privacy dot com account to get instantaneous virtual cards, one per sketchy vendor. No cash back, but you can pause the card with a click, or change the monthly or annual max. I've got my account connected to a low dollar bank account. I don't like that you have to have a bank account connected, but I love putting in a virtual card number, taking advantage of the signups that require a CC that "we won't charge you anything now" but who knows what's in the fine print. Then, after signups, I tab back and pause the card. Boom! No hanging on hold, listening to more sales pitches just to cancel what I know I don't want. So even if PayPal provides quick remedies, there's nothing like never having them access your money at all!

Oh sure, they'll get your name and address for the shipment, but that's it.

They also get your email address, which is annoying. I have a separate email address that I use only for PayPal, but shady vendors will use it, sell it, etc. I think it's against the rules, but it's another down side to PayPal.