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Not sure about UK laws, but my (limited) understanding of US law is that a minor lacks the legal capacity to sign a contract (i.e. agree to TOS). I suspect that

Not sure about UK laws, but my (limited) understanding of US law is that a minor lacks the legal capacity to sign a contract (i.e. agree to TOS). I suspect that's the legal reasoning that's caused PayPal to adopt this policy. PayPal could and should find a better way to handle transitioning people who, out of necessity, lied about their age when they first signed up. Was signing up under false pretenses a form of fraud? Probably, but it's a form of fraud that's essentially benign and is so pervasive, online and off, that it's just stupid to treat it as such.

iDemonix 9y ago
I'm pretty sure PayPal have updated their ToS since and I've had to re-agree upon login? Would that not cover me?
- imchillyb 9y ago
  Terms of service, and conditions, are part of a contract they are not a contract in and of itself. You signed the contract when you started your account. Which, is why they want you to start a new account so that you will sign a new contract with them.
jrnichols 9y ago
True, but in some areas and under many circumstances, 17 can be considered an adult. It's not like the OP was 12 and trying to circumvent COPPA or something like that. It seems like PayPal went bananas applying a peculiar policy. They want to be a bank, but you can be 12 and still have a bank account. Perhaps PayPal should/could just ask the OP to get a signed permission slip from the parents to cover this. :-)
user5994461 9y ago
Minor can absolutely sign contracts. However, it's likely that minors are not allowed to have "adult" bank accounts like PayPal. If so, registering is committing fraud and paypal is forced to shut down the account. Typical case of a children going against the law and the laws fights back and the child doesn't like it.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Not sure about UK laws, but my (limited) understanding of US law is that a minor lacks the legal capacity to sign a contract (i.e. agree to TOS). Usually in the US, minors can form contracts just fine, but such contracts are, prior to execution, generally voidable at will by the minor. As a result, people prefer not to enter into contracts with minors except in situations where voidability doesn't create a significant risk for the other party. OTOH, there is not a lot of reason for a the fact that the other party was a minor when entering the contract to be a problem after the party reaches majority, so while it may be a technical past ToS violation, it doesn't make sense to make a big deal about it if you didn't catch it while they were a minor. It's just creating bad customer (and public) relations to no benefit.

iDemonix 9y ago

I'm pretty sure PayPal have updated their ToS since and I've had to re-agree upon login? Would that not cover me?

imchillyb 9y ago
Terms of service, and conditions, are part of a contract they are not a contract in and of itself. You signed the contract when you started your account. Which, is why they want you to start a new account so that you will sign a new contract with them.

jrnichols 9y ago

True, but in some areas and under many circumstances, 17 can be considered an adult. It's not like the OP was 12 and trying to circumvent COPPA or something like that. It seems like PayPal went bananas applying a peculiar policy. They want to be a bank, but you can be 12 and still have a bank account. Perhaps PayPal should/could just ask the OP to get a signed permission slip from the parents to cover this. :-)

user5994461 9y ago

Minor can absolutely sign contracts. However, it's likely that minors are not allowed to have "adult" bank accounts like PayPal. If so, registering is committing fraud and paypal is forced to shut down the account. Typical case of a children going against the law and the laws fights back and the child doesn't like it.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Not sure about UK laws, but my (limited) understanding of US law is that a minor lacks the legal capacity to sign a contract (i.e. agree to TOS). Usually in the US, minors can form contracts just fine, but such contracts are, prior to execution, generally voidable at will by the minor. As a result, people prefer not to enter into contracts with minors except in situations where voidability doesn't create a significant risk for the other party. OTOH, there is not a lot of reason for a the fact that the other party was a minor when entering the contract to be a problem after the party reaches majority, so while it may be a technical past ToS violation, it doesn't make sense to make a big deal about it if you didn't catch it while they were a minor. It's just creating bad customer (and public) relations to no benefit.