PayPal Money Market Fund

Does anyone here use the [i5dcd9638c0]PayPal Money Market Fund[/i5dcd9638c0]?

If so, have you made money from buying their shares?

Buying their shares?

Yes, I've had the MMF for years. It works like any other MMF in that it earns a high (currently over 5%) return on your deposits, but unlike most MMF's there are no extra fees and no minimum balance requirements. Back when I got mine, it was the only way to get the physical debit card, but I think now you can get the card without the MMF.

You don't control how a MMF balance is invested, though, so I'm not sure what you mean by "buying their shares" unless it's some new feature they've added I'm not aware of. It works exactly like a regular PayPal account, except now you earn interest on your balance. Every month (that I have a balance) I get an interest deposit added to my account, just like you would with a savings account.

Forget about the shares part, lol. Have you lost money due to the fund?

And lets say I have $1,600 in my account. If I didn't use my money, what would I have by the end of the month?

No, I've never lost money. They have to put that disclaimer on there because it's an investment account, not an FDIC-insured depost account. In reality, MMF's virtually never lose money unless the bank itself fails. MMF funds are not invested in the stock market, but rather in low-risk bank and Treasury notes and such. So there isn't really much risk.

PayPal's Help Section contains an entry on how dividends are calculated.[=http//www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=3302&loc=3275&unique_id=61519&source_page=_home&flow=]how dividends are calculated. I'm not a financial wiz on the specifics of of the proper yield compounding calculations, so I wouldn't want to suggest a number to you and it be wrong.

Regardless, it doesn't cost you anything to sign up, and the dividends are free money that exceed what a regular bank account would pay, so IMO it's a no-brainer. ;)

So...I should sign up for it? D

[quotec43a5398ed="TFOAF"]So...I should sign up for it? D[/quotec43a5398ed]


yeah, and then paypal will randomly freeze your account and keep yer cash in it. I'd avoid them like the plague, Avoid them like a tranny with herpes, I'd avoid them like I avoid all my bills.

Paypal = the suck.

Don't they only freeze your account if you've done something wrong?

[quote863fef6753="TFOAF"]Don't they only freeze your account if you've done something wrong?[/quote863fef6753]

Supposedly, but there are lots of stories about people who had their accounts unrightfully closed.

Oh. Well...hermmmphffggg lifartli

I guess...I'll wait and see.

Can't people fight it?

If you have a PayPal account and maintain even a meager balance in it, it is wise to place your money in PayPal's money market fund. The reason is simple you will receive an approximately 5% return on your balance, compounded monthly. In other words, free money.

Essentially, you have nothing more to lose by agreeing to invest your balance in PayPal's money market fund, and a little to gain. If ilanbg, LucaBalla, and others are to be believed about PayPal's unfair practices, funds in your PayPal account are inherently at risk; putting them in the money market fund does not increase that risk. But don't put more money in your PayPal account than is necessary just to earn interest; if you're really interested in investing in money market funds, look elsewhere.

Here's a quick overview of some of the most popular options

http//www.consumerist.com/consumer/ing-direct/[]http//www.consumerist.com/consumer/ing-direct/

Yes, you can find all sorts of PayPal horror stories. You can also find horror stories about just about any other bank and retail business in the country.

If you tallied the bad experiences against the customers who never have a problem, the percentage would be extremely tiny. PayPal has millions and millions of customers, but I've only read several dozen bad experiences. And you have to wonder with SOME of those, if PayPal acted legitimately and the customer was just pissed they got caught doing whatever they were doing.

I've hard far more bad luck with local banks than I have with PayPal. I've been with PayPal for almost 6 years now. Have moved thousands through that account, both sending and receiving. Never had one problem.

Regarding the MMF, like KeithA said, it doesn't make your PayPal account any more likely to be "frozen." If PayPal has reason to freeze your account, they'll do it no matter what type of account you have.

Just my $0.02...

No reason to really not use it. Free money in your PP acct >.>

Heheh. D

I'll see...I'll probably do it, since it's at 5% now. But I'm still confused on how much I would receive if I had, lets say, $1,600 with the 5% interest thing.

you would get an extra $80 or so.

Per month, or per year? )

wait wait. i have a paypal money market account, and it doesn't quite work like some are explaining. first off, you do technically buy shares, but you must remember that a money market fund is much more stable than other types of investments. there is really little reason to not sign up for it, unless you are just feeling lazy and you make enough that you should claim it on your taxes (as in total income, not just paypal).

anyways, the 5% is the APR (maybe APY), but that means you get a 5% return on the entire year of the money that is kept in your account. the money is accrued daily (i believe), and therefore you are gaining a little compound interest (possibly why it may be 5.02% APY..i'm to lazy to look). anyways. they pay out of the money market fund at the beginning of every month for the last month. if you kept your $1,600 in the account for the entire month, you would get about $6.67 from the money market. It really doesn't take any extra time or effort of you, and you only need your birthdate and SS#.

end and end...if you're going to have money in your account...might as well make a little extra. plus, that's about as high as you can find any savings account these days, and it doesn't have a minimum balance.

[quotec950e2cf10="TFOAF"]Per month, or per year? )[/quotec950e2cf10]

year...D

[quote3a24dbfa83="megotcash"]wait wait. i have a paypal money market account, and it doesn't quite work like some are explaining. first off, you do technically buy shares, but you must remember that a money market fund is much more stable than other types of investments. [/quote3a24dbfa83]
Well, technically no, [i3a24dbfa83]you[/i3a24dbfa83] don't buy anything. ;) PayPal uses your money along with everybody elses to invest in very stable bank notes and treasury bills of their choosing, and seek to return to you $1 per share that THEY buy, plus dividends. But I think I already said that. ;)

All of which is transparent to you, so there's no real point in confusing the issue with "buying shares." You just put money in, take money out, like always, and collect the dividend payments every month. You don't worry about shares or anything. About the only time you'd lose money is the very unlikely even that there was widespread bank and government failure, in which case we'd have a lot more problems than our PayPal balances, as it would be a depression of catastrophic proportions.