It's even worse for people who got all their money blocked by the IRS a couple of months ago. All US online poker players are now in suspense, hoping to get their money back. the payment processors are naturally saying that their money is "safe" and will be returned whenever that becomes legally possible .

Canadian Money Links

I found this on pokerstars website.Pokerstars.com terms and conditions for echecks

Notice midway down that pokerstars asks permission to use a collection agency should you not make your payment!!

The question however is, is the collection agency licensed in Canada and in your province??!!

Play Poker for Real Money Using eChecks - Terms

Please note: We kindly ask you to print out these Terms as well all screenshots of all financial transactions you place before submitting them!
TERMS & CONDITIONS

These Terms and Conditions govern the use of Pstar Payments ACH (Service/We). Customers are advised to print all transaction data, Terms and Conditions, etc. for future reference. By using this Service you signify your Agreement to all of the Terms and Conditions set forth below, without modification and you agree that you understand and accept the Terms and Conditions of this Agreement. We may amend this Agreement at any time, from time to time, by posting the amended Terms on Our site and your continued use of Service will constitute acceptance of such amended Terms.
Agreement

I acknowledge that this authorization is provided for the benefit of Pstar Payments to whom I am requesting these debits and my Financial Institution and is provided in consideration of my Financial Institution agreeing to process debits against my account in accordance with the rules of the Payments Association for the country in which I reside. I warrant and agree that all persons whose signatures are required to sign for this account have agreed to this Agreement.

I hereby authorize this merchant to draw on my account with my Financial Institution for the purpose of purchasing products or services from the Merchant.

This authorization/Agreement may be cancelled upon notice being provided by Myself in writing with proper authorization to provide identification. I acknowledge that in order to revoke this authorization I must provide notice of revocation to the Merchant.

The account that the Merchant is authorized to draw upon is indicated within each request for debit to this account. I undertake to inform the Merchant in writing of any change to the account information provided in this authorization.
Responsibilities of Users

In order to use the Service you Agree:

* You must provide us with valid and accurate information.
* You must be at least 18 years of age.
* If you provide bank account information, you agree that We may charge your bank account for all Payments initiated by you.
* You are fully responsible for any goods bought or sold or any services provided by a merchant and settled through the Service.
* You acknowledge that :
o The Service is not a bank
o The Service is not subject to banking regulations
* You agree that all payments initiated by you in which charges are made to your bank account are final and not reversible. You also agree and understand that writing a check that is returned due to NSF is a crime in every State and Province, and is punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.
* You agree that you will not charge back any amounts previously charged to your bank account.
* We reserve the right to recover a bad debt either by a) representing the eCheck for the same amount or the amount plus an administration fee; or b) by sending the account to a Collections Agency.
* If you initiate a return of an eCheck, or a charge-back of a previous eCheck charge, your ability to process through the Service may be suspended or terminated.
* We reserve the right to add your name and personal information to both proprietary and public negative databases (NDB) that may inhibit or prevent you from using your checking account in a retail environment.
* You agree that We may charge the maximum administrative fee allowable by law to recover costs associated with the above.
* We reserve the right to verify any of the information you provide.
* We shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that requests for electronic debits and credits involving bank account(s) are processed in a timely manner. We make no representations or warranties regarding the amount of time needed to complete processing, such as delays in the banking networks and nor shall We be liable for any actual or consequential damages arising from any claim of delay.
* We reserve the right to hold funds beyond the normal distribution periods for transactions We deem suspicious.
* We accept no liability to you for any damages you may suffer, and in no event shall We be liable to you for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Service. You acknowledge and agree you are using the Service at your own risk and liability.
* This Terms and Conditions of this Agreement and the rights and obligations of the parties herein shall be governed and construed in accordance with Irish law.
* If any part of this Agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable pursuant to applicable law, including, but not limited to, the limitation of liability set out herein, the remainder of this Agreement shall nonetheless continue in effect.

The questions I have regarding www.pokerstars.com are the following:

1) What does the agreement look like that you signed up with on pokerstars?

2) Where are the collection agencies from? Are they Canadian?
4) Are the collection agencies that contacted you licensed in your province?
5) Did you give pokerstars.com authority report your personal information to a collection agency?
6) Does the collection agency have your permission and the ability to report to Equifax and TransUnion in Canada?

