Revolut asks for photo id, but refuses photo with id theft protection

usefulmale

Maybe those on the 'Cashless Society' thread who advocate handing over control of their finances to banks / government should read your tale of woe.


You will have to jump through the hoops they have set to regain your cash but don't make the mistake of giving away control again to another institution.


Remember, banks control the accounts. Customers simply administer them.

Zanderman

As others have said, if this is what Revolut want and stipulate, you must comply. It's their interpretation of the rules - and it doesn't make any difference if you disagree. You still need to go by their rules.

Don't confuse this with the 'law' - a bank's dealings with you are just that, their dealings with you. You can't argue with their systems.

alexrw

I'm not confusing law with T&Cs. It was Revolut who cited "UK banking regulations" when they asked for the passport photo without any parts obscured. Their T&Cs only ask for every single details to be readable.

As I said, if the T&Cs at the moment I signed them stipulated so, then sure, I'd have no cause for complaint, but they didn't as far as I can see. Asking for my passport photo to be uploaded on a chat accessible by employees who should not have access to such sensitive customer data can't exactly be proper either - although that seems like a secondary matter, it did raise enough concern for me to doubt the systems they have in place to protect my personal data, and to worry about ID theft and hence protection against it

eDicky

alexrw wrote: »

EDIT: Revolut had previously accepted the same kind of photo (with id theft protection) from my wife.

Did your wife submit her photos through the account verification process in the app? This used to be a requirement before use of the account above a certain amount, I don't know the exact current requirements.

For you the app is now blocked, perhaps because of your proceeding without submitting verification, and you can only send the photos through the chat function, with different staff involved. They may just be 'going by the book' and their apparently spurious reference to 'UK banking regulations' the justification for adhering to compliance in general, full stop.

You can read of many people complaining about having their Revolut account blocked and being unable to comply, usually because of their own abuse or misuse - I'm not saying you're one but you have tripped the compliance block somehow and you have to comply to their demand.

Looking at my passport title page, there is very little free space. Are you sure you haven't covered the perforated serial number? The design and holography cover the whole page of course.

I often advise anyone to fully verify their Revolut account and understand how it works, before going ahead with using it.

OceanSound

r2015 wrote: »

Give them what they want then when you have access to your account withdraw the money then close it.

Give them what they want...and no one gets hurt??
Your money or your life??
Your comment would be justified if Revolut was allowed to operate like highwaymen.

OceanSound

alexrw wrote: »

.... They cited "UK banking regulations" and closed the discussion.

I have been unable to find any regulation that stipulate the above is not allowed. I would like to complain to the ombudsman about this but wanted to get more opinions from others.

Ignore the speculation, conjecture and the majority of posts that passes for 'advice' on here. I had similar issue with Revolut. Actually they quote regulations but do not specify which ones. (I don't think a bank or any other financial institution has the power to make it up as they go along)

When they blocked my account (the last occasion - there were many before that), and I told them they will not have a photo of me with ID held to my face, because it was not specified in the terms, compliance manager said it was due to 'E-money acts and FCA regulations' then he said 'E-money regulations and AML 2010 act'. He could not specify exactly. (you can see the discrepancies in his quotes)

I told him to refund the funds to source. He said it will be done in 2-5 business days. Actually, funds were returned back to source same day. So, contact a compliance manager (or Senior staff member) immediately and request this.

Also request that they accept the ID submitted (with theft protection). If you don't get anywhere follow the complaint procedure here: https://www.revolut.com/vn/complaints-policy

Looks like they've setup a surveymonkey form for us to lodge complaints (wow!, what a professional outfit we are dealing with), or you can email: formalcomplaints@revolut.com

They need to send you a final response within 8 weeks. If they fail to or do not respond satisfactorily, complain to Ombudsman. I'm actually in the process of complaining to Ombudsman. If the Ombudsman fail to deliver a fair outcome, I will be taking Court action. The days of the Wild West, highwaymen and bushrangers are long gone, let the Court decide.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to reply to any responses (from the usual posters-you know who you are!) due to lack of time.

edit: if they accepted the same from your wife, and refuse to accept it from you. That's an inconsistency in itself. Even the ombudman would find it hard to turn a blind eye to that evidence.

alexrw

@eDicky, yes I'm sure, I'm looking at it ...

@OceanSound, finally someone who doesn't think all this is kosher! I asked them several times to point me exactly to the paragraph in the law or regulations that forbids this and they never did, but kept on citing the title.

I insisted today for them to accept the photos, pointing out that:
- regulations they cited do not forbid such evidence
- their t&c's do not forbid such evidence
- they accepted the exact same kind of evidence for someone else, which states that they are inconsistent and (according to their own claims re law) unlawful in one of the two situations
- requesting photo ID to be uploaded on chat without confirming it will be deleted from said chat is legally problematic.

I told that in case they refuse to accept my photos then I want my money back, then the account closed, then that I will send a letter of complaint and a follow-up to the ombudsman. Got my money back (the agent re-enabled my account on the spot so I can make a transfer out). Then they locked it again and said nothing since then. It doesn't look terminated.

I may PM you regarding the letter of complaint.

Regarding the upload on chat: the request to upload on chat was made to my wife as well when her account was fully functional (she wanted to increase the topup limit), and she needed 30 minutes to persuade them that doing so on chat is inappropriate data protection and could be legally problematic; they finally accepted the upload via the special document upload of the app. I didn't have that option as it was locked, but I too needed almost 30 minutes to get them to confirm in writing that they will store them securely and delete them from the chat -- they guy wasn't even grasping the problem, he kept at citing regulations and money laundering laws. Makes one wonder about due diligence with other customers' ID photos.

Shakin_Steve

Remind me of the advantages of a Revolut account again.

scragend

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Remind me of the advantages of a Revolut account again.

Exchange money to umpteen different currencies at the full Mastercard rate.
Get a Euro IBAN to receive payments in Euro.
Spend abroad with no fees.
Send money to a lot of countries worldwide with no fees.
Save small change by rounding up your payments.
Split restaurant bills (for example) easily.
Instant in-app notifications when you spend.
Buy cryptocurrency.
Freeze your card within the app if it is lost or stolen.
No fees when you use your Revolut card to buy your tinfoil hat.

eDicky

In three years of using Revolut I have totally escaped the tyranny of banks for multicurrency life to the tune of several hundred pounds' savings and other conveniences, never paid a penny in fees, and had any issues or failures resolved in a timely way.

I've recommend Revolut to many friends who I thought would also benefit, and they always express gratitude. However I know other people to whom I would not recommend Revolut, because I know they would be unable to use it carefully and successfully and/or easily find some aspect not to their taste and develop a negative attitude.

An example of the latter tendency would perhaps be OceanSound. 2m+ Revolut users have happily submitted a photo of themselves holding their passport next to their face, a relatively foolproof part of account verification equivalent more or less to presenting your face and passport in person at a mainstream bank's branch. But OceanSound occasionally pops up to sound off about his strong aversion to doing such a thing, without ever actually explaining why. I'm not going to bother asking again because he'll be 'unable to reply due to lack of time'.