Hmm... I think there's a difference between using a bank account and a credit card for the payment - right? By chance, I have signed up with Paypal just a couple of weeks ago, and transfered money by credit card 5 minutes later - it worked! They did it! Maybe they only block money transferred by an account? Otherwise the new restrictions were introduced within very few weeks recently. The only restriction was a total limit of (I think $1000) - when you payed $20 by credit card, you've been told that you are limited to $980, etc. etc. That limit went away after entering the verification code.