Deposits and Withdrawals

[Dank]

I searched around this board a bit and couldn't find a thread on this topic, but if this is a repeat could someone just refer me to whatever thread is similar?

My question is about depositing and withdrawing money from your online poker accounts...as in how does it work. I had a friend tell me not to play poker online because you were not allowed to withdraw money from an account until you had paid off the credit card bill that you had used to deposit the money with. Well, what if I use a debit card instead, transfering money directly from a checking account?

Pretty much I'm trying to get a sense for how tough it is to take money out of an online poker account if you have any winnings. Thanks a lot.

[HalfSugar]

Most places take credit cards only - Visa & Mastercard. There is a minimum deposit/withdrawal of $25 with all the services I have encountered too.

The withdrawals are processed in 2 working days and do not require you to pay your credit card bill like your friend says. Think about it this way:

You deposit $100 which is added to your credit card bill, when u cash out $x against your card, you are effectively paying the $x off your card. If the x is less than your initial deposit, the transfer company still gets paid, it is up to your credit card provider to chase you for the rest

[ballbp]

I signed up with Firepay.com and it is working fine. You route $ in from your bank account and it's available at the time it's transferred. Cashing out it takes around 3 days to hit your account but it's always been there.

[ThisBeEvan]

Can anyne explain to me how having Prepaid ATM Card (it's on pokerroom.com, not sure about other places) works? Do you use your checking account any?

18th birthday in a few days, getting ready for online play.

[ScanX]

Hi,

I'm playing on pokerstars and I'm wondering what's the best way to cash out from there considering I'm a european ?

Is Neteller a good service ?

Thanx

[Dave B]

I use iGM at party poker and they do ACH against my checking acct. Immediate deposits to PP and 2-3 day withdrawls to my checking acct.

[racquet000]

I was thinking of putting $500-1000 deposit into UB, Now i thought i remberd reading something about your first withdraw has to be equal to your first deposit. Or something like that was the minimum deposit. So if this is true im thinking best way to go about this would be to make a few mini deposits first then a nice big one......I dont know if what i said was realy what i read but thats what i thought it once said hadnt checked up on it in a while.

[Bikerfish]

Scanx - I am from UK and use Neteller - found it an excellent way to fund on line accounts - you can deposit either by credit card or transfer from your bank. At the moment withdrawals are to your credit card (up to the initial deposit-though there are time limits). After this they send you a US $ cheque (around a week) which you need to pay into your bank. It can be a few days to a few weeks before the banks release the funds to you depending on the amount and your credit standing. I believe that they are working on a way to convert funds and credit them directly to your account, but this isn't available yet.

Neteller is a good place to keep surplus funds (rather than transfering back to your base currency) to take advantage of deposit bonuses.

www.bikerfish.co.uk

[ScanX]

Bikerfish thanx for your answer !

2 questions though :

1) why not cashing out in a cheque directly from the poker site (like on pokerstars...I dunno if that's the same everywhere) rather than cashing out to neteller and then getting a cheque from them ?

2) is the cheque a safe way to withdraw money ?? I found it pretty hazardeous to have a piece of paper travel all around the world when it has so much value.

[Sundance]

Like BikerFish, I use Neteller for all of the sites that I play on and have never had a problem (knock on wood).. It is also a good place to keep a limited amount of funds to deposit to a site if you do have an opportunity to take advantage of a deposit bonus. I do that quite often.

[Bikerfish]

most sites only send US$ chqs, and as I am in UK - have costs for converting to £, then back again to US$,if I want to put funds back into a site. So it pays me to leave funds in US$ that I want to use to play poker.

I play at several sites, but tend to keep a bankroll just big enough for the level I am playing at, at each one. If I deposited directly, say by credit card, I couldn't easily transfer winnings from one site, to play at another.

Using Neteller allows me to quickly move funds from one site to another, at no cost.

Also by leaving surplus funds in Neteller, if a deposit bonus is offered I can move quickly to take advantage. Most sites keep the bonus pending till you have played enough games, but don't stop you withdrawing funds before the bonus is released.

Assuming you already have enough funds at a site, you could deposit $500 to qualify for a bonus $100. Take this out after the deposit offer period, back to Neteller, and leave it there until the next site offers an incentive. This way the same $500 can earn you more.

Keeping around $1200 available at Neteller, is enough as incentives often happen around similar times (e.g bank holidays), so you may need to deposit at a couple of sites at the same time.

I often have pending bonuses at 2 or 3 sites, simultaneously - and as a result I play at those sites more often - so they benefit from getting a bigger share of the amount of time I spend playing poker on-line.

In respect of the risk of a cheque going astray - the payment can always be stopped and a new one issued - (inconvenient and delays though). Neteller have more options for US customers, and they are working on plans to be able to credit funds directly to UK a/c's (and some other major countries) - they didn't have timescales the last time I e-mailed them a couple of months ago, but said they will update their withdrawal options on the site, when they are available.