empire cashout problem- help

[Steve Giufre]

I recently cashed out about 30k from my Empire account and had them mail me five checks. I took the checks over to a bank today to open a new account. All the checks except one were from the same bank. So my new bank called the bank where the checks were issued, and they told them that they had no record of any account with the number on the check, and do not do business with advaced marketing solutions. I called Empire, only to be told that they cant do anything without a fax from my bank, (which I wasnt able to open an account at) stating what they were told from Empire's bank. I'm obvioulsy a little worried since the Empire cashout representative was unwilling to put me through to the accounting department, and wouldnt give me any number to call to try and get this resolved. Anybody ever experience anything like this before? It seems very strange, and now I'm stuck wondering what happended to a pretty large sum of money and I'm not even sure if the lady at this bank is going to fax the letter Empire has requested. Any suggestions?

[jasonHoldEm]

Have them void the checks, open a new account with $1 of your own money (or whatever the minimium deposit is) and use IGMPAY or Neteller to transfer the money electronically.

J

[player1]

i had a similar problem with empire recently. i was able to deposit the check and get credit for it on the 23rd. however, on the 27th, this amount was deduction from my checking account.

empire told me something about them not doing business with the bank that issued the check. but, i was able to get my money transferred back into my account immediately.

i'll stick with IGMPay from now on.

jc

[B1GF1SHY]

I feel safer withdrawing to Neteller first and receiving a check from them. It arrives quickly and there's never any problems getting the money into my account.

[gergery]

Some random thoughts that may or may not help you:

I opened a neteller account and transferred money directly from Empire to Neteller. Then I opened a new different checking account at my normal bank. I linked this account with Neteller. I opened the new account because I didn’t want “real” money mixing with poker money since Neteller can take money from that account without the banks or my consent since its ACH.

Now I transfer money from Empire, to Neteller, to my checking account for poker, and then to my regular bank account. All of those transfers are free. And the transfers all happen within 36 hours. I also tested this out with small transfers to start with, and have not let balances get very high.

Not sure why you’d want to mess around with physical checks, which take 2-3 weeks to arrive. And are drawn on non-US banks, meaning they could take weeks to clear.

I’m also not sure I want the Federal Reserve knowing I’m getting checks from the XYZ foreign bank, since someday the government might crackdown on internet gambling and the first place I’d start if I were them is the sites banking (tho I suppose neteller might not be much safer).

Cashing a number of checks for a total of $36k in a short period of time might also require your bank to notify the IRS. So think about what you’ll be telling uncle sam about where this came from, should they ask.

--Greg