Ratesetter close account and withhold funds

xoxo20

I am hoping I can get some advice here.

I opened a ratesetter investment account about 6 months ago as I had money from the sale of my house and savings I built up from my work income. I wanted to get more interest on money and I read that peer to peer lending was a good way to earn interest as an investor. I did some research and decided to put my money in ratesetter in the short term until I decided on a long term investment strategy for my funds. To give you an idea, the sums are in the region of a 6 figure.

2 weeks ago I got an email advising me that my account would be closed and my funds would be transferred to the bank account linked to my ratesetter investment account. I called to ask why my account was being closed and I was told they cannot give me any information. I still have not received my money and I am not being told when my funds will be released back to me and why they are withholding it either.

I am very frustrated as I require access to my money and the fact I'm not being told anything and expected to just wait is infuriating. i contacted the FCA and they told me they could not help as ratesetter investment product are not regulated which came as a surprise to me. I have also contact the FOS who advised me to first make a complaint to ratesetter and give them 8 weeks to respond and if i'm not happy with their response I should come back to them.

Now it seems I have to play the waiting game on any prospects of receiving my funds. I wondered if anyone can advise me as to any other avenue to expediate getting my funds friom ratesetter? Also can ratesetter keep my money and not return it to me? I am totally confused...

solartom

did you put any of your money into any of the markets rolling/1 year/5 year/ or was it just sitting in your holding account
"2 weeks ago I got an email advising me that my account would be closed and my funds would be transferred to the bank account linked to my ratesetter investment account. I called to ask why my account was being closed and I was told they cannot give me any information. I still have not received my money and I am not being told when my funds will be released back to me and why they are withholding it either."
as they are returning the funds rather then cancelling any investments

Prism

I am also wondering if you actually invested this inside Ratesetter or did you simply transfer the funds into your account without then investing it.

xoxo20

my money was spread across all 3 markets i.e rolling, 1yr and 5years. majority of my money was in the 5 year account. However I did get 3 separate emails advising me that my funds had been released from all 3 markets and they even charged me a penalty for the early release from the 1yr and 5 yr market even though they choose to close my account. My funds are sat in my holding account and available for withdrawal into my holding according to the email when they were released.

When I emailed them a few days ago to ask why it is taking them long to transfer my money into my bank account, I got a response saying my account and funds have been suspended and I just have to wait.

xoxo20

It is ratesetter for sure as I got paid interest monthly on the rolling and 5 yr account which i transferred with no issues into my bank account. I also spoke to their customer service staff on many occasion.

Prism

Could it be that they asked for proof of where the funds came from and for some reason they were not satisfied?

Alexland

xoxo20 wrote: »

i contacted the FCA and they told me they could not help as ratesetter investment product are not regulated which came as a surprise to me. I have also contact the FOS who advised me to first make a complaint to ratesetter and give them 8 weeks to respond and if i'm not happy with their response I should come back to them.

Although P2P products are not FSCS protected they are FCA regulated and they do have a requirement to treat the customer fairly. However they are also required to occasionally freeze accounts if money laundering or terrorism is suspected and in such circumstances they are not allowed to say why they have blocked the account. The below blog from Monzo provides more insight into the process.

https://monzo.com/blog/2019/04/04/why-we-block-freeze-close-monzo-accounts

Have you done anything financially suspicious recently?

Alex

Snow_Dog

So when you login to Ratesetter can you see the funds in your holding account? Or have they suspended your login as well?


Ratesetter are still running and open for business afaik since i was logged in several minutes ago and wondering just when the 1yr might drift back up to 5%+


So if you cannot login to your account then they have definitely frozen you out. I would keep on at them, even if it was a few hundred let alone six figure sum. The first thought that went through my head like someone already mentioned is a six figure sum coming in out of the blue would probably trigger alarms re money laundering in which case Ratesetter are doing it by the book which we cannot blame them for.


Good luck with getting your money back from them. My only question really would be, house proceeds and your savings, all stuck into a P2P platform? That really is quite a gamble for what is effectively 5% pa across the three markets.

xoxo20

Prism wrote: »

Could it be that they asked for proof of where the funds came from and for some reason they were not satisfied?

They didnt ask me for any sort of proof of funds. The money for the sale of my property came from my solicitor which is clearly on my bank statement. Also my bank sent me a payment advise which I have and also use as proof of where the funds came from but they have not asked for any of this.

xoxo20

Snow_Dog wrote: »

So when you login to Ratesetter can you see the funds in your holding account? Or have they suspended your login as well?

Ratesetter are still running and open for business afaik since i was logged in several minutes ago and wondering just when the 1yr might drift back up to 5%+

So if you cannot login to your account then they have definitely frozen you out. I would keep on at them, even if it was a few hundred let alone six figure sum. The first thought that went through my head like someone already mentioned is a six figure sum coming in out of the blue would probably trigger alarms re money laundering in which case Ratesetter are doing it by the book which we cannot blame them for.

Good luck with getting your money back from them. My only question really would be, house proceeds and your savings, all stuck into a P2P platform? That really is quite a gamble for what is effectively 5% pa across the three markets.

I am not able to login as they have suspended my access.

Well I didn't invest all my money into ratesetter in one go. It was invested over a 6 month period so if they were suspicious of money laundering they should have done their due diligence much sooner. None of it makes sense to me. I have nothing to hide and have the proof of where the funds have came from. My money is clean and legit.

Yes you are absolutely right but it was always short term while I was working on a longer term investment strategy. I have certainly learnt a big lesson, just waiting to get my money and never again!

xoxo20

Have you done anything financially suspicious recently?
definitely not aside putting money into the market to invest when the rates are very good. The last investment I bought was a good few months hence I cant really get my head round why they would decide to withhold my fund.

Alex[/QUOTE]