closing your bank account to avoid being overdrafted

[charga04]

I know this sounds like a sketchy ass subject but I have a serious question and im not just trying to find out ways to scam the company. Lets say you were to have deposited a certain amount of money into a E-wallet such as firepay or NETeller. However, you did not have the money in your bank account to cover this. Now, since it takes a few days for this to actually go through to the bank, what would be the consequenes/reprecutions if you just closed out your bank acccount and said "fk u firepay" bc internet gambling is technically illegal and u dont think you should be responsible. I know you would get letters and phone calls from the company since when you signed up you had to fill out that stuff, but since they are out of country, what could they seriouslly legally do to you? Thanks

[Jeffage]

Your credit would probably also take a hit for initiating an EFT for an amount you count cover (I'd imagine it's the same as writing a bad check). You might even have trouble getting a simple checking account since you're trying to defraud the bank basically.

Enjoy!

Jeff

P.S. Pay what you owe and don't play money you can't afford to lose.

[Tappy Tibbons]

Your bank would report you to ChexSystems, a credit reporting agency for checking accounts. A record on ChexSystems lasts for 5 years, and during that time it will be very difficult to open a checking/savings account with any bank in the US.

[Zele]

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I know this sounds like a sketchy ass subject but I have a serious question and im not just trying to find out ways to scam the company

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What exactly are trying to do?

[sui generis]

honestly, you suck at life if you're thinking of doing this.

i really think lowly of you even for posting the question.

-eric

[mason55]

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Your bank would report you to ChexSystems, a credit reporting agency for checking accounts. A record on ChexSystems lasts for 5 years, and during that time it will be very difficult to open a checking/savings account with any bank in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]

ChexSystems sucks. I got put on there after I closed an account with negative balance, even though I checked with the bank to make sure the account was in good standing before I closed it.

God you do not want to be put in their system.

[MadTiger]

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Your bank would report you to ChexSystems, a credit reporting agency for checking accounts. A record on ChexSystems lasts for 5 years, and during that time it will be nearly impossible to open a checking/savings account with any bank in the US.

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FYP

[TaggedYa]

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you did not have the money in your bank account to cover this

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This is a criminal act in most jurisdictions in the US.

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Now, since it takes a few days for this to actually go through to the bank, what would be the consequenes/reprecutions if you just closed out your bank acccount and said "fk u firepay"

[/ QUOTE ]

If nothing else this is clear evidence of intent in the aforementioned criminal act.

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bc internet gambling is technically illegal.

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By what technicality? The US Justice Dept. keeps saying it is but the courts don’t agree with them. Until a court agrees with them and the decision survives appeal it isn’t illegal.
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and u dont think you should be responsible.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are always responsible for your own actions.

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I know you would get letters and phone calls from the company since when you signed up you had to fill out that stuff, but since they are out of country, what could they seriouslly legally do to you? Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

The question is not what they can do to you, the question is what are they likely to do to you. They could make a criminal complaint against you for the fraud you committed. I don’t think they will. They could file an action against you in a court local to your bank. I don’t think they will. Unless you owe them a lot of money ($5000 or more) it isn’t worth the effort. They could file an action against you in the court who’s jurisdiction you accepted when you made the money transfer. This is much more likely but I don’t think they will do this either. The online gaming industry doesn’t want to make waves and a bunch of small suits in the courts of the tiny countries that host most gaming sites would be noticed. I would expect they will leave it up to your bank to deal with the problem. That leads to the credit and no bank account problems that previous posts cover.

One thing though… For the guys who are familiar with the ChexSystems reports. I thought fraud did not ever drop off.

Standard disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. I do however suggest you get some.

TaggedYa

[Kyriefurro]

Here's what will happen if you actually go through with this...

First, the bank will most likely turn you over to the local authorities for possible fraud prosecution. If you're talking about a very large transaction, they may turn you over to the FBI (assuming you're in the US) for wire fraud. Whether the authorities actually go forward with this depends on how much money you're talking about, and how busy they are.

Second, you ARE liable for the money. The afformentioned e-wallet company will most certainly turn you over to a collection agency (just because they're not based in the US doesn't mean they can't hire a US company to hunt you down.) I can tell you from personal experience that a collection agency will very aggressively pursue you for even very modest amounts of money. In fact, I suspect that they'll pursue you even more aggressively if the amount is small than if it's large since they reason that if you can't afford to pay a few hundred dollars, you can't afford to pay to fight them either.

The collection agency will send you a nice form letter asking you to pay them the money. They may offer you some sort of settlement or payment plan. Of course, you'll probably ignore the form letter. Then they'll file a suit against you in your local court. You'll probably try to ignore that too. When you don't show up for court, the judge will issue a summary judgement against you. And then the fun really starts.

They'll send you another letter, this time a custom one, asking for the orignal amount PLUS interest PLUS court costs PLUS their attorney fees. This time, since the court has issued a judgement against you, they will NOT offer to negotiate with you.

If you ignore them again, which you probably will, they then go back to the courts and file to garnish your wages. This is a routine procedure. At this point there's nothing to stop them. By law they can take 25% out of every paycheck you make until ALL the money you owe them is paid.

In the event you're "unemployed", you're still not getting away from it. They file to seize any assets you might have, like bank accounts, houses, cars, etc. And no, they're not worried about the expense, since any costs they incure get added onto YOUR bill.

And then, as a couple of posters mentioned, there's the effect on your credit. You'll have a VERY hard time getting so much as a new checking account, much less a credit card or home mortgage. You'll have a hard time renting an apartment, since most landlords run credit checks these days. You could loose out on a nice job too, since many employers check credit too.

So...quite bluntly, don't do it. It's not anywhere near worth it. Your odds of getting away with it are slim. And it can screw things up for you pretty badly for a long tome.

Oh...the official disclaimer. I'm not an attorney. However, as I mentioned, I've had a bit of personal experience being on the receiving end of a collection company when I thought I'd get smart and try to avoid paying. Wasn't fun, especially since the garnishment on my wages hit 4 weeks before Christmas. Try explaining THAT one to your family.

[RedeemerKing]

All these posts are incorrect. He is not defrauding the bank. He is simply closing the account before these checks get a chance to hit. The bank will refuse the charges since the account has been closed. The bank will not be out anything nor well he be put on ChexSystems because his account was closed in good standing. The person who is being defrauded is the poker site or merchant in question. It is only them who can really do anything about it. I do not know how they handle this though.