Image this scenario: Suppose a blogger you know had been buying PayPal My Cash cards at a certain three letter drug store and paying with a card that offers 5% cash back at drug stores, and through a series of events he ended up with loads of My Cash cards and no way to load them…
Account warnings
In this imaginary scenario, this blogger may have received a warning from PayPal saying not to deposit MyCash cards and then withdraw the cash (details here). Specifically, PayPal may have warned: “If we continue to see this activity of using the MyCash with your PayPal account for cash withdrawals, we may have to limit or close your PayPal account.”
So, hypothetically, imagine that this blogger continued to load PayPal My Cash cards, but stopped withdrawing the cash to his bank account as he had been doing before. Instead, he loaded the My Cash cards to two different accounts, transferred the money to his account, then used his PayPal debit card to pay bills.
Account frozen
Now, imagine that this blogger then received an email from PayPal with the subject line “Your account has been limited.” And, in the body of the email it said (among other things that made less sense): “…your account has been permanently limited…. You’ll be able to withdraw money from your account within 180 days.”
Imagine too that this blogger received the same email on the same day for each of the three PayPal accounts he was managing. And imagine that many phone calls to PayPal and email pleas led nowhere.
Finally, consider the possibility that this hypothetical blogger still had $2,500 worth of My Cash cards in-hand. What should he do? Here’s the answer…
How to cash out My Cash cards
If you’re stuck with My Cash cards and no viable way to load them to PayPal, then here’s an option:
1. Log into PayPal.com/cash
Even if your PayPal account is frozen, you should still be able to log in with that account.
2. Go to the FAQ/Contact US page
Find and click on “Why couldnt PayPal verify my personal information?”
If you haven’t logged in yet, you should see this:
If you have logged in, you’ll see this:
Note that there is now a link that says “Click here to request a refund”. Click it.
3. Request a refund
You should now see a screen like this:
After entering in your card’s PIN and the CAPTCHA characters, you’ll be brought to a screen asking for your name and address. On this page they’ll promise a check in up to 14 days:
Warning: do not do this to manufacture spend
It may be tempting to buy My Cash cards and ask for a refund over and over, but I promise it won’t be long before they cut you off. This technique should be used only if you’re really stuck with no reasonable way to load these cards.