eCheck vs. uPayCard

Online casino players have long lists of payment methods to explore when joining a site, and among them, they usually find eCheck and UPayCard. These two are offered across the leading casino sites, mainly because plenty of players wish to use them as their deposit methods. Operators are well aware that players need choices, and these two are offered because they are suited for different types of players. eCheck is more suited for traditional players, while UPayCard for more forward-thinking players. Therefore, you can rest assured that you’ll find them across many sites and use them at your convenience. Why choose eCheck or UPayCard as your payment method across online casinos?

About eCheck and UPayCard

Before we get into details, you should know that regardless of the type of player you are, eCheck and UPayCard are both safe and convenient payment methods to use for online gambling transactions. They are both popular solutions, found across many online casino sites, but used by different types of players. But most importantly, they are both perfect to use in case you don’t have a credit card, you don’t wish to share one with your online casino, or you simply cannot use credit cards, due to your country’s restrictions, like in the UK, where these are banned for online gambling purposes.

Now, eCheck is an option across many online casinos mainly because of the fact that it functions like regular paper cheques, accepted globally. You know, those pieces of paper which were being used long ago for all kinds of payments? Well, they are now available in an electronic form, perfectly suited for online payments. Of course, eCheck is directly tied with banks and you need to have a bank account to use it. Just like with a regular paper check, the bank needs to approve your eCheck in order for you to cash it out. Rest assured that your banking details are perfectly safe with it, considering eCheck relies on the bank’s highly secured online platforms and bulletproof protection measures. So, even though when depositing with it you’ll be sharing bank account details, those details will be secured.

The only pre-condition you need to meet to transact with it is to have an active bank account and that’s it. As long as you do, you can sit back and relax, because institutions like ACH and other financial services will get put a background process in motion and have your eCheck ready for depositing across online casino sites, to be explained shortly. Since there will be a background process involved, you should know that deposits with it would take 3 to 5 days, and won’t be instant. Withdrawals would take even longer, up to a week. But, you should think about it like this: as long as your funds are safe, processing times are not important.

But if you value your time, and you still wish for quick deposits and withdrawals, then you could use UPayCard. This is a two-in-one solution that allows you to use its eWallet and virtual prepaid card products. It is a globally accepted solution, so you won't need to worry about your eligibility to use it. In fact, it is not available only in eight countries, from all of the countries in the world. These are the US, Angola, North Korea, Afghanistan, Moldova, American Samoa, Aruba, and Bahrain.

So, as a player from any other country than these eight, you can rest assured that you'll receive impeccable online gambling using UPayCard across online casinos. As mentioned, it is a solution that allows you to use two of its services, the eWallet and the prepaid card. Previously, in its early beginnings, the solution used to charge massive fees for using its services, but later, it reduced them, to allow for a more cost-effective online banking. Now, it only charges users for cashing out money and adding funds to their accounts, the issuance of the first physical and second virtual prepaid card and foreign currency exchange. Other than that, all of the basic services are fee-free.

But you still haven’t learned the best part about it. UPayCard allows you to transact online using both fiat and cryptocurrencies! That’s right, you can play across online casinos using Australian dollars, Canadian and the UK pounds, among others, but also using Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Bitcoin, the three most popular cryptocurrencies nowadays. Keeping up with the trends, UPayCard continuously extends its cryptocurrency list, most recently adding Ripple and Litecoin to its offering.

Getting Started with the Two Methods

Considering the two methods are fundamentally different, you must have assumed that the getting started procedures for the two would be quite different, too. But, you should know right away that as soon as you are finished with the getting started procedures, you'll be able to use them across online casinos with extreme ease.

To get started with eCheck, you would need to request a payment via it, and with that, you will put the background process in motion. Your part would be done here since you won't need to register any account to use it, and that's why we said that you can sit back and relax, waiting for the background process to be completed.

About that background process, though, it is quite extensive. This is what happens. As soon as you enter the necessary bank account info and your personal details when requesting a payment via it, these pieces of information are sent to the first third party involved in the process. They are sent to services like Authorize.net, which are intermediaries that process your information and make it compact, more useful and easier to be further processed. Now, this compact file is sent to the Automated Clearing House Network, a network with clears electronic checks, comprised of institutions and other financial services that do this. Finally, the network, after it vets all the information and confirms it as legit, delivers the file to your bank. When the bank reviews it, it approves the eCheck and makes sure the money you requested is sent to the designated destination/receiver.

