Using Lemfi for savings. Any feedback please

cannonballdaze

Hi, recently Which recommended LemFi for a great (clean) EA savings rate - 5% inc. bonus - via their App. FSCS protection by Clearbank.
Does anyone on here have any experience of them please ? I'd like to place quite a lot of money with them. Cheers. Joe

k12479

Limited experience. Opened an account and funded it, which was fairly standard i.e. quick and easy.

There are daily and weekly limits for transferring money in (and out), £10k daily, £20k weekly, I think, which makes it of limited use for me.

flaneurs_lobster

Similar - opened, funded, withdrawal - all easy enough.

Note that the 5% rate is only for 6 months.

cannonballdaze

Thx both, I'll give it a go once I've passed their account opening hurdles. Cheers - Joe

MaxBlax

Since LemFi's (Lemonade Finance) Instant Access Savings Account provided by ClearBank with 5% interest on balances up to £250k does NOT have a sort code or account number, the only two ways to transfer money into the account is to link the savings account to the source account through open banking, of which there are privacy concerns, or to transfer the money via a linked LemFi wallet, of which there is a £10k daily transaction limit, meaning the transfer of amounts larger than £10k must be undertaken in £10k daily instalments

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053753#Comment_82053753

What privacy concerns are there? That you'll be giving a TPP the same information they'd get from LemFi if they processed your payment by other means? I think if you use fintech companies without their own banking infrastructure, you have to accept your information will be shared with their banking and payment processing partners however you pay money in. KYC/AML regulations see to that.

mta999

There are no privacy issues using open banking to transfer money into your savings account

cannonballdaze

All OK so far, money in, money out as a test. A £20k transfer in attracted a two day delay for a money laundering check. I advise transfers in of £10k or less at a time.

Cheers. Joe

robbo23

I would strongly urge anyone considering using Lemfi to read all of the 1 star reviews on Trust Pilot. Those reviews tell of many experiences which are similar to mine.

Like many other people, I opened a savings account with Lemfi, having been drawn in by their 5% interest rate. I transferred a couple of small amounts into this account to make sure they were going through. Then I tried a larger transfer, which went through. Following that I made one final transfer of £14000, which Lemfi placed “Under Review”. It is now 48 hours since I made that transfer and they still have not released my money.

Initially they said they needed further information and wanted to know what I planned to do with the money, what my occupation is, and to provide 3 months of statements from the account I was transferring from. I supplied all of this information but the following day they said this was not enough and they now needed to see where these funds originated and to know how I came to have them.

Once again, I provided answers to their questions but still they did not release my money.

I am a British citizen and have lived in the UK my whole life. Just over 10 years ago, my mother died and she left me some money, which I keep in a savings account. Each year I shop around for a better rate. As the promotional rate on my existing savings account was coming to an end, I decided to try Lemfi. Big mistake.

Within the app I used the feature to “Report a problem” with the transaction and this resulted in a phone call from Lemfi, telling me not to worry, my money was safe and this would be resolved within 48 hours. I also submitted an email to their support team which has not been answered.

I have now withdrawn as much money from that account as I can, but they still have £14000 of my money, which is not earning interest and which I can not access. I have contacted the sending back to ask if they can reverse the transaction and they are looking into this. Having posted a review on Google Play, I am now leaving this review to warn others. After this I will take steps to report this company to the financial ombudsman.

I have NEVER had any deposit into a bank or savings account blocked or placed under review like this. This is MY money, which I transferred from MY account into MY account and Lemfi have taken it. There is no justification for this and, from reading other reviews on here, this is not the first time they have used these tactics. What are they doing with all this money that is being placed “Under Review”?

What I didn’t realise at the time was that there are limits on how much you can pay in and withdraw and I had inadvertently gone over the £10K paying in limit. I am hoping this is the only reason my money has been blocked.

Why Lemfi could not have told me at the time that I had already reached my daily limit is beyond me.

masca

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094226#Comment_82094226

Sorry to hear of your woes. My OH and I have both had savings accounts with Lemfi for 2+ months. We stuck to the limits (which have been discussed here previously and are shown on the account home page) and both made several deposits over a week or so. Subsequently, just a couple of weeks ago, one of us was subject to a (random?) money laundering check. We supplied the requested info and were soon told that all was okay and the verification check had concluded successfully. We have yet to make any sizeable withdrawals. Unfortunately I suspect that it was transferring in excess of the daily limit that has caused your experience to the contrary.

cloud_dog

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6671749/using-lemfi-for-savings-any-feedback-please

Opened an account, for obvious reasons.

I found the AML to be very onerous, and a little constrained. By this I mean their process, when you transfer large amounts it assumes and only allows you to select lump sum type options for the source of the lump sum, e.g. house sale, etc etc. This is a little problematic if you have accrued a large amount of savings over time, and you are just moving capital from Provider 1 to Provider 2. The first (provision of evidence etc) was dealt with via the app, but the second transfer triggered the same AML requirements for evidence, and unbelievably the support person expected me to provide the evidence over open email. I insisted (a few times) and eventually they 'rejigged' the app to prompt me for evidence.

Whilst I understand the need for AML requirements, the Lemfi implementation is 'limited' in expecting you to have somehow reqieved a lump sum at some point.

I think the 5% rate only lasts for 6 months (or until early December; I really should check), so this is only a temporary account for us.

Oh yes, and you will end up with 2 accounts; the receiving / withdrawal account and a second 5% savings account, so any transfers (which are fairly instantaneous) need you to remember to log in and move any funds from the receiving account into the savings account.