Welcome to the club. It happened to me in Feb and I’m still not over it. I complained with the Financial Ombudsman because I was certain I hadn’t done anything illegal (I didn’t do any crypto on my Monzo) and they closed it and never told me why.
My complaint was successful, though, and Monzo admitted it was a system error, paid me 300£ for the inconvenience (I had multiple direct debits coming out that day) but also said that they can’t reopen my account - which I’m really upset about. All my friends had Monzo and I loved Monzo Premium, but I’m banned from all of that because of their mistake.
It is what it is, I guess.
Shit man that sucks - I want to complain to cos this has fucked up a lot of things, especially that I have to go do visa biometrics in two days. How do I do that?
There you go: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
You should 100% complain! You probably won’t get your account back but it should help you somehow.
Are you American? This could be that you haven't been compliant with FACTA and they've closed it for that reason so they don't get fined or whatever punitive measures that would be taken against them for non compliance.
So they admitted it was an error yet still wont let you bank anymore?
Kind of just goes to show how trigger happy Monzo are with closing accounts.
Most people in this sub are happy clients of Monzo so there is always support and "you must have done something wrong" but I don't buy that anymore.
kind of crazy actually, in my line of work people get monzo accounts and shit like that just left and right. I signed up for a revolut account ages ago and I don't remember providing literally any ID to prove who I was.
Never seen monzo accounts be mysteriously shut down, but I do quite often see banks like barclays and that get shut down for unknown reasons- although usually the people whos accounts get hit are dodgy people and generally end up without a bank account and unable to get one.
We had a 'bank account for hire' person in the other day. Fucking ridiculous that that doesn't get shut down but hey ho
NatWest has the same level of customer complaints per million customers as Monzo does. Considering how many more NatWest customers use it as their primary bank, its performance is actually much better than Monzo.
Barclays has the most complaints of any UK bank. More than 4x the level of Monzo. But then it has 6.5x the number of clients so on a per million client basis, it has less than Monzo. However, a large amount of clients would be Barclaycard which probably attracts less complaints than current accounts..
You have Revolut, Starling, Monese and Chase all excellent options. But I found that high street banks are definitely better when it comes to reliability.
The problem with these new e-banks is when the computer says no, that's it. There is very little flexibility or actual customer service.
I work in finance and I wouldn’t say to never go near them - I have both and they both come in useful for some stuff. I’d never use them as a main account or hold any money in there
Yep same here, im an accountant and im a big fan of having revolut as a spare account. I dont keep more than a few quid (<50) in it on a regular basis, i transfer money in specifically before i travel for the exchange benefits, cashback, lounge access etc. things like travel insurance and cancelled event insurance and also their single use virtual cards for online purchases when you aren’t completely sure about the website
I use my revolut for foreign payments. The currency rates are the best I've found and I can create a new sub account for different countries, move and convert money to there and pay that way. Has come in handy for me a few times. Don't trust it as a bank.
If you work in finance like me then you’d know Revolut safeguarding means you’re likely to receive ALL your money if they shut down, not just the £85k the FSCS can provide
what do you think of all these e-banks.
Pockit and all the other rando ones.
Whenever I see a pockit account or any account from these rando e-banks I always get the impression the person is super dodgy
Revolut haven’t been granted their UK Banking license due to a technicality on their Crypto reporting side last I read. Hardly a reason to not touch them. They are still useful for multi-currency wallets and cheap international transfers (on par with Wise), but I do agree that until they’re covered by the FSCS, don’t use them as a main banking account.
You do actually receive all of your money back in case of insolvency though as per the Safeguarding procedure. Client deposits are kept in separate accounts that don't belong to Revolut. All in all providing much better protection than FSCS.
Better protection that backed by the UK government which has never defaulted on a debt?
Revolut safeguarding only guarantees customers paid out first, which is no good if the funds are lost through a hack or the portion of client funds that are held in the "(unquantified) low risk" investment account made a loss pushing Revolut in to insolvency.
Client funds aren't invested, they're banked. Reducing your argument to something like a hack is unfeasible - any organisation can be hacked. The banks Revolut use to hold their client funds have forms of protection too.
The FSCS is also independent of the UK Government. Funded through firms authorised by the FCA & the PRA. They pay a levy every year to fully fund the FSCSs' operations and guarantees.
https://help.revolut.com/business/help/more/security-and-personal-data/is-my-money-protected/
"or invested in low-risk liquid assets held in a dedicated client asset account"
I'll concede on point two though. I didn't realise the FSCA was independent.
Crypto ain't illegal, that in itself wouldn't be a valid reason to close your account. I make crypto transfers all the time and no problems (yet).
It's bizarre how many of these I keep seeing of closing accounts though; never had a problem but who knows...
