Paypal
I'm not particularly quiet about my abusive marriage. He never hit me, but the isolation and financial abuse were very real. He absolutely hated - HATED - the idea of me having any money of my own that he didn't have absolute control over. About halfway through my marriage, I got a paypal account. I just wanted a way to pay for things online. regardless of me telling him about it and assuring him that I wouldn't spend anything without his permission, he still pitched a massive fit.
I kept it anyway. I hadn't linked it with any bank accounts; it was just an account, sitting quietly and empty and not doing anything to anyone.
He left me. I was extremely fortunate- most abusive spouses don't leave. Of course, he was odd in a secondary way: he was never particularly kind to me in public, and never tried to charm anyone. His reason for leaving me was he got "sick of compromising" ...he got sick of people telling him marriage was about compromise.
When my divorce was final and my money was my own, I still had that little Paypal account. I hooked it up to my bank, and it served faithfully and well. So naturally, I went ahead and signed up for a business Paypal account when I started this.
Y'all? Y'all.
I assumed that it was just like a bank account, and I was pleased enough to have a "business account" all my very own. After fighting with Ko-fi (which couldn't do what I needed) and Square (I made that puke HARD), I was researching POS and noticed that Paypal had one. Before I could work up the courage to look into it, however, I got an email offering help.
I thought it was from Square. I made Square PUKE, y'all. But it was from Paypal. The system had noticed that I hadn't set up my POS, correctly assumed I was some adorable granny-type who was trying to sell her knitting online, and assigned me a Real Life Human Being to call me on the phone and talk me through it.
I am EMOTIONAL. I also have everything set up, and I need to stop typing so I can get a suitable picture for the advertisement. But is it weird for me to be getting emotionally attached to a financial institution? (Yes. Am I doing it anyway? Also yes.)
And 10000% shout out to Satasha! You are amazing and patient and making my dreams come true.