Revolut - Frozen accounts and poor customer service

JonnieBoy

I have had a Revolut account/card for around two years now. Upgraded to Metal (monthly charge) when it became available and have been (for the most part) happy.


In January 2019, Revolut froze my account for a "source of funding" review. Although not welcome at the time, Revolut accepted scanned copies of my self-assessment tax return and passport and after a couple of days, I was free to use the account again.


However, on 11/10/2019, Revolut contacted me asking "the nature of my relationship with D**** P******". Oblivious to what was to come, I stated that he was my Father.

On the morning of 14/10/2019, Revolut froze both my account and my Fathers. Normally this would have been just a minor inconvenience - however, my Father is/was on holiday for 7 weeks in the South of Spain with my Mother.


Revolut made a very basic "source of funding" enquiry of my Father - who replied that he receives both a state and private pension. Since this time, Revolut has not approached either of us with any questions.


I suspect the transaction which prompted the issue was around 8-9/10/2019. My Mother (83 years-old, Parkinsons sufferer) who can get easily confused asked me to deal with her holiday money... to this end, she transferred me £1000 but said she wanted to decide what to do that week (her condition means she tends to overthink decisions). Eventually I persuaded her that I should get £200 from the local Sainsbury's travel money booth in Euros - and the remaining funds I transferred onto my Revolut account in Sterling and then immediately transferred Revolut-Revolut to my Father's card. This left a Sterling balance on my Father's Revolut of around £780 and a Euro balance of 500-800e (that had been on the card for some months).


I fully accept the need to due diligence and security checks, however, it feels to me that online banking providers like Monzo, Revolut etc have implemented excessively "twitchy" security systems and have insufficient staff to progress review flagged by the automated system.


My parents are still in Spain but have not had access to their Revolut funds now for 15 days. Attempts to contact Revolut are met with templated reponses - but the general gist is to wait, be patient and at some (undefined) time in the future Revolut will conclude their enquiries.


This really isn't good enough. I can't help feeling that a "high street bank" would require some evidence of serious misuse of an account before they would freeze the funds - perhaps if they were making a SOCA declaration etc or had received a court order?


In desperation, I contacted @RevolutApp on Twitter - they responded by direct message promising to escalate the review as a priority and that they would get in contact when they had discussed the matter with the appropriate team - then lapsed back to templated replies - they have now blocked my Twitter account!


I am certain many forum users will leap to Revolut's defence but my message to people debating applying for a Revolut card is... do you really want to trust your money to a (faceless) organisation which is willing to freeze accounts on (perhaps) the slightest hint of a problem and then takes more than a fortnight to review the situation? For my part, I wish I'd never suggested Revolut to my parents.

Terry_Towelling

Welcome to the Forum, JonnieBoy - sorry about the circumstances though.

What you write raises a lot of questions, but can I please just ask a couple?

Firstly, when Revolut were carrying out their earlier 'source of funds' review, can you tell us why they accepted your tax papers and passport as sufficient for said review? Those items might help Revolut to properly identify you, but they don't do anything to answer questions about the source of any funds passing into your account - which was, after all, the purpose of their review.

And secondly, why did your mother transfer funds to you for you to take some cash out and then send the remainder to your father's account? Why didn't she just send it all to your father's account in the first place? Also, what is the point in you having an amount of Euros in cash (from Sainsbury's here in the UK) when your mother is in Spain? How is she supposed to spend that cash? Or have I misunderstood something?

Sorry, I have a third question, too. Do you really feel that having your account frozen is 'normally' a minor inconvenience? Most people would probably disagree, and your use of the word, 'normally', makes it sound like it is something that often happens to you.

born_again

So your father has a Revolut acc, transfers funds to you, sorry your mother did this from your fathers acc.. You then transfer it back less a certain amount as you got euro's for your mother.
Why did your father not do it himself?

Sorry but this just screams at anyone in the banking world.