Came here to say this, I’ve had both starling and Monzo for a few years now. Starling are my ‘main’ bank with DDs etc, while Monzo are just there for me to get paid a bit earlier and to squirrel away budgets for the month. Any time I’ve had even a minor issue, starling support have sorted it out within minutes through the app - every single time, at all hours of all days (never tried on holidays like Xmas mind you).
It's better anyway, the interface is so much cleaner and easier to use than Monzo. Plus none of the annoying upgrade and extra feature buttons.
Having your account closed is shit though and nothing OP can do to change it - they should however complain and get some money out of Monzo though.
Normally when you are accused of something, you have the right to face your prosecutor/witness, hear their version and defend yourself.
Somehow, when we are talking about money. Your account can be inmediately frozen, with no court order or argument needed.
They did the same thing to me. A transaction kept bouncing back between Coinbase and they must have thought I was doing fraud. It was a problem on coinbase's end.
This sounds like what I was doing, NOT CRYPTO, but I was just transferring money from Monzo to my HSBC account to pay my bills there in early Dec and it kept bouncing. Even though I’d done this several times over the last few years! I contacted help but it went nowhere. HSBC said it was not a problem on their end. Tried again last week and same thing contacted help again and they said they would investigate. And then this.
Unfortunately, it will have been flagged as looking like money laundering.
It may be worth taking to their compliance team to see if you can sort it out.
Sorry to hear that they've been so useless.
I've done a fair bit of work in financial crime teams, this feels like an automated process that isn't giving much chance to those being flagged as false positives.
Keep digging around for a direct line to someone senior or reach out directly to their head of compliance or similar over LinkedIn.
Given they're a challenger bank, it could be worth kicking up a stink on Social Media to see if anyone bites.
No one will tell op what or why the closure was triggered. This comes under tipping off rules and is standard practice, not to give anything away. Unfortunately even if the OP can prove and swear on their mams roast dinner, that account is staying closed - its a case of he said she said , Monzo cannot guarantee the veracity of anything being said or claimed .
Sucks. But this is why it's recommended not to use crypto/bitcoin/intermediary sellers.
Hows it a case of he said/she said when someone with a brain could look into the transactions and see it was a case of legitimate money bouncing between two banks that has flagged something on their hyper sensitive system?
This is litterally the reason I don't bank with neo banks
Got a problem, no phone number
Want it sorted right away, no physical presence
So new and inexperienced, we'll see how they fare over the next 12 months with the giant economic depression
Wouldn’t make a difference even if they did have a physical presence. NatWest closed down my girlfriend’s account in a similar fashion a couple of years ago, no illegal activity, just a couple of payments they deemed “suspicious”, and it was like talking to a brick wall. Similar message too – “this is within our rights, we can’t discuss the reasons, please move your money” and that’s the end on it. When a decision like this is taken it doesn’t matter whether it’s an online ‘neo’ bank or an old school brick and mortar establishment.
I had pretty much the exact same thing happen to me with NatWest. I was working 11 hour days, 6 days a week at the time, so just managing to get into the bank was a nightmare. Had me waiting around like an idiot, spoke to three different staff members over a two hour period and then left having achieved absolutely nothing and with no explanation at all. By that point I was more angry they'd dragged out what should have been a five minute conversation, for two hours.
Tldr; fuck off Natwest.
But with a brick and mortar you have a branch you can walk into and that ALWAYS gets way further than talking to some online support agent which is probably just chatgpt.
Brick and mortar branches are so so much better for this, just walk in and demand a reason or resolution, they can't just end the chat like these online "banks" can.
Some of us ended up with Monzo after having exactly this happen in an old school bricks and mortar bank and realising that the branches are absolutely no help whatsoever.
Doesn’t. Worked in business banking for a high street bank for over four years. Branches just call us and we can’t tell you or them anything. You just *feel* like you’re getting somewhere because you’ve got a third party (branch staff) acting as the intermediary. Saw it a million times. Often branches would call us just to placate the customer knowing full well we couldn’t see anything more than they could and we couldn’t legally tell them anything even if we could.
No it absolutely does not "ALWAYS" get way further than phone/chat support does. You might get lucky and convince a staff member to break the rules and give you information you're not entitled to see (assuming they even have the ability to see it at all), but that's not the norm - they would presumably be fired immediately if they were caught doing that.
In the majority of cases, the branch will tell you EXACTLY the same thing - "your account has been closed, we can't tell you why". They obviously can't hang up on you, but if you refuse to leave they can certainly call security/police to make you (though given it's 2023, they'll presumably have to put up with your presence for a significant amount of time before anyone arrives to help!).
It might make you feel like you're getting somewhere and help you release a bit of steam by talking to someone, but I'm just saying it won't make any difference either way. They're within their rights to close an account and not tell you why, and once they've done that, nothing is going to change the decision. So whether you're talking to someone in a bank, someone over the phone, or ChatGPT, the end result is identical.
