Moneybookers Annual Verification

[Jasminebed]

Well, two recent wins at 32Red were consolidated by them into one payment to my Moneybookers account, promptly as always.

When I requested a bank wire (which I've had a few since opening my account in November 2008), I was declined pending account verification. I could

a)

pay the wire fee by my credit card, which I was unable to verify previously because it is a prepaid with no paper statement and the deposit in GBP only shows in Canadian funds, and they will not accept my online statement or

b)

Make a withdrawal to my bank account of less than $20, for which my bank will charge me a $14 fee, to be completed in 3 banking days

Now I know that you need to contact MB via their internal mail, so I sent off a query, having registered my account previously and received wire transfers sucessfully.

I did receive an email response with a ticket number indicating that an "Annual Verification" if you exceed $1000 was required since 2007 to avoid money laundering. They indicated they could process this manually if I uploaded a copy of a bank statement showing one of my received transfers (they would have accepted an online one, but my last received transfer was in March and my online account does not go that far back), and I'm a little hindered by my ill health and not owning a scanner (and not easily finding my old bank statements, although they are in the chaos that is my home).

I've replied via their messaging centre, indicating that there will be a delay because of my upcoming hospitalization (which I mentioned in the first email), so if I don't manage to find it and get out to have it scanned in the next two days, I will still need to deal with it after surgery.

Kind of a bummer, but not an impossible request to comply with. I wish they had sent me a request after I had met my annual limit on the last transfer, rather than waiting for another withdrawal to be requested.

I'd just thought I'd let my fellow players and MB account holders know that this can be requested.

I'll post again when things are resolved and they send my wire.

[Jasminebed]

My follow-up email (sent via their messaging centre) was responded to quite promptly...they will take a digital photograph. However, I have now located the necessary bank statement and will be going out to get it scanned today.

It is very important for anyone dealing with Moneybookers to use their messaging centre...they don't respond to emails sent by another method.

[wangpoker]

Once your A/C is verified, you won't have any hassle.

I verified my CC & address as soon as I opened my MB, and I withdraw by wire most of times (TD $15). I've never got "Annual verification" message.

MB is the best choice for Canadians.

[vinylweatherman]

Neteller have a FAR simpler method. They make a small payment to your bank account, say 33pence (or 33cents), and you then have to log in and type in the exact amount received into a "verify account" section. If you type in the right figure, your account is automatically verified. None of this messing about with bank statements, scanners, cameras, etc.

Moneybookers do have this internal messaging service, but from other postings about this, it seems to have been designed to be as inconvenient to use as possible, even though it would be more secure than email.

The limit of $1000 is far too low for the purpose WE use Moneybookers, online gambling, as I bet even the low rollers manage to move more than $1000 in a YEAR.

Neteller's advantage is that it is easy to get in touch with them. This is not necessarily the case with Moneybookers.

I also suspect a bit of bullshite here, since if this were REALLY down to EXTERNAL anti money laundering regulations, it would apply to ME too, and my NETELLER account - which it doesn't seem to. Looks far more like internal Moneybookers policy, and they seem to feel they have to hide behind a spurious "international anti moneylaundering law" to justify the inconvenience, rather than say it is their own policy.

These "international anti moneylaundering law" excuses are springing up everywhere as explanations for certain actions, yet NOWHERE does the law specify ANY specific action, such as having to upload bank statements when you exceed x dollars in y days. It is all about "know your customer", and surely if you have been properly verified once, you should REMAIN verified unless you make a change to your personal information. My PASSPORT is valid for TEN YEARS, yet Moneybookers seem to think an ID is valid for only ONE year - if it is good enough for international border control to verify everyone every 10 years, it should be good enough for Moneybookers.

None of this inspires me to open a Moneybookers account, in fact, the more I read about them, the LESS impressive they seem. It is a shame that Canadians are stuck with them since Neteller pulled out.

[Jasminebed]

Well, I paid someone to drive me, managed to scan it and eight hours later, here is my response:

We appreciate your prompt reply. Please be kindly informed that we have received your documents. Your case is forwarded for verification to our department in charge. Within the next two working days the bank account registered on your Moneybookers profile, should be verified and your outgoing transaction limits increased, or you will receive an email from us for further information and/or documents.

Thank you for your understanding and kind cooperation. Should you have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Two more working days! I expect to be in hospital then, not really useful for me right now. Maybe I can spend some $$$ and use my cell phone's web-browsing to request my withdrawal on Wednesday. Sure hope they are happy with what I sent. The place I scanned it sent it as a PDF file, and the page is sideways.

This was my biggest win, and the first time I requested a withdraw over $1000. When I looked over my history, I've transferred quite a bit over a $1000 to my account in the past year, so I don't really know why they would request that now rather than on my last withdraw...I'd transferred over $1000 total before that one.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by Jasminebed

Well, I paid someone to drive me, managed to scan it and eight hours later, here is my response:



Two more working days! I expect to be in hospital then, not really useful for me right now. Maybe I can spend some $$$ and use my cell phone's web-browsing to request my withdrawal on Wednesday. Sure hope they are happy with what I sent. The place I scanned it sent it as a PDF file, and the page is sideways.

This was my biggest win, and the first time I requested a withdraw over $1000. When I looked over my history, I've transferred quite a bit over a $1000 to my account in the past year, so I don't really know why they would request that now rather than on my last withdraw...I'd transferred over $1000 total before that one.

Aha

Bet you wish you knew that earlier. It looks like it is a SINGLE withdrawal over the $1000 that triggered the annual verification. Perhaps if you had requested a smaller amount it would have gone through OK, and all you would have needed to do would be to have waited a bit, and made a second request.

