Hating PayPal - What are my options?

Well, now that 2CO is out I had to change payment processors.

Again.

I looked into Authorize.net. However - it is hella expensive. Just like a real merchant account.

So, I gave in and tried Google Checkoout. It seems easy enough. But I am not a fan of them holding money for 60 days.

I may have to end up sucking it up and using PayPal again. Ugh.

More on hating PayPal

I looked into using Google Checkout. I did a lot of thinking. Then I decided to pony up the $49 and give 2CO (2 Checkout) a try. It is more like a real merchant account. I signed up with them. I updated my websites with the new account info.

It looked pretty good.

Then 3 days later I logged into the account to see if I had any sales.

The account was closed!

I never got an email from them about it. I emailed to inquire and got a form letter response!

I looked around on the web and saw that this happens to a lot of people with them! WTF? I could have lost some sales!

How to Negotiate Cheaper Balance Transfers

A balance transfer can be a great way to get a lower interest rate on some of your higher interest debt. In my experience, the best way to get a cheaper balance transfer rate is to pay off the credit card in full that you want to transfer to. A couple of months after you do that you will get some balance transfer checks in the mail at super low rates - at least that was the case for me and my Chase credit cards.

If you can't do that, you can always call in and ask for a low balance transfer rate.

If this is your plan of attack, make sure that you have been paying on time as it will help your case. Also try to have your other bills paid on time. If your credit report shows that you are making payments on time it will help your case.

Making money with affiliate programs

One of the things that I do to make extra cash for debt paydown is affiliate programs. I have a gazillion sites besides this one. And some of them have affiliate links for related things on them. I have been working on this for a couple of years now. Off and on that is.

And I am up to an average of $100 a month!

I use Commission Junction, LinkShare and PepperJam Network. But I have 95% luck with CJ, 4% with LinkShare and 1% with PepperJam.

The PayPal Story - part 2

I tried to fight it out with PayPal. That never works. Like ever. So, I gave up on them. I stated my case to them. It fell on deaf ears. And I moved on along to Google Checkout. But there is a 60 day waiting period for cashing out new accounts! Argh!