International transfers - Revolut is a joke

JohnBravo

Hi All,

I expected a transfer in USD to Revolut.
Yesterday I have even upgraded from Free to Metal(more than Premium) plan

5am - information that the transfer is waiting and they need to verify some information and lift the restrictions.
10:30am - the face recognition + I selected what is this about + attached the Remittance of Payment
now it takes up to 3h to verify
1pm - transfer has been declined (I presume this was more or less automatic)
2pm - my account restrictions have been removed (I think this was some human intervention)

Now since the transfer was declined the app says that is can take up to 20 days for the money to reach the sender.
Contacted the support but they were not helpful and were not able to provide any details why they declined just plain security reasons. They asked me to try again but I have little confidence.

I admit I don't use it on regular basis and have not used it for quite some time but I have this for over 5 years now and used it abroad as well.

I don't know if I should ask the sender to try again or don't bother and try with Wise.

I am thinking to look if there is any 14-days money back guarantee because my experience of Premium or Metal isn't great.
Because this is an app you only get half of the picture.
They send you some information over email, some as popups in the app and then the chat in the app. I hate this.
They didn't send any invoice for the Metal account subscription either.

P.S. I think they declined because I selected Other for the source of money. But none of the listed options matched. I think their system triggers a prejudice if you select Other.

DoboChopSueyBar

That's strange of Revolut to decline an incoming transfer, something must have spooked them wrt AML regulations, How much was the amount for?

FWIW in the 2-3 years I've been using Revolut Premium, (mainly to receive AED every month) i''ve never had an incoming transfer refused. Worst thing that has happened is that Revolut put an incoming transfer on hold for 1-2 days whilst they carry out checks - but i've never had to provide further info (it probably helps that the sender is also me).

PRAISETHESUN

Possibly something to do with this? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6556634/manditory-refund-of-up-to-85k-for-app-fraud/p1

Either way it's stuff like this that led me to move away from Revolut. It's ok when it works but as soon as something out of the ordinary happens, good luck getting in touch with anyone who can resolve the issue.

JohnBravo

Hi,
Few days later the transfer was sent for the second time (the exact same amount) and it went through with no problem.
Surprisingly this time there was no app notifications, email that the transfer is pending.
I didn't have to do any verification and select the option what is this for.

I admit there was a support case open with Revolut for the last 3+ days to find out what's the problem.

I think if you don't use Revolut that much they will block and decline incoming transfers (any or only the ones for bigger amounts) and/or as PRAISETHESUN has suggested was triggered by recent events/scandals.
They have a chat support and this is what they recommend people to use.
The problem I have with that is you don't have a record of the communication as everything is in the app.

If they close your account just like that (or you change your phone), all the history goes with it as well.
They have a support email address and it looks like they respond to you via email like once a day. They responded on Saturday as well. I don't know if the support for Metal is faster than for Premium subscription.

From what I see there is not much choice. There is Wise.
I cannot afford or I am not eligible for private banking for some fancy bankers to handle international transfers for me and I am down to e-money platforms(apps) which are not banks.

jbrassy

As has been mentioned, Revolut are great, until something goes wrong. That's why I stopped using them a few years ago.

Wise is a good alternative, but if you want some more options, you could consider the HSBC Global Money Account or Zing (also owned by HSBC).