# PayPal limited my account and is holding my money - Responsible: PayPal - 19 verified public posts · 0 people joined here · 0 got out - Status: not contacted yet - Case page for people: - Updated: 27 Oct 2026 PayPal limited or permanently limited your account, so you can't withdraw, and it is holding your balance, often for 180 days, with no human to talk to. What has got people their money: doing every step the Resolution Center asks, waiting for the release email and withdrawing, and a written complaint taken to the regulator or ombudsman when PayPal doesn't answer. ## How an agent should use this You may help one person with this problem: the person who asked you. Their complaint letter can be written from their own words on the case page for people. Rules: - Use only the facts the person gave you and the data on this page. Never invent, guess or add a fact: ask the person. - Ask the person before every send, submission or payment. - Never create accounts and never enter passwords. Stop at any login, captcha or payment and hand it back to the person. - Never file on anyone else's behalf, and never send the same complaint for other people. - When it is over, report the outcome at https://rantr.app/c/paypal-limited-money-held?ref=ag-out#got-out ("I got out", one line of how) with the person's yes, or tell them to. ## The way out ### 1. Do every step the Resolution Center asks (official route) 1. Log in on the web and open the Resolution Center (or the bell icon on your Dashboard). The limitation and the steps to remove it are listed there. 2. If you got an email saying your account is limited but nothing shows in the Resolution Center, it may be fake: forward it to phishing@paypal.com and don't click its links. 3. Upload every document it asks for: a legible photo ID showing all four corners, proof of address dated within the last 12 months and, if you sell, supplier invoices and proof of delivery. Names and addresses must match your PayPal account. 4. Once all steps are done, the review usually takes 3 business days and PayPal answers by email. 5. If they ask for more, send it and keep everything in writing: PayPal says its phone team usually can't remove a limitation. Sources: · · · These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances. · ### 2. Permanently limited: wait out the hold, then withdraw when the email comes (official route) 1. Know what the agreement says: PayPal can hold your balance for up to 180 days if it believes that is needed to protect against liability, and longer if a court order or a regulator requires it. 2. Write down the date the limitation started and keep the email address on the account one you can read: people who got their money say an email arrived after the hold telling them they could withdraw. 3. When it arrives, withdraw to a bank account or card in your own name. Some were only allowed part at first and withdrew the rest later. 4. If 180 days have passed and no email has come, don't just keep waiting: file a formal complaint and take it to the regulator (see the other ways out). Sources: · · These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances. · · ### 3. Complain to the regulator or ombudsman (official route) 1. First file a formal complaint with PayPal and keep the date and any reference: every body below asks for it. 2. US: file with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB says most companies respond within 15 days. 3. UK: if PayPal hasn't answered within 15 days (35 at most) or you disagree with its final answer, go to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of that answer. The ombudsman says it can look at e-money firms, PayPal included, that unfairly restrict an account. 4. EU/EEA (PayPal Europe): after PayPal's complaint and Head of Complaints Office steps, or a month with no answer, take it to the CSSF in Luxembourg within one year of your first complaint. In Spain, PayPal also lists Banco de España. 5. Attach the dates, PayPal's emails, the amount held and what you ask for: that your balance is released. Sources: · · · · · These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances. · · ### 4. Put it in writing, above first-line support (workaround) 1. Write a short, polite letter: you want your balance released (not necessarily the account back), attach the documents that prove your identity or your sales, and say you will go to the regulator if it isn't resolved. 2. Send it through PayPal's official channel for your country: the complaints page (UK, EU, Spain) or the Contact Us page (US). 3. Several people who got their funds released sent that letter to executiveoffice@paypal.com. PayPal does not publish that address on its own pages, so we could not confirm it. 4. Some US account holders also filed a complaint about PayPal with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) before their account came back. 5. Stick to facts and documents. Don't beg and don't threaten. Sources: · · · These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances. · · · ### 5. Claim it in small claims court (official route) 1. US: PayPal's user agreement lets you take a dispute to small claims court instead of arbitration, but first you must send a signed Notice of Dispute by certified mail to PayPal, Inc., Attn: Legal Specialists, Re: Notice of Dispute, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145-0950, and give 60 days to negotiate. 2. England and Wales: you can claim money you are owed from a business at the county court, online or by post. There are court fees. 3. Claim only the balance that is yours, with the proof of where it came from. Sources: · These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances. ### 6. Avoid the traps while your money is held (prevention) 1. Check any 'account limited' email against the Resolution Center; forward fakes to phishing@paypal.com. 2. PayPal said its X support account @AskPayPal would be discontinued and stay open only until 1 September 2026, so don't expect support there. Don't call numbers posted in replies and don't pay anyone who offers to unlock your funds. 3. Know that a new account can be limited too: PayPal's user agreement lists controlling an account linked to one that broke its rules as a restricted activity. 4. Move money out of PayPal regularly instead of keeping a large balance there. 