PayPal discourages phone calls to get Expanded Use Number
The Expanded Use or EXPUSE Number is a requirement to lift the $100 sending limit in PayPal.
Those who paid the $1.95 Expanded Use fee via credit card can normally get the EXPUSE Number on their billing statement the next month.
Those who used debit cards, however, need to call their card issuer to get the EXPUSE Number, as in the case of UnionBank EON CyberAccount or eWallet users.
But PayPal “strongly discourages” this policy of contacting card companies to get the Number, as seen in the following note from the PayPal website.
PayPal’s note reads:
PayPal strongly discourages customers from calling their credit card companies in order to obtain PayPal Expanded Use Numbers. If PayPal receives a complaint from Visa, MasterCard, or your card issuer about a phone call made to obtain PayPal Expanded Use Numbers, the complaint will be investigated. As a result, your PayPal account may be closed. Please check for your Expanded Use Number on your online credit card statement (monthly transaction history) or when you receive it in the mail. It may take up to 3-4 business days for the number to appear on your statement.
If PayPal already explicitly announced its dislike of the method, why do card issuers like UnionBank still do this?
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Most PayPal account holders who are using UnionBank cards are annoyed because they have to wait 3-5 days after paying the Expanded Use fee before they can get the Number. There are reports that some EXPUSE Numbers are not available even after 5 days.
In the past, EXPUSE Numbers were available in the online banking account of a UnionBank customer. For whatever reason, some months ago UnionBank removed this feature and instead asked clients to call their Customer Support Hotline at 84-186 or 841-8600.
A few weeks ago, however, there seemed to have been a bug in the system because I myself was able to enroll my account in the Expanded Use Program without having to call UnionBank! Later on, a few users reported that the process did not work anymore.
The note above indicates that PayPal doesn’t like users calling card companies for the EXPUSE Number. In that case, shouldn’t PayPal investigate why UnionBank still gives these numbers over the phone? And isn’t it high time for UnionBank to offer EXPUSE Numbers online so as to make it convenient for their users?
Just asking.
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December 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
i just sent union bank and email til now wla pa response.. but sana they will respond agad so that i will be spared from the agony of waiting for days to get a 4 digit number. duh!
December 12th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Would emailing them be better than calling them? Why does PayPal discourage it? Does it offer a better way of getting the expanded use number?
December 7th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
I just email unionbank earlier asking for my EXPUSE no. I hope they will reply as well today.
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
“In the past, EXPUSE Numbers were available in the online banking account of a UnionBank customer”
yes i remember this. The “Visa Electron Inquiry”. this was how I got my EXPUSE number. I wish they would return this, as I was unable to add my EON card to Moneybookers (their verification system charges a random USD amount, and I need to tell them the amount). Unfortunately, Unionbank “has no facility to log foreign currency transactions on a peso denominated account” i asked why before they had that facility and now they didnt. my branch couldnt give me an answer.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
[...] users, you would have to call to get the EXPUSE number. But as I’ve found out from Pinoy Money Talk: Paypal strongly discourages this policy of contacting card companies to get the Number, as seen in [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 5:55 am
^I don’t think it’ll go as far as that. The way I see it, PayPal discourages calling card issuers para hindi makulitan sa mga taong hindi makapaghintay ng EXPUSE number nila. Just imagine if PayPal says otherwise. Millions of people would be bugging credit card companies and issuers 24/7 for their EXPUSE number.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:27 am
I guess UnionBank is not yet familiar with the complete process regarding PayPal accounts. Hopefully, they update their procedures soon enough before PayPal thinks they’re a security risk and ban them.
November 24th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
If I remember correctly (having handled calls for a payment processor, and then a bank), customers are advised to check their online banking account or wait for the credit card statement to get the expanded use number. They shouldn’t even call the bank (whether they used a credit card or debit card) to get the EXPUSE. Instead, the bank offers to send an updated statement.
I didn’t know that the EXPUSE may be given over the phone until I called my card company last week to inquire on the statement that I hadn’t received. After I mentioned that I need the statement for the EXPUSE, the representative volunteered to give it to me over the phone. I wouldn’t want to get the agent into trouble so I asked, “Are you really sure?” There. I got the EXPUSE number over the phone.
I think, as an added level of security, banks shouldn’t give it over the phone.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:05 pm
PayPal states “PayPal strongly discourages customers from calling their CREDIT CARD COMPANIES in order to obtain PayPal Expanded Use Numbers.”
UnionBank is “not” a credit card company. The credit card company is VISA.
Is this correct?
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I emailed unionbank before I called them. Guess what? They didn’t know what EXPUSE was. I think it was because I was one of the first who applied for the EXPUSE number. I applied for mine June pa ata yun.
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
bakit kaya ayaw ng Paypal? got mine by calling unionbank. pwede pala thru email. hehe
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 am
instead of calling, i tried email unionbank for my expuse number, after two hrs nasa email ko na….