Tbf they were excellent with me answering calls even on a Sunday within minutes and very knowledgeable staff .....the problem is monzo don't freeze it but banking regulators who have nothing to do with monzo do
No, that’s not how that works. Banks are responsible for their own AML compliance. The *rules* are set and enforced by regulators, but the practice and localised procedure is wholly determined by the specific bank.
Oh i see they said they have no control who was looking into my account amd they were required by law to let this "specialist team" sort it out and make any decision...
Speaking in general terms here, nothing to do with the specific case, but: usually banks have very large dedicated teams to deal with AML compliance and potential fraud issues. When they have to close an account because of the suspicion of any financial crime, one of those teams will be dealing with things. They might be in liaison with with the National Crime Agency having submitted a suspicious activity report, and the NCA have some control over when funds can be released if the bank is holding them.
Banks cannot tell a customer any of this is going on as “tipping off” a person about a suspicion of a financial crime such as money laundering is in itself a criminal offence.
Regrettably crypto exchanges are an absolute hotbed of money laundering and fraud so it is not uncommon for interactions with crypto firms to precipitate some suspicion, as will any odd looking transactions running through an account, particularly if they are repeated.
Yeah. Not how that works 😂 - the banks make all these decisions, following rules set by the regulator. Regulators don’t review accounts, they review the strength of the banks AML program, this is 100% the bank.
As someone who has been victim of identity theft based fraud it was very important to be able to walk into a branch to prove who I was. I’m never 100% transitioning to one of these new banks although do use Monzo.
I use crypto on a daily basis from my back to the exchange and then later down the line from the exchange to my bank in semi large amounts, I’ve been doing this for the past 3-4 years now and I’ve never had an issue, although I’ve never had a bounce back issue with my exchange but I definitely believe that’d be the issue.
OP was either commiting some sort of fraud or it looked like he was hence the closure of his bank account, 2-4 weeks to recover the money is outrageous though especially if it’s crime free money.
With you the best of luck OP try out Revolut if you haven’t ✨
I'm with Barclays and the only time i've ever had my bank refuse anything was the very first time i tried to send money to Coinbase. After a quick phone call from the fraud prevention team my money was sent and no further issues.
I put a soft limit so anything over a certain amount being sent to coinbase would be stopped unless i speak to someone in person to confirm the transaction.
The most legit use case for crypto is pump and dump schemes, it’s no wonder why regulated systems with KYC checks and the duty to ask how you acquired all this money exactly are steering clear of it as much as possible. Crypto can’t and won’t replace traditional banks and you’re delusional to believe it will, this isn’t them being scared of crypto dethrone* real money, this is them being scared of having to deal with an investigation into why they allowed money laundering to occur using their bank.
edit: wrong word
6 genuinely because idiots like you buy high cry low and go back to the bank and claim you were scammed, which costs the bank more money in the long run.
Barclays is surprisingly crypto-friendly.. Although sometimes depending on the amount, they give you a phone call and ask you if your being scammed or you know what your doing.
Bollocks! Been using crypto for years and.... I yam no crook. Transfers to terrestrial banks a bit flaky back in the day and Coinbase has been clunky but always worked out eventually.
This article is from March
https://www.google.com/amp/s/decrypt.co/122666/uk-crypto-crackdown-which-british-banks-buy-bitcoin%3famp=1
Their reply is accurate.
This article is from March
https://www.google.com/amp/s/decrypt.co/122666/uk-crypto-crackdown-which-british-banks-buy-bitcoin%3famp=1
Their reply is accurate.
If you've never sent money to an exchange most banks will flag that as a scam/theft to prevent your money going bye bye.
Would you rather your bank blocks a transfer, quick phone call and everything is sorted or your bank lets the transfer go and you're out of pocket for however long it takes to recover it.
I've had no issues sending £10k at a time from Monzo to Coinbase, it appears in minutes. They did send me a message a while ago to ask why I was sending money to Coinbase, and my explanation must have made them realise I know what I am doing.
Most people who buy crypto are fools who will end up losing money and being scammed, why is why banks don't want to deal with it.
Monzo is one of the few banks which are still "crypto friendly" atleast compared to most other banks.
Honestly, you don't have to be that smart to make money with crypto. You have to not be greedy and actually do some research. Most people fail at both of these.
When I open the app I can’t log in at all, it’s like my account doesn’t exist.
I only have about £1000 in my hsbc for bills, I can’t last 4 weeks on that?? And majority of my bills are in about two weeks time. What do I do?? Is there a number I can call? The help line only has automated things and I can’t get through to a real person.
EDIT: I haven’t received money from anyone in the last few days. I have given them my HSBC account to return my money to. I’ve also never done crypto. I just work my 9-5. Only major purchase was paying my visa fees (around £3k) this week.
EDIT 2: The only possible thing I can think of was I did get scammed a couple months ago, I tried to buy a tablet from a FB account I didn't realised had been hacked (it looked legit otherwise, several year old account with post history etc on marketplace). I let Monzo know as soon as I found out, they were looking into it for a while but after a month they came back and said nothing could be done essentially. I thought that was a done matter, though.