If the collection agency is from the U.S., they may NOT be licensed in Canada. You would have to check with your local Provincial Government corporations branch to see if they're licensed.

it's interesting that pokerstars.com is out of Douglas Bay Complex
Onchan, Isle of Man IM1 3DZ United Kingdom

I found this listing on www.networksolutions.com for www.pokerstars.com

Visit AboutUs.org for more information about POKERSTARS.COM AboutUs: POKERSTARS.COM

Registrant: Make this info private
Enterprises Limited, Rational Entertainment **

Douglas Bay Complex
Onchan, Isle of Man IM1 3DZ
UK

Domain Name: POKERSTARS.COM

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :

Enterprises Limited, Rational Entertainment **
dnsadmin@pokerstars.com
Douglas Bay Complex
Onchan, Isle of Man IM1 3DZ
UK
Phone: +44-1624-632060
Fax: +44-1624-632061

Record expires on 11-Mar-2009

Record created on 11-Mar-2001
Database last updated on 03-Oct-2006

Domain servers in listed order: Manage DNS

UDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET

UDNS2.ULTRADNS.NET

Show underlying registry data for this record

Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
IP Address: 66.212.225.28 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: CR(COSTA RICA)
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: Apache
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ 2 listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Web Site Title: Poker - Online Poker Games at PokerStars - Texas Holdem
Meta Description: PokerStars is the premier online poker site on the Internet, with poker tournaments and over 100,000 poker players and 10,000 tables.
Meta Keywords: pokerstars, online, poker, tournaments, room, texas, holdem, hold'em, world series of poker, wsop
Secure: Yes
E-commerce: Yes
Traffic Ranking: 4
Data as of: 23-Nov-2006

I found this listing on www.networksolutions.com for www.pokerstars.com

Visit AboutUs.org for more information about POKERSTARS.COM AboutUs: POKERSTARS.COM

Registrant: Make this info private
Enterprises Limited, Rational Entertainment **

Douglas Bay Complex
Onchan, Isle of Man IM1 3DZ
UK

Domain Name: POKERSTARS.COM

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :

Enterprises Limited, Rational Entertainment **
dnsadmin@pokerstars.com
Douglas Bay Complex
Onchan, Isle of Man IM1 3DZ
UK
Phone: +44-1624-632060
Fax: +44-1624-632061

Record expires on 11-Mar-2009

Record created on 11-Mar-2001
Database last updated on 03-Oct-2006

Domain servers in listed order: Manage DNS

UDNS1.ULTRADNS.NET

UDNS2.ULTRADNS.NET

Show underlying registry data for this record

Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
IP Address: 66.212.225.28 (ARIN & RIPE IP search)
IP Location: CR(COSTA RICA)
Record Type: Domain Name
Server Type: Apache
Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited
Web Site Status: Active
DMOZ 2 listings
Y! Directory: see listings
Web Site Title: Poker - Online Poker Games at PokerStars - Texas Holdem
Meta Description: PokerStars is the premier online poker site on the Internet, with poker tournaments and over 100,000 poker players and 10,000 tables.
Meta Keywords: pokerstars, online, poker, tournaments, room, texas, holdem, hold'em, world series of poker, wsop
Secure: Yes
E-commerce: Yes
Traffic Ranking: 4
Data as of: 23-Nov-2006

Ok.. Here is my situation. I made a deposit to PokerStars.com via "echeck" . You enter your banking info off your checks and so on.
I did exactly as it said, depositted money, and got a confrimation that the deposit had been made.

a week later, I get an email from Pokerstars saying that the echeck company ( Pstar Payments) has sent my file to collections because they were unable to get the funds from my bank!

no email previous saying the banking info was incorrect, no email asking me to confirm or correct, just the colleciton notice!!!

I called the collection number ( did not speak to them though) and found that it is an American collection agency.

I called Pstar and they are unwilling to correct my info cause they sent it to collections! I made a deposit of $25.00 and they want to charge me the same for a fee, so a total of $50.00!

I am fuming. Any help or advise??? Please!!!