Pockit and Think Money

pauldaimler · 21 March 2022 at 9:11AM

I write this out of sheer frustration and despair, whilst I recognize that terrible events are unfolding the plight of vulnerable people is a constant and increasing theme at home and abroad. What I write to you about is Digital Banks Pockit and Think Money. My younger son with ADHD and mental health problems 26 yo manages to hold down a part time job whilst also on Universal Credit. My son opened an account with Pockit in December 2021; an initial payment of £50 was paid in to the Pockit account by a friend of his and the account was immediately frozen. Pockit asked for details of my son’s residential status, passport, medical health condition details and so on citing the need to comply with money laundering regulations which he sent by app and hard copy.The required documents were sent and then a few days later having heard nothing my sons Universal Credit funds were paid in to the account, in total around £650. Pockit then closed the account with no explanation. Here we are now in March 2022 and despite emailing, phoning, writing hard copy registered letter, contacting the Financial Service Ombudsman and even writing to my MP there is no indication of when if or how my son will get his money back.He was left with no money over Xmas so I had to sub him funds. I left a negative review of Pockit on Trust Pilot last week and within a few hours we received an email from Pockit citing that due to GDPR they cannot talk to me which I understand, so my son emailed them from his email address as he has done may times in the past and again he is being ignored still. It seems that there are many people in the same position as my son having looked online, out of pocket with no redress or explanation and in many cases desperate.It seems to me that these banks are deliberately targeting people who for whatever reason cannot gain access to regular banking i.e. vulnerable, taking their money and freezing it, hiding behind banking regulations in some cases for years, in order to prop up their investment strategy. The FSO seems incapable of addressing this and because there is no branch network associated with these banks they can just stonewall their customers complaints. . Now the same thing has happened with THink MOney another ccount he opened as a result of the problems with Pockit, having paid in a sizeable cheque they have also frozen his account.Its scandalous that these banks can get away with stealing money from vulnerable people. We are still dealing with obfuscation and frankly lies from these institutions and they seem to be getting away with it. In the meantime my sons mental health is deteriorating from the stress and he has lost all faith in the banking system.