As you were lucky enough to get an email from him, look in the header of the email and see where it was sent from. That would give you an idea of which country he is in, or at least where someone is that contacted you.

Just a thought.

stop posting in fucking colors, please

iMonde Reports
 

I have been paid out to date and I can access all my stats. unlike IBILL, this Howard has kept his word. Give him a chance and everyone will paid out too.
just my 2 cent worth.

Thankyou.

I have still not gotten an email or anything telling me what is going on, I refunded 6 transactions and paymonde sent the emails confirming the refund and none of them were really refunded, I have said from the start I wish I would have some contact to let me know what is up. i am also locked out of my account.

I have still not gotten an email or anything telling me what is going on, I refunded 6 transactions and paymonde sent the emails confirming the refund and none of them were really refunded, I have said from the start I wish I would have some contact to let me know what is up. i am also locked out of my account.

I hate to be the voice of reason here, but companies don't generally just wake up one day and find out they have no ability to process. The situation in the Phillipines was not a surprise, no one was kept in the dark, and the emails from CNP clearly stated that they would no longer have processing after the 10th, unless some sort of drastic and unexpected miracle occurred, which it did not.

Processors also cannot run by moving to other countries and changing their names. Any time a company changes its name in the processing business -- unless it's something very simple like a change of corporate structure or a true sale to a new party, you can almost always bet there will be issues that follow which impact payouts.

I'll use IBill as an example -- when they started processing as gkard, and then etelegate, or whatever the heck else they used, it was very clear that they were unable to clear transactions under their old corporate structure and that the ship was taking on water.

Frankly, not keeping their client base in the loop and letting them know it might be time to look for other alternatives -- especially alternatives that are compliant -- is what I would term gross misrepresentation on the part of Paymonde/MVC/whatever else they call themselves. Our clients that were using Bankard for processing moved their business elsewhere months ago, since we knew -- by the same email updates that Paymonde had to have received -- that the banks days were numbered.

KimmyKim...you've just given us all more information on the likelyhood of what happened in a a few short sentances than Paymonde have given us in the past month. Thank you...it makes some of the 'behind the scenes' goings on a little more clearer as to what's happened and why many of us are out of pocket.

I have to concur on this summation.

You've provided us more information in a single post than we've received combined otherwise.

Bravo.

bump bump

http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?t=...=myvirtualcard

I hate to say "I told you so", but I TOLD YOU SO.... waaaay back in April.

Why did you not listen???

Mental note to self...

Listen to da Frog.

:thumbsup

Where's JollyJoe??
 

Don't forget about funds2go and Howie's puppet Jollyjoe

Well I have a juicy update on paymonde from a couple of sources that were said to be close to the actualy happenings that resulted in paymonde's demise.

First of all I am not claiming this report is true, but it does come from 2 different sources, and given mvc/paymonde history, is very believable.

As some of you older webmasters know Paymonde use to be called My Virtual Card, and at that time there was a bit of a stirr cause on this forum because they were processing for Underage Model sites. You remember? First MVC tried to down play all this by defining the legalities of the under sites they processed for by saying they contained to porn so there for they were perfectly legal. But after continued pressure from GFY members, they did eventually stop processing for under sites. No doubt also had something to do with the problems they were having even then with banks! Then they changed their name to paymode.

Well I heard they got caught processing for under sites again! My, my, no surprise as it is a fact that those dirty little under sites were big revenue makers for them! WHat with $30 to $50 a month signups and over 40 signups a day from each of their hundred under sites, it added up!

It seems recently they gave in to temptation again and started that crap all over again. Now banks don't care as long as it is indeed legal, but visa and mastercard does care, and they pull all the strings. They do not want any thing to do with underage sites even if they are legal! Paymonde knows that perfectly well too!!!

So why do it again? Rumor has it they were having financial problems and knew they were near the end of their road, so why not make some big bucks before they get shut down?

I truly hope this was not the case, but given their history, and their lies, and the huge profits with those under sites, their finacial problems, their bank problems and also independent sources saying this, I tend to believe it!

