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STEP 1
FirePay First Look
Opening a FirePay account is a straightforward process. From the FirePay home page (http://www.FirePay.com) click the “Open an Account” button and the signup page will open and allow you to enter your personal information.
 
STEP 2
Required information and e-mail confirmation
 After filling in the required information and submitting it, FirePay will send an email to the email address you supplied while creating your FirePay account.
In it, you will find your unique Access Code that you’ll use to activate your FirePay account. Return to the FirePay site and enter your Access Code in order to verify your e-mail account information.
You’ll only need to do it once.
You will then receive your 16-digit FirePay account number, and be able to log into your account, which, of course, will not have any money in it yet. That will change after you register a bank account with FirePay and go through the bank account validation process.
Pick a bank account that you’d like to use (or create a special one just for FirePay transactions), provide FirePay with account number, and bank routing numbers, and they will make a small deposit into the bank account.
Call the bank or look at your statement online if you have the capability, identify the FirePay deposit, note the amount, and return to the FirePay site.
You will find a place to enter the amount of the deposit, and if done correctly, the fact that you know the deposit amount will satisfy FirePay that you are the true owner of the account. Your FirePay account is then certified and you can begin using it with any merchant that accepts FirePay transactions.
Step 3
Funding Your FirePay Account
 First, make sure that the money you want to transfer to FirePay is in the validated bank account before you begin the procedure.
Once you authorize a transfer, it starts instantly and you won’t have a chance to scurry to the bank and make the deposit. Your transaction will be refused and you’ll probably be unhappy once you learn that your FirePay account is frozen and you have been assessed a $25 fee for your mistake.
Let’s not start out that way if we can avoid it, eh?
From your FirePay account page, click the “Deposit Funds” tab and read the screen carefully. You’ll note a place to enter the amount you’d like to transfer to FirePay, and a deposit fee of $3.99 (which applies to any deposit…no matter what size). Plan ahead because a series of five $100 deposits will cost you about $20 in fees while a single $500 deposit will only cost you $3.99.
Click the “Submit” button and your deposit will be processed. The money should show up in your FirePay account almost immediately, and once you can see it in your available balance, you can use it with a merchant. It will take a few days before your money actually reaches FirePay, but they let you use it immediately. Be aware, however, that you won’t be able to withdraw that balance back into your bank account for 6 business days, which will give the money a chance to enter the FirePay account. So don’t get any ideas about making a lightning-quick sketchy maneuver; the FirePay people are reasonable, but not stupid.
There are weekly limits to the amount of money that you can deposit into your FirePay account. Those limits are explained on the website, and can be increased after you have been an account holder in good standing for a while.
Step 4
Using FirePay to Fund Your Poker Account
 Go to your poker account’s cashier function and select FirePay as your preferred funding source once you’ve reached the screen that manages deposits.
Indicate the amount you’d like to deposit, fill in your FirePay 16 digit account number as well as the “expiry date” listed on your FirePay account page.
Thirty seconds after confirming the deposit your poker account will show the successful transaction and you’ll be ready to play.
Play well!
Step 5
Withdrawing Your Winnings
To bring money back to your FirePay account, simply reverse the procedure. Go to the cashier’s withdrawal page, identify your FirePay account and registered e-mail address, and authorize the withdrawal.
Note well that each poker site processes their withdrawals on schedules that they set for themselves. FirePay does not set these schedules, so if you want to know how long a withdrawal will take, either ask the poker site support people or read about it here at PokerRoomReview.
Our poker site reviews cover withdrawal methods and report the schedules that the poker sites promise to uphold. Most reputable sites will process a withdrawal to FirePay within 48 hours of your request, and the best poker sites do it quite a bit faster than that.
Step 6
Moving Your Money from FirePay to Your Bank Account
Bringing your money back to your local bank account is a simple process. From your FirePay account page click the blue “Withdraw Funds” tab. Enter the amount you wish to withdraw and submit the transaction for processing. Your funds must have cleared before you can withdraw them (remember the 6 day wait?) and your bank account must be validated before you can send money back to it. Withdrawals usually are accomplished with 2 days.
Important Notes Regarding FirePay Charges
Although the FirePay website clearly states that withdrawals are free, there is specific language in the fine print that says withdrawals are free for “active” account holders. In response to a question I posed in an e-mail to FirePay Customer Support, I received the following answer:
“To receive free withdrawals, you must regularly and continuously make deposits from your bank account into your FirePay account and make purchases with online merchants.”
It would have been nice to pick up the phone and ask someone for a clarification, but since there is no telephone support number, I had to resort to asking in a second e-mail. Here is the answer I received:
“For everytime time [sic] that you fund your account we can guarantee you at least three months of free withdrawals.”
So, according to FirePay Customer Support, you should be making deposit from your bank account into Firepay at least once every 3 months in order to maintain the free withdrawal benefit.
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