PayPal down as thousands of customers left unable to access accounts - are you entitled to compensation?

This is latest example of banking services being hit by an app outage with Lloyds, Halifax and NatWest being hit earlier this year.

Nearly 6,000 have been logged onto Downdetector by customers with many appearing to not be able to log in to the app.

It appears the issue is impacting both the personal and business accounts of affected customers. Taking to social media, PayPal users shared their frustration with the service being down earlier this morning.

A PayPal spokesperson told GB News that the service experienced a "brief technical issue" which has now been "resolved".

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One X user wrote: "Is anyone having issues with PayPal? I can't log in to my PayPal account right now.

"It keeps showing the message, 'Please check your entries and try again'."

Another wrote: "PayPal outage had me convinced my account had been hacked and now I’m gonna need some time for my adrenaline to settle down."

Contacting the payment service directly, one customer posted: "PayPal is down right now. When will it be back up, @AskPayPal?"

Millions of people use PayPal to send and claim money electronically with the service being available to both individuals and businesses. Notably, the payment service is used as an intermediary between accounts or credit cards and vendors to guarantee a secure transaction.

It is also possible for users to borrow through PayPal thanks to PayPal credit. Those who use PayPal to make online purchases regularly forfeit their section 75 consumer rights protections and credit card chargeback rules.

Under Section 75 protection, consumers able to get back their cash in any situation that something that is bought by arrives either faulty or not delivered.

Chargeback allows people to ask their bank to reverse a payment if there is an issue, such as if someone does not get what they paid for.

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Are you entitled to compensation?

As with any banking app outage issue, those impacted will be looking to see whether they are due any money back due to the inconvenience. Unlike telecommunications firms, banks and any e-money firms do not have to pay compensation if any consumers experience a drop in service.

However, if someone has been hit with costs due to service issues, they could get their money back. An example of this would be is a bill payment was missed due to an outage.

Anyone looking to do this can submit a formal complaint with PayPal, visit paypal.com/uk/cshelp/complaints. According to the company's website, it looks to get back to complaints as quickly as possible.