Removing Your Billing Information From Facebook

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My article Zynga Billing Changes and Facebook Credits, details some changes in the Facebook and Zynga billing features.  For more details about these changes and recommendations on protecting your personal financial information, go to the Zynga and Facebook blog and read the article written by John Sweeney Jr. titled Facebook Has A Major Issue With Facebook Credits That Could Leave You Vulnerable to Hackers !!!  It was shocking to find out that my banking information was now being stored right in my Facebook account because I had purchased Reward Points from Zynga in the past.  All billing information on purchases made after the "Blow Out Sale" for Reward Points on July 22 was transferred to your Facebook account.  If I had more faith in the security systems used by Facebook, this wouldn't be such a big deal.  In the article, I attempted to remove my PayPal account and was unable to because I had a Facebook Ads account.  I was told that I needed to change my primary funding source.  

I thought this wasn't going to be a problem but soon realized that Facebook doesn't make this easy to do.  The pathway to get to where I needed to be was as follows:
Account-->Account Settings-->Payments-->Facebook Ads-->Settings

After finding the right place to do this, I was given the message said "You must create an ad before you can edit your Funding Sources".  This was a little irritating but I was determined to figure out a way around this.

I found a different pathway.  Facebook Ads page-->Billing-->Finding Sources

I still was unable to remove the account but at least this pathway gave me some useful information.  I learned that the only way to remove my primary funding source was to add another one! 

Bossy Don gave me the idea of trying a prepaid credit card.  I purchased a $25.00 prepaid Mastercard and it worked.

After adding the prepaid card to my account, I had to go through another process to change the status of this card to my Primary Funding Source.

I could finally delete the PayPal information!

This was a lot of work for something that should only take one mouse click.  If you don't want to go through all this, you can always delete your Facebook Ads account.  To do so follow the pathway to Ad Account Settings and click on "Close Ads Account".  The process can take up to 2 business days.  I was sent a confirmation e-mail from PayPal about 12 hours later.

To see if the change was reflected in my Zynga account, I used the money on the card to buy more Reward Points.  Like magic, the new card was already there.  

I don't like that any financial information used to buy things from Zynga will be stored in my Facebook account.  If I ever buy Reward Points in the future, it will only be through a Mafia Wars Game Card or a prepaid credit card.  This isn't good for Zynga or Facebook because I usually buy them impulsively.  I doubt I will want Reward Points badly enough to leave my house to buy the cards to get them.  Effectively this change is not good for Zynga or Facebook but will prevent me from wasting money on Facebook Credits or Reward Points.  If somebody hacks into my Facebook account (which isn't hard to do), they will have exactly 7 USD and 44 Facebook Credits at their disposal.  If I didn't change the information, they could of used my PayPal account which is linked to all my bank accounts and credit cards.