MAXIF and MINIF functions with wildcards

[JOOJOHN]

Hi
I have a list of bank transactions in a spreadsheet
for example....

1/7/09 Sainsburys Petrol 34856385
4/7/09 Paypal 92017465
6/7/09 Sainsburys S/Market 38264059
8/7/09 Halfords 93862830
11/7/09 Sainsburys S/Market 34957372
13/7/09 Paypal 92037454
14/7/09 Barclays BCC 173256

and wish to use formulae similar to MAXIF and MINIF to find the last date and the first date of Paypal transactions (for example) if I have just the word "Paypal" in cell D1

I've tried
=SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($B$1:$B$7=$D$1)*$A$1:$A$7))

but obviously this is looking for exact match of "Paypal"

I have successfully used a wildcard in SUMIF functions elsewhere...

eg, $D$1 & "*"

but for some reason
=SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($B$1:$B$7=$D$1 & "*")*$A$1:$A$7))
does not work

Does anyone have any suggestions?
TIA
Joojohn