If paymonde is reading this, and this report is not true, then come forth and say so! Because if it is true, you went against your word saying you would not process for under sites. Now we all have to pay for your mistake and greed!

according to a thread on ynot, paymonde are paying out

http://www.ynot.com/index.php?name=P...73202#57 3202

they havnt paid us yet though :(

Shit. They do not care. You read the Howie correspondance. Does that sound like an intelligent man who cares about such things??

Plus Pete-KT (paid up, all good) had said that they've left already. Moving all operations to the Phillipines. So they are either in the process of another company name, or I am sure looking to pay off the big boys, program owners, and such before going out of business, and popping up somewhere else as Funds2Go or something else.

Funny how Howie is CEO of the monde now, but Norton was listed as that until this most recent turn of events. Now Howie's promoted. So where did Nort go?

Indeed....

2006-11-15

Paymonde Shuts Down
By: Ken Knox
Posted: 5:50 pm PST 11-15-2006


MONTREAL - It?s official. Following weeks of rumors and speculative posts on webmaster forums, third-party payment processing company Paymonde has gone out of business.

-advertisement-
According to the company?s chief executive office, Howard Cohen, the decision to shut the company down came after its bank in the Philippines lost acquiring rights to process MasterCard transactions. ?We didn?t want to shop around and just place merchants anywhere,? Cohen told AVNOnline.com. ?We wanted to have something stable, so we just decided to shut down.?

Cohen said that the bank owes Paymonde three weeks of payments. Although a settlement was promised for last Friday, the bank did not follow through.

?It kills us to [close down],? said the audibly shaken Cohen. ?We had so many big plans and such positive momentum.?

Cohen stressed that the choice to shut the company down was made to spare webmasters any further detriment. ?I didn?t have to pull the plug. We still had Visa; we could have continued processing, but I didn?t see the payments coming in [from the bank], and I didn?t want to owe the webmasters more money. We weren?t going to keep processing them not knowing if we were going to get the money, so I just said, ?That?s it, guys. We?re done.??

Although an official statement by the company had yet to be made, Cohen said he had placed an announcement on the site?s back-end and personally contacted several clients to let them know the news. At press time, the site was inactive. ?I feel [terrible] about it,? he bemoaned. ?We worked hard. We were always out there on the forefront, and we really cared about our webmasters. It?s unfortunate what happened. That?s it. Five years in the business, and that?s it.?

Cohen said he was particularly disheartened by recent posts made on webmaster boards. ?Everybody went ballistic, saying we stole their money. They were saying it before their payouts were even late. To see what?s going on on the boards?seeing people threaten us and say that we ran away with their money?it hurts me. It?s not the case.?

Cohen told AVNOnline.com that he sees Paymonde?s implosion as a cautionary tale. ?We got into a bad predicament. It could happen to CCBill; it could happen to Epoch. Those guys are not protected. Their banks could say, ?That?s it.? No one is safe.?

Although Cohen could not offer a timetable for webmasters to receive money owed, he promised he would do his best to reimburse them on a case-by-case basis. ?We?re good businessmen,? he said. ?We?ll take care of everybody as we can.?

They are not business people Barefootsies and can't see *any* evidence of good judgement based on experience. The history of MVC onwards has been "turbulent" and the current crash was inevitable at some time or other.

A good team in that scenario are people with a financial/banking/processing background and where the senior management have some cred and a spread of banking and other contacts where they can develop a mutually benefically and stable trading relationship. Cohen, Burah et al don't have that background.


PS Professional biz people also give out statements under these circumstances and keep clients informed. If it is ultimately bad news - this needs said and with some detail as to how it affects clients and the appointment of an administrator to wind up the company and deal with funds distribution with creditors. (Not have existing officers pay folks out at their discretion to the detriment of other creditors).

100 Howie Nixon's

so where exactly are we, the poor robbed webmasters, after all this ???
Lets talk $$ & cents guys, spare the rest of the talk
Has anyone managed to get the moeny?
Has anyone filed legal lawsuits?

