EcoCard accounts can be funded in 3 ways:
1. Bank Deposit
2. MoneyGram
3. Western Union
A “Bank Deposit” is a wire transfer from your bank to EcoCard’s bank. I don’t believe it is possible to have your personal bank account “connected” to EcoCard like we could with NETeller.
Since this is the case, withdrawals must be done via wire transfer. EcoCard receives your withdrawal request, then they send money to a bank that will wire the money to you. In my case the money was wired from Danske Bank in Denmark.
There is no debit card, as far as I can tell. I looked all over the EcoCard site and didn’t see anything about a debit card.
EcoCard does not make validation deposits to any of your accounts. (ePassporte, on the other hand, does do this).
When you add your bank information to EcoCard, you need to provide your routing number, which is called a SWIFT code on the EcoCard form. Your individual bank account number goes in the field labeled “Bank Account Number/IBAN.” You do need to provide the bank’s name and address also.
When my EcoCard wire transfer came through today, it looked like this:
02/13/2007 Wire-EcoCardLtd BankAmer026009593
It appears as though Bank of America is somehow involved along the way. The number “026009593” is the routing number for B of A. My account is not with Bank of America, so I’m not sure why they are involved.
I emailed EcoCard yesterday because I was confused about the Danske Bank thing, and they responded this morning. I don’t know if the phone number they have listed is correct; I called it yesterday, but it didn’t seem very professional.