Revolut account frozen

phillw

marek8760 said:

Went through the formal complaint procedure to the bank and got a Final Response that did not uphold my complaint (complaint being excessive time taken). Registered my complaint with the FOS and informed Revolut of the same so it is now up to them to decide to review and act or wait until the FOS has looked at it. Will update as info comes back.

If they have given you a final response, then I don't see why they would do anything until the ombudsman tells them to.

The_Urbanite

There is no upper time limit for reviews. Nobody regulates the efficiency of these reviews so they can take as long as they want. 

Revolut have no incentive to return the funds - as far as they’re concerned it’s just case sitting under a pile of paperwork on somebody’s desk which isn’t a priority and nobody is going to trouble them for not dealing with it.

With fintechs I have specific uses for them that benefit me. I transfer money in and spend it on what I need to immediately. Nowadays when these account blocks come there’s a balance of £0.01 so they can take as long as they want to do their reviews. 

Don’t trust them with your money! I hope you get yours back. 

marek8760

Update from Ombudsman : it could be up to 4 months before they get round to contacting me depending on when an investigator becomes available. 
Update from Revolut : they have decided they don’t want me as a customer and have given me 60 days to remove my funds!!
So, what do I make of this? First, I checked the account was active again by transferring £10 to my First Direct account. It is - but restricted to withdrawing funds only. That means I can get my money out and will be doing so very soon, however, once my money is out and they close the account, presumably there is no case to answer to the Ombudsman? Are they trying to avoid my complaint being investigated and potentially upheld with a fine and compensation to go with it? Probably, I would say. Any thoughts?

eskbanker

marek8760 said:

once my money is out and they close the account, presumably there is no case to answer to the Ombudsman? Are they trying to avoid my complaint being investigated and potentially upheld with a fine and compensation to go with it? Probably, I would say. Any thoughts?

No, closure of the account after going through the complaints process doesn't negate the FOS case, so FOS can still side with you regarding how Revolut dealt with your complaint.  They may decide that Revolut should compensate you for the issues experienced but have no remit to levy fines as such....

marek8760

Hi to anyone still following this thread, or anyone chancing upon it.
An update:
I removed all my funds bar £0.42
The deadline for closure of my account has passed. The account has been closed and the £0.42 pence has disappeared. (A holding account maybe?)
Meanwhile the FOS wrote to me to inform me of an offer made by Revolut to resolve my complaint. It amounts to 8% interest on my funds for the time the account was frozen plus £150 for distress and inconvenience. If I accept the offer then the FOS will drop the investigation into my complaint. If I don’t accept, they will pursue the complaint. They advised me that, without looking into the details of the case, the offer was in line with what they would be seeking on my behalf.

So, is there any advantage in letting the FOS pursue the investigation? For me? For the public good? Or should I take the money? Revolut have, it seems to me, been entirely cynical throughout this, and in many other similar cases. To what end I do not know, but probably not simply to comply with their statutory obligations. I am not inclined to simply let them off the hook, but, if there is no advantage, then I will take the money.
Comments welcome.

eskbanker

marek8760 said:

Meanwhile the FOS wrote to me to inform me of an offer made by Revolut to resolve my complaint. It amounts to 8% interest on my funds for the time the account was frozen plus £150 for distress and inconvenience. If I accept the offer then the FOS will drop the investigation into my complaint. If I don’t accept, they will pursue the complaint. They advised me that, without looking into the details of the case, the offer was in line with what they would be seeking on my behalf.

I don't see how FOS can take a view about what they'd be seeking on your behalf if they haven't looked into the details of the case!

marek8760 said:
So, is there any advantage in letting the FOS pursue the investigation? For me? For the public good? Or should I take the money? Revolut have, it seems to me, been entirely cynical throughout this, and in many other similar cases. To what end I do not know, but probably not simply to comply with their statutory obligations. I am not inclined to simply let them off the hook, but, if there is no advantage, then I will take the money.

Comments welcome.

If FOS continue with the case, it would only be for your benefit, not for some greater public good - their remit is only to resolve individual cases, rather than to take wider action against a company, although the FCA may do this if aggregate complaint volumes warrant it.  So, the question is really whether or not you feel the settlement offer is acceptable, and what the prospect is of anything better if you don't....

grumbler

eskbanker said:

marek8760 said:
So, is there any advantage in letting the FOS pursue the investigation? For me? For the public good? Or should I take the money? Revolut have, it seems to me, been entirely cynical throughout this, and in many other similar cases. To what end I do not know, but probably not simply to comply with their statutory obligations. I am not inclined to simply let them off the hook, but, if there is no advantage, then I will take the money.

Comments welcome.

If FOS continue with the case, it would only be for your benefit, not for some greater public good...

Any fine bigger than £150 would make some greater public good, even if the OP doesn't get this money.

marek8760

I don't see how FOS can take a view about what they'd be seeking on your behalf if they haven't looked into the details of the case!

They based it on the admission of Revolut that they had frozen my account for an undue period of time (9 months). What the FOS have not looked at yet are the twists and turns, Revolut rejecting my internal complaint, verifying my account and then not unblocking it, and finally, once I informed them of my referral to the FOS, only then unblocking my account so I could remove my funds as they had decided they don’t want me as a customer for no good reason -  all of which amounts to a cynical disregard of me as a customer and definitely caused distress and inconvenience. 

DavidT67

I can tell you from prior experience that the FOS does not penalise institutions for being slow and inefficient.  So take the money offered and move on.  You could wait a year for a FOS case review and still get the same outcome.

marek8760

Thanks. I suspect that is the best advice.