Some webby's, such as Pete K-T are paid in full. He had said in another thread he was owed 10 or 30k in reserves. But he's "paid off and good". Some others in Montreal claim they are paid in full, up-to-date, and never missed a payment.

Howie's made it clear that if you are not "patients" you will be paid no earlier than 6 months per their T.O.S. (which are null and void once they locked you out of your account) and will wait even longer to pay you if you make a stink on the webmaster boards.

Looks like they did take care of at least some of their big players, but little guys like me got screwed, as we always do. I'm willing to bet that paymonde screwed the under site webmasters to pay their top level legit webmasters. This indicates to me they do plan on resurfacing under yet a different name. No point in pissing off too many top players. What pisses me off is this could have all been avoided if they just followed their own AUP and stayed with in Visa's AUP! It's not enough to have a good relation with a bank. Visa pulls the bank's string!

I think it's very unprofessional for them to make a remark like we will have to wait even longer if we make a stink about it on forums. They are ultimately the reason any one is stinking! Shit runs down hill, what do they expect?

Correct.

They remained silent for days first, then weeks, before letting their clients know. Not by e-mail. Although some had a head's up when they stopped receiving payments. But they let everyone know in their public statements.

"Like I said in the XBiz article".

Um how magnificant. However, I am sure you could have posted a message in the control centers, or sent out a bulk client e-mail so we knew before the rest of the industry.

Yes. Howie I am sure is planning to resurface. Hence the, "You think that GFY is going to ruin my reputation?" But when he pays off the programs, and big player like the Pete K-T's they make sure they are not punched in the fucking face once they resurface later in shows.

:2 cents:

This story extends even more than what you have stated here but i won't post the details on a board. I can confirm its true.

:Oh crap :Oh crap :Oh crap :Oh crap

Well I was a little surprised no one else posted about this sooner as I also know there is more to the story too, and I know I'm not the only one who knows it. I just feel webmasters deserve to know what really happened. It's all about trust, and paymonde really blew it big time. We forgave them the first time it happend when they where MVC. After all they were a decent company, or at least it seemed so. They got caught up in the underage model trap, they were not the first. Verotel, ccbill and ibill also went threw similar roads, but were smart enough to clean house early in the game. Visa is not a total monster. They warn you first with a big fat fine too I might add. You can't hide behind the law and say, well if it doesn't break any *real* laws it's ok because it really doesn't matter if you stay with in the laws. Some content such as underage models, even though there is no porn or nudity is still a hot button for visa/mastercard. Any one who has been around for even just a few years knows that! You have to play by the rules that visa makes!

It all comes back to trust again. Webmasters have to jumpr thru all sorts of hoops to get a site approved! We are monitored to make sure we stay in compliance, but who monitors the processors? If a processor is having bank troubles frequantly, you can bet your sweet google that there is much more to the story! It's hard enough to get perfectly legal teen sites 18+ approved even after staying well with in the guidelines. All it takes is some one from visa seeing a picture of a model that looks too youg to them. Nevermind you can prove they are legal age, it doesn't matter. If visa doesn't like it, it's gone!

So we do every thing in our power to do every thing right! Yet the processor we are bending over backwards for turns around and does the unthinkable! Process for underage model sites! It really burns me up. I'm busting my ass to make a fraction of what I use to make 5 years ago, making sure I don't even have a questionable word in my meta tags, and this shit happens!

I'm not even passing judgement on legalities here. I'm just playing by visa's rules because I was under the impression we all had to. I think the fact that paymonde did this AGAIN has so damaged their reputation and trust factor that even the big players won't have any thing to do with them any more. It's just too rsiky being involved with aprocessor you can't trust any more.

Rant over :)

Howie Says...
 

I found this interesting little tidbit when doing a search to see if Cohen had popped up anywhere on Google yet. A bit disturbing if you ask me. Not just the money missing, but I mean, WTF?!?!?


Welcome to Aicia-model.com
Including Howard Cohen. of www.myvirtualcard.com now www.paymonde.com. that stole $250000.00 from our models. AND!! Exploits children through fraud. ...
www.willeystudios.com/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=kFH&q=howard+cohen%2C+paymonde&bt nG=Search