If you live in South Africa and have tried using PayPal, you’re no doubt aware of how difficult the process is. It’s bad enough that FNB is currently the only bank in South Africa (at least for now if Flutterwave has anything to say about it) that allows customers to not only access their PayPal accounts but also withdraw the cash deposited in there but the situation become even more frustrating a few days ago. According to several FNB customers over on Twitter, their PayPal accounts were locked; they were unable to access the funds within them and the process of unlocking the cash was never made clear.
It’s no doubt a frustrating situation, especially if your line of work or job requires you to work with overseas companies that can only pay your into your PayPal account. Fortunately for everyone effected, we have a solution for you. Well, technically @syernide on Twitter has the solution, we’re just trying to help people out by signal boosting their strategy for dealing with has seemingly been a rather murky process.
Pay your pal, PayPal
The actual procedure for unlocking your PayPal account isn’t some kind of trick or subversion of procedure, it just seems like all the essential information has been made largely inaccessible to those who might need it. Fortunately, @syernide has constructed a handy Google Drive folder containing all the essential email addresses, document requirements (as well as blank versions that can be printed and filled in) and FAQs as written by FNB itself.
To break down the process based on the FNB guide, you’ll need to fill in a Self-Certification Form. The purpose of this piece of paper is to assist FNB is providing SARS with information regarding a client’s Foreign Tax Residencies. The actual form itself is rather straight-forward, labelling all the information you need to include before you send it off to FNB; it’s only three pages long, it’s no big deal.
Once the form has been filled out, you need to email it to IndividualCRS@fnb.co.za. @syernide also specifies that once you’ve sent the email, you should phone the number 087 736 5333 and ask for a consultant. They will reportedly process the request right away and you should then have immediate access to your PayPal account.
If you’re in South Africa and have struggled to access your PayPal we recommend giving the Drive a peak. It’s an excellent help for anyone that needs it, so shoutout to @syernide for going out of their way to assist people who may be lost. Hats off to ya!