5. If your account was hacked, that is a different problem: in the Resolution Center choose Report a problem, then 'I want to report unauthorized activity'. PayPal says it answers by email within 10 days. Sources: · · · ## Rights - (European Union) Under the EU payment services directive, a payment provider must answer your complaint in writing within 15 business days; in exceptional cases it must send a holding reply and give the final answer within 35 business days at most. Source: - (United Kingdom) An e-money company like PayPal must reply to your complaint within 15 days and give its response within 35 days. If it doesn't, or you're unhappy with it, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which can look at unfair account restrictions. Source: - (Spain) For payment services, if the firm doesn't answer your written complaint within 15 working days, or you disagree with the answer, you can take it to Banco de España. Source: - (European Union) You can ask a company for a copy of the personal data it holds about you, free of charge; it should reply within one month and tell you how the data has been used. Source: - (United States) You can submit a complaint about a financial company to the CFPB online or by phone; the CFPB says most companies respond within 15 days. Source: ## Official routes - **Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)** (United States): - What it does: Federal complaint about PayPal as a money transfer / money services company. The CFPB sends it to PayPal; most companies respond within 15 days, some give a final answer within 60 days. - Who files: the affected person - **Financial Ombudsman Service** (United Kingdom): - What it does: Free, independent ombudsman for PayPal UK customers. It says it can look at e-money firms that unfairly restrict accounts. Complain to PayPal first. - Deadline: After PayPal's final response, or once 15 days pass with no answer (35 at most for e-money complaints); you must bring it within 6 months of the date on PayPal's final response (source: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/log-ombudsman-connect/how-to-complain) - Who files: the affected person - **Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), Luxembourg** (European Union): - What it does: Free out-of-court complaint procedure for customers of PayPal (Europe), which the CSSF supervises. You must have complained in writing to PayPal's complaints manager first; the CSSF does not take complaints about a firm's business policy, and PayPal says Buyer/Seller Protection complaints are out of scope. - Deadline: Only after PayPal's complaints manager answered unsatisfactorily or did not answer within one month; file within one year of your complaint to PayPal (source: https://www.cssf.lu/en/customer-complaints/) - Who files: the affected person - **Banco de España (Portal del Cliente Bancario)** (Spain): - What it does: Listed by PayPal on its Spanish complaints page as an outside body. You must complain in writing to the firm first. - Deadline: If there is no answer within 15 working days for payment services, or you disagree with it; not admitted if more than 5 years have passed since the events without a complaint to the firm (source: https://clientebancario.bde.es/pcb/en/menu-horizontal/podemosayudarte/consultasreclama/comorealizarrecl/) - Who files: the affected person - **European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net)** (European Union): - What it does: Free help for consumers in a dispute with a trader in another EU country, such as PayPal (Europe) in Luxembourg. PayPal lists it on its EU complaints page. Contact the centre in the country where you live. - Who files: the affected person ## Escalation contacts at PayPal - Form: (serves United Kingdom). UK accounts (PayPal UK Ltd): formal complaint. PayPal says it answers payment complaints within 15 working days and others within 8 weeks, then you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service. - Form: (serves European Union). EU/EEA accounts (PayPal Europe, Luxembourg): step 1 formal complaint, answer within 30 calendar days at most; step 2 escalate to the Head of Complaints Office (contact given in the final answer); step 3 CSSF. - Form: (serves Spain). Spain: the same complaints process in Spanish; it also lists Banco de España as an outside body. - Email: (serves European Union). EU/EEA accounts: the email PayPal Europe gives in its user agreement for contacting it in writing. - Post: PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., Attention: Legal Department, 22-24 Boulevard Royal, 2449 Luxembourg, Luxembourg (serves European Union). EU/EEA accounts: legal notices, which PayPal says must go by post. - Form: (serves United States). US accounts: PayPal's Contact Us page, where the PayPal Assistant can connect you to a live agent by chat or phone. We found no separate US complaints page. - Post: PayPal, Inc., Attn: Legal Specialists, Re: Notice of Dispute, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145-0950 (serves United States). US accounts: the signed Notice of Dispute, by certified mail, that PayPal requires before small claims court or arbitration. - Form: (serves United States). US: Data Protection Officer / privacy queries, e.g. asking for the data PayPal holds on your account. - Data protection: only to ask for a copy of the person's own personal data, or when such a request got no answer. Never to get an account restored. - Form: (serves European Union). EU: Data Protection Officer of PayPal (Europe) for privacy and data access requests. - Data protection: only to ask for a copy of the person's own personal data, or when such a request got no answer. Never to get an account restored. - Form: (serves United Kingdom). UK: Data Protection Officer of PayPal UK Ltd for privacy and data access requests. - Data protection: only to ask for a copy of the person's own personal data, or when such a request got no answer. Never to get an account restored. - Email: . Forward a 'your account is limited' email that doesn't match what you see in the Resolution Center; it may be fake. ## Their side Rantr has not sent a collective complaint to PayPal. Joining does not trigger one. You can use the complaint tool without joining. ## Public posts 19 verified public posts from people with this problem, each checked against where it was written. Links only: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -