Okay, I've never liked PayPal but it's been a necessary evil. Until now.

The credit card that I use for most of my purchases expired last month. That means that not only did I get a new card that's one of those weird-looking contact-free cards (apparently plastic cards with raised numbers are a thing of the past) but I also had to notify various accounts I do business with of the new expiration date. Which is no biggie. Something I can totally handle.

Then yesterday I got this email from PayPal:

"If this card was your preferred way to pay online..." PayPal has NEVER been my preferred way to pay online, bitches! I only used it when it was the only option. And I've never, ever had a vendor "automatically" update my credit card information. Never. This was a first, and not a welcome one.

The account did list a purchase I made in early July so maybe they got the expiration date from that vendor somehow, but they did it without consulting me and I certainly wouldn't give someone else permission to share my credit card info. If they had bothered to ask, that is.

And if that wasn't intrusive enough, not only do they have my updated expiration date, but they also had a friggin' image of my card displayed on their site. How they got it, I have no idea. I was beyond disturbed by this. Is it that easy for an online vendor to get not only my credit card info without my participation, but they even have a damn picture of my card on their site? 

I've never really liked PayPal and only used them when a seller didn't give me any other option, but this was too much. Waaaaay too intrusive. If I want you to have my updated credit card info, I'll give it to you. It's not that hard. But you don't get to take it. 

So just before writing this post, I finally closed my PayPal account. If you're selling something you're going to have to give me an option other than PayPal. I'll go old school and mail you a check if necessary. People did it that way for years and managed to survive. But PayPal is no longer an option. And life will go on just fine without them.