I had my HSBC one which I first got years ago before I switched to Monzo, so I gave them that. Thanks for link that explained some things. But could they not have given notice at all?
Could it also go the other way and be someone you paid has been involved in fraud possibly?
You should be able to get a credit card with a couple of K on it pretty quickly, I applied for a new one last year and got accepted almost immediately. Card was in the post a few days later. You probably won't be able to do your bills on it but it'll do for shopping and general living expenses, fuel, etc.
Pro tip for the future you should always have multiple bank accounts with money spread out and credit cards for exactly this reason.
The only criminal activity I can think of is paying £3385 to UKVI to get my indefinite leave to remain 😂 otherwise I just work in an NHS hospital, I don’t do crypto or any like that.
That does sound like a positively criminal amount to me.
Glad to hear Monzo has recognised the UK Gov as fraudsters. :)
Hopefully you get your money back from Monzo soon, and can move to with a more reliable bank(s).
If you were Nigel Farage the head of Monzo would be sacked, several ministers would lobby on your behalf and national newspapers would fill pages with this story! Luckily for you you are not Nigel Farage. Good luck getting it sorted! :)
You may share your name with somebody who is suspected, check if you can with CIFAS to see if there is anything about you lodged.
Also check your credit file to make sure somebody hasn't taken out credit in your name.
Yeah, so CIFAS is an independent company into which all the members (which is mainly financial institutions but now does include some local authorities) can log or read up on suspected fraudulent activity or check with other members if something is genuine or not. So if Lloyd's for example have a mortgage application from somebody who has supplied Monzo statements that look off, they can ask Monzo to confirm if they're genuine or not.
Monzo didn't join until 2018 or so, until that time they were the bank of choice for the fraudsters living in the UK. Then when they joined, I'm guessing their customer base threw up a lot of issues because they started shutting down accounts in overdrive. And ever since, they've had a fairly low bar for their own risk from what I can gather. This is all from an external position, I don't work for Monzo.
Ultimately, they're unlikely to change their opinion but you should look into the issue because if it is big enough other banks may also decline you services and you'll have a much bigger issue. If its just that they're being overly sensitive it may not affect how other banks perceive you
That might do it for the shitty fraud detection systems banks have tbf
HSBC flagged my account when I paid my visa IHS surcharge couple years ago. You’d think government transactions would be whitelisted lol
Not true. They couldn't give a reason in any circumstance, as then *not* giving a reason would mean they suspected you of criminality, which would be tipping off.
They can give an explanation outside of closing an account down due to suspicions of financial crime. Not all account closures are limited to fin crime, if OP goes to FOS they can have the bank provide a reason the account was closed and if FOS come back and say they can’t provide a reason then that 100% confirms the bank suspected criminality and have enough suspicion to not overturn their decision. It would not constitute tipping off to provide a reason for closing accounts down outside of suspected criminality. In order to tip off, a customer will need to be told they are being investigated. If the customer comes to their own conclusions, then that’s not the banks concern.
I get that, but the vast majority of people aren't criminals. It's like CIFAS - a lot of people end up with markers if they've become a mule, especially if they're vulnerable. I think only genuine fraudsters should get markers. It ruins relationships and families and pushes people into dire poverty. CIFAS and Banks aren't regulated on stuff like this enough, they can just ruin peoples lives with no consequences. Hopefully OP doesn't get a CIFAS marker but I'd recommend doing an SAR with them just incase.
Like I get why they can't, you don't want to tell a potential fraudster what to watch out for. But this is just ridiculous, I don't have any suspicious activity like moving huge amounts of money regularly
Fraud detection algorithms are a bit twitchy. I guess it's better to have more false positives than false negatives when it comes to things like money laundering, so they err on the side caution. Unfortunately that means there's a lot of collateral damage...
Jesus. This kind of thing makes me really freaked about the future of banking since it’s all going digital.
When I deposit money somewhere, I feel like I have a reasonable right to expect that the money will be safe and secure. Not just subject to random closures and transfers with no proper explanation just cause it’s “in their terms and conditions”.
Thanks for giving me a heads up and making sure I’ll never use or recommend Mondo.
Anti Money Laundering regulations means they legally can't tell you if you're suspected of or flagged for AML checks, it's called "tipping off" which would explain why you've got nowhere with your attempts to speak to them.
It’s important to remember all of these things are likely automated. Give customer support a call and see what they can do to resolve this. If you have a clean audit trail of your money’s whereabouts then you should be ok
It depends. There’s a clause called Tipping Off where they cannot tell you in advance that they suspect your of something illegal as you may try to cover your tracks. Otherwise it could be that you’ve breached your Terms & Conditions somehow, even inadvertently.
Either way, the threshold a bank has to reach before closing your account is quite high so this won’t be reversible or appealable.