CrispySte

I am also going through this at the moment. Revolut (a company of which I am usually a big fan) froze my card without warning two weeks ago.

In my case I wasn't transferring any money to or from anyone, other than my bank account (with Lloyds, held in my name).

Ok, fair enough, checks are required. They asked me a few questions about some recent transactions and asked me to provide some documents. I am abroad at the moment and for the foreseeable future so I don't have my payslips, tax forms etc, which are at home in the UK. I suggested I provide my tax history and summary from HMRC online, which I did and they accepted.

All of the above I'm happy with and understand the need for these checks. However what isn't acceptable is the time taken. It is now two weeks since the day they froze my account and I provided the documents and I have had no access to my Revolut account or cards.

This is proving quite expensive for me as I need to use my debit card from Lloyds, which charges high currency conversion fees. That is not to mention the monthly fee I pay Revolut for the service that I am not currently receiving.

Surely this cannot be acceptable, can it?! Especially given that Revolut is marketed at exactly this kind of use... i.e. reducing the cost of spending abroad.

Terry_Towelling

Well, no one here can really tell you why your card and account have been frozen - for that matter, Revolut probably can't either - especially if they suspect crime. The time taken to sort things out is also not something this forum can influence.

Perhaps complain to Revolut about paying a fee for something you can't use.

As for the contention that you weren't paying anyone but just transferring money to your Lloyds account; isn't that the very definition of paying someone? Revolut doesn't necessarily know the Lloyds account is yours - even if you tell them it is.

How does the monthly fee compare to the forex charges you are getting with your Lloyds card?

CrispySte

Hi Terry,

Yes indeed nobody here can influence. Just wanted to put in my two penny's worth.

As for the forex charges at Lloyds. At 2.99% + 50p per transaction the charges dwarf the monthly Revolut fee, even after I change my spending habits (i.e. not spending small transactions on the card, withdraw max at each ATM visit). And that's before the 1% cashback on all spending I get from Revolut.

There are cheaper debit cards than the Lloyds one, but I didn't realise I'd need one until now.

Oh well, it is what it is.

Terry_Towelling

@CrispySte can you pinpoint anything on your Revolut account that might conceivably arouse suspicion, or that might look out of character with your normal transfers/spending/paying-in patterns? If your account has been blocked, it's been done for a reason; you may be entirely innocent, but something will have triggered Revolut to take this action.

odds1996

Revolut has suspended my account for over a month. What should I do?

mjdembovsky

Revolut has frozen my daughter in law's  card.  Our son and his wife are studying and living abroad.  Together with her parents, we provide an amount of money each month to cover their living expenses.  It's been easiest to do this via Revolut as the currency exchange process is simple and good value.  However, without warning, the card has been frozen and they're asking for copies of my tax returns.  I'm not really inclined to provide this and cannot see why that might be necessary.    My daughter in law has asked for Revolut to be in touch with me directly but so far I have heard nothing from them.  Any advice gratefully received.  Thank you.

jonesMUFCforever

mjdembovsky said:

Revolut has frozen my daughter in law's  card.  Our son and his wife are studying and living abroad.  Together with her parents, we provide an amount of money each month to cover their living expenses.  It's been easiest to do this via Revolut as the currency exchange process is simple and good value.  However, without warning, the card has been frozen and they're asking for copies of my tax returns.  I'm not really inclined to provide this and cannot see why that might be necessary.    My daughter in law has asked for Revolut to be in touch with me directly but so far I have heard nothing from them.  Any advice gratefully received.  Thank you.

I'm assuming your daughter in law has had discussions with Revolut about why they are asking for your tax returns?
Now it is up to you if you want to do this - the card will remain frozen until they are satisfied that the monies being transferred to her are legitimate.
I doubt if they will be in touch with you direct as you are not their customer.
This is the first time that I have heard of something like this as I wouldn't want my daughter in law to have sight of how much I earn to comply!