Lake Michigan CU Does Not Count Paypal Purchases

wayward | Sep 17, 2015 | 75 posts since 2011

This week I made four web purchases using Paypal and my LMCU debit card. Lake Michigan has recorded these four as "Bill Payment", and they do not count toward the 10 Reward requirements.

In previous Reward cycles these same four identical Paypal purchases have counted toward the Reward requirement.

I have spoken with LMCU and they say I have to take up this issue through Paypal. LMCU will not change their Bill Payment label, even though these were purchases, not billpays.

To my knowledge Paypal does not even have a Bill Payment system. I have not called Paypal, 1st because my experience is that you cannot speak with a human at Paypal, and 2nd because there is no evidence that Paypal has suddenly become a Bill Payment processor.

Hopefully this is useful to someone else, or someone has more information.

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pearlbrown | Sep 17, 2015 | 2,298 posts since 2010

Thanks for the heads up.

That's one of the downsides of RCAs: if, unbeknownst to you, a software change (either by the vendor where you make the transaction or your financial institution) affects how a transaction is categorized, transactions which met requirements in the past may no longer qualify. Fortunately, you reviewed your Max Checking status early enough that you can make additional transactions to meet the requirements before the cycle closes.

wayward | Sep 21, 2015 | 75 posts since 2011

I would speculate that Lake Michigan or Paypal making those kind of changes behind the backs of their customers is the greater issue.

harrysit | Oct 8, 2015 | 4 posts since 2013

This is because PayPal runs them as PINless debit and LMCU treats these PINless debits as bill payment. Ken wrote about this in Growth of PINless Debit Card Transactions May Impact Reward Checking.

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