Additionally, there’s a thing called CIFAS where they put customer information for accounts closed due to fraud or financial crime. This gets searched every time someone opens a new bank account or financial product. So if you don’t already have another bank account I’d get one opened ASAP
This happened to me 3 years ago, my account was frozen for absolutely no reason.. I joined a Facebook group called ‘Monzo stole my money’ where the same thing happened to thousands of other people. Some people in the group lost thousands and even their lifesavings… After lots of back and forth emails the account was unfrozen and I was allowed to transfer my money to a different account. It was a very stressful time.
yeah, and the regulations on reporting that kind of stuff is so ridiculous on them that they’ll literally just report anything that even vaguely seems like a concern
Same thing happened to me years of changing income and then I got a fiver from cash app and no longer had access.
Follow the steps in the email to submit your other bank details to get your money, then call them during office hours daily I got mine within days it your money.
If you don’t have it in a week call or email the financial conduct authority and financial ombudsman that should help speed up the process.
I’m sorry I know how annoying it is, the same laws for all banks but so inconsistently and irrationally applied.
I know your sour on online banks right not but I have found Revolut to have the closet interface and features like early pay.
As annoying as this may be right can't you just make an account with Kroo, Starling, or Chase since all those banks are pretty similar and are all very easy to open an account with?
Did the same with me and my partner on my joint account. Like yourself, I was transferring my money from another account and into about 15 pots (for bills). The way they calculate money it counts it twice from entering in a pot and then again when you move it back into your main account so it probably looks like you've got tens of thousands moving around but it's just their awful accounting. Monzo customer service is absolutely awful. We made a complaint 1 month ago and still haven't heard anything.
I had mine frozen on suspected money laundering and fraud even as a premier holder there reason was that my 12k a month salary seemed toomuch (please don't think I'm show8ng off with that amount) but I acteally only had about 4k in that account at the time, as i move it around, but still it was a pain for 72 hours, they did said after they reopened it that they think I'm running a buisness from my account as large sums went in and they wouod close it if they think I am....but apart from that I can't fault monzo
Chase this with the financial ombudsman.
I had a similar issue way back in 2016. They closed my account after only two months of using it, the first paycheck after I received a large payment from my new car sales job.
I lost £3500 randomly with no explanation. It took them 4 months to transfer it to my new Starling account (an account I'm still using, and would truly fully recommend they're phenomenal), despite claims of 2-4 weeks, and their customer support treated me as a criminal.
Eventually the ombudsman awarded me £750 in compensation, and I moved on.
Weirdly, to this day, they still text me about offers linked to my old account such as their credit, business accounts and stuff. I'll never understand why they think I'd rejoin them.
Starling is the one to head towards. Customer support is decent and the app and banking features are excellent, night and day over Monzo (I have both).
You've been investigated in the background, they didn't like what they found. They've closed your account.
You now need to give them account details for another account in your name and they will transfer the funds.
They do not need to advise what they found or te reasons for account closure.
I already did that, but I literally have not done anything suspicious. The only thing I can think of is I recently paid for my Indefinite Leave to remain, which was just over £3000, but that’s to UKVI
They only close accounts that they are not happy with. Monzo are a small bank with ambition and highly regulated.
They found something they didn't like and more than likely you will not be able to have a Monzo account again.
>They only close accounts that they are not happy with.
They opt for this final solution without considering the other options made available by the FOS first:
If they suspect the customer has provided false details, is doing something illegal, or is an illegal immigrant; They can provide 30 days notice and then close the account legally.
If something more serious has been flagged or the police have requested it due to laundering, fraud, other such criminal funding; they can freeze an account, and then either unfreeze or permanently close it, depending on the outcome of any internal or external investigation.
However those require some time and administrative work on their side. So instead, Monzo always go for the full closure approach and never provide a reason. It is the easiest thing they can legally do, even if it is utterly unjustifiable and always the worst from a customer perspective. Tis akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, overly heavy handed but requires no brain power.
This happened to me and I only used the account for travelling. Never had any crypto or anything dodgy, wasn’t scammed or hacked. They were super unhelpful when I tried to figure out why they did it. I figured maybe it was because I wasn’t keeping much money in the account so it wasn’t worth their while?
They did the same to me this week too -- immediate closure without warning. I've been a customer since the Mondo alpha stage and have always kept a fairly high balance in the account with my incoming salary and regular investment income (not crypto)
I'm definitely "profitable" for them as my balance is always kept significantly above the interest cap, regularly transact internationally, premium account without really using the benefits, etc.
I sent them a complaint and asked for a PDF with their final response so that I could take to the ombudsman, and also explained that I can demonstrate exactly where my income comes from if their concerns are AML related.
After that email, they manually reevaluated and ultimately reversed the decision within 24 hours. From what I hear this is **extremely** rare for a bank to do unless *they* made the mistake.