Getting started with UPayCard, though, would require some of your efforts and time. You would need to register an account with it yourself, to be able to use all of its services. Whether you want to use only the prepaid or only the eWallet product, or both, you would need to visit its official website to get started with the two different processes. Bear in mind that if you wish to use the solution for withdrawals, you would need to have the eWallet account, and if you want to use it only for deposits, the prepaid card would suffice.

To apply for the virtual prepaid card, you would need to follow the easy steps as explained on the homepage of its website. You would need to provide the necessary details and then fund the card with QIWI, wire transfer, Neteller, POLi, Payeer or Skrill. As soon as the money is on the card, you can start using it.

You would also need to visit its official website to create your eWallet account. The steps are simple, so just do the following:

1. On its homepage, locate the Sign-Up button and click or tap on it.
2. Enter your birth date, name, email, home address and phone number.
3. Provide a scan of an ID document with your photo on it, to verify your account.
4. Fund the eWallet using the same methods used for funding the virtual prepaid card, except wire transfer. You can also use the virtual prepaid card to fund your eWallet, though.
5. Go to your online casino account and start making deposits and withdrawals with it!

Considering UPayCard is monitored and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, a scan of an ID document is mandatory, due to Know Your Customer Rules. Therefore, have the scan ready even before you start with the registration procedure, to speed things up even further.

Using eCheck and UPayCard Across Online Casinos

As a traditional player interested in using eCheck for your deposits and withdrawals, you don’t even need to lift a finger to get started with it, as you could see. As a forward-thinking player wanting to use UPayCard, you’re probably used to similar registration procedures and you’re not uncomfortable going through it. Therefore, once you’re ready to make deposits with them, you’ll see that they are both really easy to use.

The first thing you need to do to make a deposit with eCheck is, of course, to find an online casino that accepts it. As mentioned, though, eCheck is usually an option across many online casino sites, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding one to join fast. As soon as you join it, do the following:

1. Head over to the casino’s Cashier/Banking page.
2. From the list of Deposit Methods, find eCheck’s logo and click or tap on it.
3. In the pop-up window, enter your bank account and any required personal details.
4. Specify how much you wish to fund your online casino account with.
5. As soon as the third parties involved approve your request, the funds will arrive on your casino balance. Remember that that would take up to 5 business days.

Withdrawals, on that note, take even longer, up to 7 business days. To request a withdrawal with eCheck, you would need to go through a similar procedure, and this time, wait for the casino to approve your request first before any of the third parties can process the money. As long as everything is in order, within 7 days, the money will arrive directly in your bank account, ready to be cashed out.

Depositing with UPayCard can be done in two ways, obviously, depending on whether you wish to deposit with your virtual prepaid card or your eWallet. But, essentially, you would need to do the following:

1. Click on UPayCard’s logo on the Cashier/Deposit page at the online casino.
2. If you wish to use the virtual prepaid card, enter the card info and the amount you want to fund your online casino account with.
3. If you decide to go with the eWallet, log in using your credentials, specify how much you wish to deposit and that’s it.
4. As soon as you confirm the transaction, with either product, the money will be instantly processed and available on your online casino balance.

With UPayCard, even the withdrawals are instant, that is after the casino approves them. You would need to repeat the procedure as described for depositing with the eWallet, and you’ll need to specify how much you wish to withdraw. As soon as the casino approves it, the money will instantly arrive on your eWallet account.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There’s probably no doubt in your mind that eCheck and UPayCard are entirely different, really suited for different types of players, and you’ve probably picked your more preferred one already. Even though quite different, they do have some advantages in common.

Both solutions are globally accepted in many countries, with the eight exceptions for UPayCard. They are both extremely safe to use, as eCheck uses the bank’s secure pathways, and UPayCard is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and uses industry-approved SSL encryptions. And, they are both available as deposits AND withdrawal methods across online casinos.

However, eCheck comes with a huge disadvantage, and that is the fact that deposits and withdrawals with it are not instant. Not only that, but they take up to a week, which is something most online casino players cannot afford. UPayCard, on the other hand, is not accepted in the US, which is a huge online gambling market. Plus, it comes with fees. These fees are not huge anymore, but they are still there.

On the plus side, you don’t need to go through complicated procedures to get started with eCheck and you have it available all across the globe. With UPayCard, you can transact with a two-in-one solution, using both fiat and digital currencies. So, suit yourself and choose the method you’d like to play with, but whichever you choose, you won’t regret it.