Aug. 15, 2007
NETeller began the process of returning millions of dollars to U.S. customers July 30, with almost immediate results for many users. However, it turns out the process may not be as smooth for everyone waiting to get their money back.
Rumblings online indicate people who chose to have a check sent to them rather than directly depositing money into their bank accounts may have trouble cashing or depositing those checks.
One person posted his tale in the Casinomeister forum, saying "I was one of those Americans with a few bucks in NETeller. I requested a check the first day I could, and today [Aug. 10] the check showed up in the mail, and I went to cash it."
At the bank, he was told the bank wouldn't cash it. He talked to the bank manager, who he says told him the bank had already turned down $50,000 in checks from NETeller.
"He told me that the Federal Reserve would not process the check," the forum poster said. "So he was unable to even determine if there was a NETeller (CARDLOAD) account because of the way the Federal Reserve was handling this."
The NETeller checks are made out on a CARDLOAD Inc. account with a Canadian address, leading forum posters to speculate that the checks may be rejected because of the foreign address as well as due to their association with online gambling.
Andrew Gilchrist, NETeller vice president of corporate development and communications, is quoted by Sports Betting Buzz as having said the company is investigating the issue already.
"We typically mail a large number of checks to our customers across various countries and occasionally there are presentment issue," he said. "We would therefore regard the incidences referred to as not unusual given the volume of checks we have been mailing as part of the U.S. distribution plan."
Gilchrist pointed out that NETeller has $94 million due to U.S. customers, and of that, $68.5 million has been requested. While $8 million of that is still pending, en route or in the mail, $60.5 million has successfully cleared.
<div align="right">By Sarah Polson</div>