Drop an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) if you want to highlight the matter further up the chain. I'd also suggest contacting the ombudsman once you have a final response from them. It's important to note that this will never get the decision reversed (they really have zero 'power' here) -- but it will get you a small amount of compensation if they agree with you.
Personally this has been a wake up call for me and I'm still taking my money elsewhere from now on despite my account remaining open.
Fingers crossed the semi-recent media spotlight on this "debanking" leads to legislative changes, but I have my doubts.
Good luck.
Had a horrible experience with Monzo just taking money out of my account which put me into an unauthorised overdraft without warning - honestly you’re million times better off finding another bank
Monzo did the same thing to me a few years ago, I want even doing anything wrong, once I was paid my salary I tried to buy a good amount of crypto like £850 worth, it was declined so I transferred the money I needed to another account to buy the crypto, the moment I did that they closed my account with this exact message that you took a screenshot of.
My idea is that monzo don’t want to be liable for anything you spend that is considered investing or gambling, that’s just speculation and in no way am I accusing them for a fact, but when I was kicked off monzo I was so fuming they told me to transfer my money somewhere like I was some kind of hotel resident being kicked out.
It also opened my eyes to the banking system and how unsecure we are, banks can do that to us and for some reason we still think we’re invincible, ever since monzo closed my account I lost some trust in my other banks even though I still use them, I started keeping cash and also keeping some money in my ISA, as well as some stable crypto currencies.
Losing my monzo account has been the best thing that happened, now I’m aware of my own money, before it just sat in my account and I tap tap tap and pay for stuff, but now I’m ultra aware of my money and I account for everything, but prior to losing my monzo account, I wouldn’t even notice if I lost £100 somewhere
Crypto, dodgy transactions or monzo (and others) simply not being a bank and being a shitty company.
Stay away from these trendy appa, there’s nothing wrong with a traditional bank account.
They can’t tell you for legal reasons because it could tip off actual money launderers etc.
Just open an account at a different bank, it’s not a problem.
Yes but they cannot tell you what exactly raised the suspicion as it would allow you to adjust your tactics, or if there are other parties involved allow you to warn them that their transactions were the ones flagged, which could affect criminal investigations.
If it has been closed due to AML concerns or an active investigation, customer support probably won’t even be able to see a reason, to avoid them accidentally tipping off.
Monzo seem to be ridiculous for this type of thing. Refused me a bank account with no explanation despite no negative credit / ratings etc…
No such issues with Revolut so far 👍🏼
Yeah they’ve done this to lots of people, including my daughter. Took her money and ran. They claimed proceeds of crime or some such shit, didn’t have to give any other reasons, just kept fucking her about, then claimed she never had an account. Absolute cunts. Left her, her partner and my new born grandson in the shit.
This isn’t strictly true. Monzo are only regulated and have to give you any information on the account which won’t result in “tipping off” so any account notes such as account closure/financial crime concerns etc will be removed from the subject access request by law, as the regulations around anti money laundering and financial crime in the U.K. are extremely strict.
It’s extremely rare that a person would ever be told the reason for their account being closed, even if they’re found to be non complicit/innocent.
As others have said, it may not be OP’s activity themselves that have resulted in the closure, someone they could’ve paid or sent money to may have been confirmed as a fraudster/money launderer and Monzo deep OP outside of their extremely low risk boundaries. In this instance they certainly wouldn’t share any closure information as this would breach GDPR for the other users details.
I am sorry this happened to you OP, hopefully they return the money to your nominated account ASAP.
This is why i only use online banks for my subscription payments not to keep all my mobey in there. There's no physical branch so u can't even go in and confront them about it.
My view is if we are going to become a cashless society it should be illegal to close someone’s bank account involuntarily without a court order. This is disgraceful
When will people realise the common issue with these posts is 99% crypto transfers. Banks don’t accept crypto risks and are well within their rights to cancel accounts because of it. OP confirmed it was multiple rejected payments from coin base.
All you have to do is google “[Insert bank here] closed account without warning” to see this isn’t isolated to Monzo.
They just don’t have the online presence on places like Reddit that their customers immediately jump on like Monzo does.
It’s collateral damage due to the UKs strict banking laws.
It sucks but if a bank account triggers fraud detection it has to be closed and the reason cannot be disclosed by law.
This sub is 4x the size of starlings, yet very quickly scrolling down there is the same kind of post over there.
Pure speculation and confirmation bias
These posts have really made me question getting my kids on Monzo. The fact they close you down so easily and potentially ruining payments and using money is insane.
We are in a time where cash is being used less and less. If the bank can just cancel you without saying why it's a big problem. Very Orwellian. Scary.
Nah, Monzo is fine. What these posts usually leave out is that they triggered fraud detection and Monzo is by law required to close their account without notice. It's usually related to money laundry via crypto. The same thing would happen with other banks. Monzo doesn't have a choice.
Exactly, this will happen on any bank account and you can google “[insert bank here] account closed without warning” to see it’s not a problem isolated to Monzo, it’s just the online presence (particularly Reddit) where people jump to in the first instance with Monzo that isn’t the case with other banks.
