PayPal · PayPal Privacy Statement

Inferred Data and Creditworthiness Profiling

High severity
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What it is

Inferred data: Such as gender, income, browsing and purchasing habits, creditworthiness, fraud and risk assessment, your preferences and shopping behavior, which we may infer based on your transactions and interactions with our Services, ads and offers or with our Partners and Merchants.

Why it matters

Inferred creditworthiness and income data derived from behavioral profiling can be used in automated decisions affecting your access to financial products, without the transparency protections of traditional credit reporting.

Consumer impact

PayPal collects an exceptionally broad range of personal data — including biometrics, precise geolocation, inferred creditworthiness, and full financial histories — and shares it with partners, merchants, credit reporting agencies, data brokers, and members of the PayPal corporate group. Automated decision-making, including AI-driven risk and fraud assessments, can directly affect your account status, credit access, and transaction approvals without transparent human review. You can review and limit certain data uses by visiting your PayPal account privacy settings at paypal.com/us/myaccount/privacy.

What you can do

⚠️ These actions may provide transparency or partial mitigation but may not fully address the underlying issue. Effectiveness varies by jurisdiction and individual circumstances.
  • Delete Your Data
    Log into PayPal, navigate to Settings > Privacy, and submit a data access or correction request to review inferred data held about you, including any creditworthiness or income inferences. California residents have explicit CPRA rights to access and correct inferred data.

Applicable agencies

  • CFPB
    The CFPB enforces FCRA and ECOA, both of which are implicated by inferred creditworthiness profiling used in automated financial decisions.
    File a complaint →
  • FTC
    The FTC has authority over deceptive and unfair data practices including inference-based profiling under FTC Act Section 5 and related rulemaking.
    File a complaint →

Provision details

Document information
Document
PayPal Privacy Statement
Entity
PayPal
Document last updated
March 24, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 6, 2026
Last verified
April 10, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002673
Document ID
CA-D-00045
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
a5efa287f0b43a6a87f7dfc939ccb3c8edfb0ea67f476b2afeddf66fffa27690
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: PayPal | Document: PayPal Privacy Statement | Record: CA-P-002673
Captured: 2026-03-06 20:34:43 UTC | SHA-256: a5efa287f0b43a6a…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/paypal/paypal-privacy-statement/inferred-data-and-creditworthiness-profiling/
Accessed: April 17, 2026
Classification
Severity
High
Categories

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