Shows up their customer service though. You told them you were going into hospital, and had to endure an 8 hour day of driving, scanning, etc, and they are going to make NO allowance for your circumstances whatsoever, as if they just don't give a ****.
They COULD easily allow you to set it all up BEFORE you go into hospital, and have it all done by the time you get out. You may find they wait till you are IN hospital, and THEN complain that you didn't respond promptly to queries they sent whilst you were there, telling you it is YOUR fault for getting ill.

When I had a similar "one off" request from Neteller for documents a while back, they ALLOWED the transfer I already had in the pipeline to go ahead whilst the issue of new verification documents was dealt with.

These arrogant organisations too easily forget WHOSE money it is

[Jasminebed]

I wish I could have made the withdrawal and left it in a pending state at least.

I'm a little worried that the sideways image will leave them "unable to read it" since cocking their head might be too difficult. And I won't have access to my mail to see if they make any further requests, or any way to fulfill them.

Had my credit card been verified, for some reason they would have just charged me the $2.91 withdrawal fee to it, and this would have verified my banking info in some manner? My prepaid is not even the same bank as my bank account.

There total unwillingness to verify my credit card without a paper statement is ludicrous. And TitaniumPlus Mastercard has not been able to get their cooperation either, since I am not the only customer to use Moneybookers as well, and they have tried. They can't tell me how much the GBP transfer amount was, and Moneybookers will not accept the canadian dollar figure. Mind you, their charge went through on my card. Although they did refund it to my Moneybookers I lost almost $2 in the process too, due to currency conversion fees.

But their charge of $2.91 for a wire transfer is modest, so I will keep using them.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by Jasminebed

I wish I could have made the withdrawal and left it in a pending state at least.

I'm a little worried that the sideways image will leave them "unable to read it" since cocking their head might be too difficult. And I won't have access to my mail to see if they make any further requests, or any way to fulfill them.

Had my credit card been verified, for some reason they would have just charged me the $2.91 withdrawal fee to it, and this would have verified my banking info in some manner? My prepaid is not even the same bank as my bank account.

There total unwillingness to verify my credit card without a paper statement is ludicrous. And TitaniumPlus Mastercard has not been able to get their cooperation either, since I am not the only customer to use Moneybookers as well, and they have tried. They can't tell me how much the GBP transfer amount was, and Moneybookers will not accept the canadian dollar figure. Mind you, their charge went through on my card. Although they did refund it to my Moneybookers I lost almost $2 in the process too, due to currency conversion fees.

But their charge of $2.91 for a wire transfer is modest, so I will keep using them.

This just proves their arrogance. Moneybookers feel they have the RIGHT to dictate to TitaniumPlus Mastercard how they should operate their business. Worse, you then have two COMPANIES unable to sort their differences out, so it is up to the CUSTOMER to take the hit.

Moneybookers KNOW they can do what they like due to the lack of competition since Neteller pulled out of Canada altogether, and Click2Pay started imposing these $1500 minimum withdrawals (among a number of pretty dodgy looking practices).

If Moneybookers faced a rival, that began to poach customers, they would try to find out why, and would be forced to adapt or die.

Neteller found they had a rather unenthusiastic rersponse to their new Net+ card, and have started to change things that customers told them were putting them off. They do, of course, face VERY stiff competition, from "regular" debit cards, and "regular" credit cards. They even tried trickery by increasing withdrawal fees to bank accounts from £1 to £5 in order to "persuade" customers to use Net+

We are luckier than most in the UK, even PAYPAL now allow gambling transactions for certain casinos and certain customers. There are so many other methods to deposit, and the only drawback is with casinos being a bit "awkward" with a few of these when it comes to making a withdrawal.

[Jasminebed]

We would like to herewith gladly inform you that your bank account at has been successfully verified. Thus we have increased your
transfer limits and allowed all payment options with Moneybookers.

Guess Saturday is a working day. I've made the withdrawal...currently pending. Hope that status changes over the weekend, but I will easily be able to check my bank account by telephone next week.

It's a big relief to have taken care of that one. This is my first 1K withdrawal this year. Thank you 32Red

[Markus]

I never heard about this annual verification from Moneybookers. Before I got VIP status I had only an outgoing transaction limit of about 50000 Euro in any 90 day period. Maybe this is a special verification only for canadian citizens.

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

Neteller have a FAR simpler method. They make a small payment to your bank account, say 33pence (or 33cents), and you then have to log in and type in the exact amount received into a "verify account" section. If you type in the right figure, your account is automatically verified. None of this messing about with bank statements, scanners, cameras, etc.

Moneybookers also offers this verification method but probably only in those countries where they offer local wire transfers (for canadian only Swift is available).

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

Moneybookers do have this internal messaging service, but from other postings about this, it seems to have been designed to be as inconvenient to use as possible, even though it would be more secure than email.Neteller's advantage is that it is easy to get in touch with them. This is not necessarily the case with Moneybookers.

For me the internal messaging service from Moneybookers always worked fine. I have made some bad experiences with the Neteller support, sometimes they not even answer. Maybe the the Moneybookers non-VIP support is a little bit slow but at least they always respond.

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

None of this inspires me to open a Moneybookers account, in fact, the more I read about them, the LESS impressive they seem. It is a shame that Canadians are stuck with them since Neteller pulled out.

Neteller has some nice features like the Net+ Cards, but overall I like Moneybookers more because of better support and much lower fees (or no fees for VIPs).