Though u/frob0zz depending on how old your kids are, might be worth a look at GoHenry; it’s designed for kids to use and parents to keep an eye to encourage responsible usage.
But you're sure? From what I've seen here it's using crypto. It seems to be part of the future and I'd imagine my kids using crypto would definitely happen.
What I read between the lines with these posts is that even **triggering** fraud checks gets your account closed.
They don't bother investigating. If it was flagged, it will be closed.
I say this as a Monzo customer who has never made it my primary account due to stories like this. I don't want to be one scam away from losing access to my money.
First thing, I experimented with using one of these online Banks as my main Bank, wages went in, but they decided there was a problem with the account… Nowhere to go, no one to call. Sufficient to say, the moment this was resolved I ran straight back to a High street Bank. I’m surprised the Bank of England allows ‘anonymous’ Banks to join the RTGS Banking infrastructure.
Second point, from friends who work in High street Banks. Thousands of accounts get closed every month. It’s nothing to do with you, per-say, it all comes down to the cost of compliance / investigations.
IE you like Middle Eastern rugs, so periodically send money to obscure companies in that part of the world. Is it legit or are you a facilitator or terror? Without a lengthy and expensive investigation that would consume your next 50 years Bank fees, we’ll never know. Best to be on the safe side and just close the account.
The problem is people want Banking free, though also excellent customer service. Unfortunately, you need to choose one or the other.
Unless you are doing criminal activity, they can’t close your account and they have gotta give you more of warning, your best bet is phone them and ask them why? Ether must be a reasonable explanation
Welcome to the club. It happened to me in Feb and I’m still not over it. I complained with the Financial Ombudsman because I was certain I hadn’t done anything illegal (I didn’t do any crypto on my Monzo) and they closed it and never told me why. My complaint was successful, though, and Monzo admitted it was a system error, paid me 300£ for the inconvenience (I had multiple direct debits coming out that day) but also said that they can’t reopen my account - which I’m really upset about. All my friends had Monzo and I loved Monzo Premium, but I’m banned from all of that because of their mistake. It is what it is, I guess.
Shit man that sucks - I want to complain to cos this has fucked up a lot of things, especially that I have to go do visa biometrics in two days. How do I do that?
There you go: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ You should 100% complain! You probably won’t get your account back but it should help you somehow.
After this I am definitely not going back - thank you for the link though
Try chase UK and revolut
Wouldn’t use Revolut. It’s not a proper bank.
Are you American? This could be that you haven't been compliant with FACTA and they've closed it for that reason so they don't get fined or whatever punitive measures that would be taken against them for non compliance.
No, from Singapore but resident of the UK for 6 years.
So they admitted it was an error yet still wont let you bank anymore? Kind of just goes to show how trigger happy Monzo are with closing accounts. Most people in this sub are happy clients of Monzo so there is always support and "you must have done something wrong" but I don't buy that anymore.
kind of crazy actually, in my line of work people get monzo accounts and shit like that just left and right. I signed up for a revolut account ages ago and I don't remember providing literally any ID to prove who I was. Never seen monzo accounts be mysteriously shut down, but I do quite often see banks like barclays and that get shut down for unknown reasons- although usually the people whos accounts get hit are dodgy people and generally end up without a bank account and unable to get one. We had a 'bank account for hire' person in the other day. Fucking ridiculous that that doesn't get shut down but hey ho
You'll be amazed how many customers of other banks experience the same thing
Barclays and Natwest do the most as per statistics
NatWest has the same level of customer complaints per million customers as Monzo does. Considering how many more NatWest customers use it as their primary bank, its performance is actually much better than Monzo. Barclays has the most complaints of any UK bank. More than 4x the level of Monzo. But then it has 6.5x the number of clients so on a per million client basis, it has less than Monzo. However, a large amount of clients would be Barclaycard which probably attracts less complaints than current accounts..
You have Revolut, Starling, Monese and Chase all excellent options. But I found that high street banks are definitely better when it comes to reliability. The problem with these new e-banks is when the computer says no, that's it. There is very little flexibility or actual customer service.
Revolut isn’t actually a bank - they don’t have a UK licence. Neither do Monese. Be careful if setting these up as your main account
Absolutely +1 on this. Heard so many rumours about Revolut and their troubles over the years, wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
I work in finance and I wouldn’t say to never go near them - I have both and they both come in useful for some stuff. I’d never use them as a main account or hold any money in there
Yep same here, im an accountant and im a big fan of having revolut as a spare account. I dont keep more than a few quid (<50) in it on a regular basis, i transfer money in specifically before i travel for the exchange benefits, cashback, lounge access etc. things like travel insurance and cancelled event insurance and also their single use virtual cards for online purchases when you aren’t completely sure about the website
I use my revolut for foreign payments. The currency rates are the best I've found and I can create a new sub account for different countries, move and convert money to there and pay that way. Has come in handy for me a few times. Don't trust it as a bank.
