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Airbnb is completely unusable for me now: I can't use my credit card because Airbnb wants to use Plaid for "verification" that requires my bank username and pas

Airbnb is completely unusable for me now: I can't use my credit card because Airbnb wants to use Plaid for "verification" that requires my bank username and password (never going to happen), and the only other offered alternative, PayPal, just gets denied outright. Does Airbnb truly get enough fraud that it's worth doing things this ridiculous?

victor9000 3y ago
I can't understand how anyone feels comfortable giving up that type of information.
- prepend 3y ago
  I feel the same way. The first time years ago Mint asked for my login and promised to keep it safe, although providing no accountability if they were breached, I noped out and thought their product was doomed. Now tons of places use it. The privacy policy I read for plaid is interesting in that it would allow for things like monitoring my balances and velocity of cash flow and then selling that data, at least to plaid partners, which is pretty much everyone. I cynically think the push to “authenticate” with these financial deep inspection tools is to be able to identify more lucrative customers. I do have a zero dollar checking account that I give out and just push cash into to pay bills that I can use. The biggest risk of losing those account credentials is to mess up bill pay or to have them apply for credit or something.
dboreham 3y ago
Just adding another data point that I use Airbnb frequently and have never had to go through that verification process.
grecy 3y ago
A site even requesting your bank username and password should be illegal
daft_pink 3y ago
I've never had this issue. Are you sure you weren't signing up to be a host and they were verifying how they were going to pay you?
- JoshTriplett 3y ago
  Absolutely sure, yes. This is one of many problems with inconsistent policies.
tarboreus 3y ago
I went to sign up for Netflix a couple times and had this problem. They wouldn't take my money. I live in NYC. Go figure. But they did me a favor as I would have wasted time and money.

victor9000 3y ago

I can't understand how anyone feels comfortable giving up that type of information.

prepend 3y ago
I feel the same way. The first time years ago Mint asked for my login and promised to keep it safe, although providing no accountability if they were breached, I noped out and thought their product was doomed. Now tons of places use it. The privacy policy I read for plaid is interesting in that it would allow for things like monitoring my balances and velocity of cash flow and then selling that data, at least to plaid partners, which is pretty much everyone. I cynically think the push to “authenticate” with these financial deep inspection tools is to be able to identify more lucrative customers. I do have a zero dollar checking account that I give out and just push cash into to pay bills that I can use. The biggest risk of losing those account credentials is to mess up bill pay or to have them apply for credit or something.

dboreham 3y ago

Just adding another data point that I use Airbnb frequently and have never had to go through that verification process.

grecy 3y ago

A site even requesting your bank username and password should be illegal

daft_pink 3y ago

I've never had this issue. Are you sure you weren't signing up to be a host and they were verifying how they were going to pay you?

JoshTriplett 3y ago
Absolutely sure, yes. This is one of many problems with inconsistent policies.

tarboreus 3y ago

I went to sign up for Netflix a couple times and had this problem. They wouldn't take my money. I live in NYC. Go figure. But they did me a favor as I would have wasted time and money.