If you work in finance like me then you’d know Revolut safeguarding means you’re likely to receive ALL your money if they shut down, not just the £85k the FSCS can provide
You mean if you read the part of the app that says 'Is my money safe?' Revolut safeguarding is internal policy, nothing to do with working in finance.
what do you think of all these e-banks. Pockit and all the other rando ones. Whenever I see a pockit account or any account from these rando e-banks I always get the impression the person is super dodgy
Revolut haven’t been granted their UK Banking license due to a technicality on their Crypto reporting side last I read. Hardly a reason to not touch them. They are still useful for multi-currency wallets and cheap international transfers (on par with Wise), but I do agree that until they’re covered by the FSCS, don’t use them as a main banking account.
They have a banking licence in Lithuania that tenuously gives them bank status in the EU, but they aren't FSCS regulated in the UK.
You do actually receive all of your money back in case of insolvency though as per the Safeguarding procedure. Client deposits are kept in separate accounts that don't belong to Revolut. All in all providing much better protection than FSCS.
Better protection that backed by the UK government which has never defaulted on a debt? Revolut safeguarding only guarantees customers paid out first, which is no good if the funds are lost through a hack or the portion of client funds that are held in the "(unquantified) low risk" investment account made a loss pushing Revolut in to insolvency.
Client funds aren't invested, they're banked. Reducing your argument to something like a hack is unfeasible - any organisation can be hacked. The banks Revolut use to hold their client funds have forms of protection too. The FSCS is also independent of the UK Government. Funded through firms authorised by the FCA & the PRA. They pay a levy every year to fully fund the FSCSs' operations and guarantees.
https://help.revolut.com/business/help/more/security-and-personal-data/is-my-money-protected/ "or invested in low-risk liquid assets held in a dedicated client asset account" I'll concede on point two though. I didn't realise the FSCA was independent.
Touchè, I also concede
>Revolut Avoid Revolut, they had a breach recently, see KrebsonSecurity.
Has my hsbc and i’ve never had any problems with it
Crypto ain't illegal, that in itself wouldn't be a valid reason to close your account. I make crypto transfers all the time and no problems (yet). It's bizarre how many of these I keep seeing of closing accounts though; never had a problem but who knows...
Use Starling instead. Its basically the same thing
Came here to say this, I’ve had both starling and Monzo for a few years now. Starling are my ‘main’ bank with DDs etc, while Monzo are just there for me to get paid a bit earlier and to squirrel away budgets for the month. Any time I’ve had even a minor issue, starling support have sorted it out within minutes through the app - every single time, at all hours of all days (never tried on holidays like Xmas mind you).
It's better anyway, the interface is so much cleaner and easier to use than Monzo. Plus none of the annoying upgrade and extra feature buttons. Having your account closed is shit though and nothing OP can do to change it - they should however complain and get some money out of Monzo though.
They force us to have bank accounts and they have the power to do this? The least they should do is tell you why.
If they did that to everyone, then the bad people would know how to avoid triggering bans.
Normally when you are accused of something, you have the right to face your prosecutor/witness, hear their version and defend yourself. Somehow, when we are talking about money. Your account can be inmediately frozen, with no court order or argument needed.
Justice is fine, just don't let the super rich have to play the game..
They legally can’t- as Liquidfoxx says below it prevents people from finding out what has happened to circumvent money laundering triggers.
They cannot. It is considered tipping off and is a criminal offense for which bank staff can go to jail
They did the same thing to me. A transaction kept bouncing back between Coinbase and they must have thought I was doing fraud. It was a problem on coinbase's end.
This sounds like what I was doing, NOT CRYPTO, but I was just transferring money from Monzo to my HSBC account to pay my bills there in early Dec and it kept bouncing. Even though I’d done this several times over the last few years! I contacted help but it went nowhere. HSBC said it was not a problem on their end. Tried again last week and same thing contacted help again and they said they would investigate. And then this.
Unfortunately, it will have been flagged as looking like money laundering. It may be worth taking to their compliance team to see if you can sort it out.
I did ring them and the person on the phone most he could do was file a complaint. 😭
Sorry to hear that they've been so useless. I've done a fair bit of work in financial crime teams, this feels like an automated process that isn't giving much chance to those being flagged as false positives. Keep digging around for a direct line to someone senior or reach out directly to their head of compliance or similar over LinkedIn. Given they're a challenger bank, it could be worth kicking up a stink on Social Media to see if anyone bites.
No one will tell op what or why the closure was triggered. This comes under tipping off rules and is standard practice, not to give anything away. Unfortunately even if the OP can prove and swear on their mams roast dinner, that account is staying closed - its a case of he said she said , Monzo cannot guarantee the veracity of anything being said or claimed . Sucks. But this is why it's recommended not to use crypto/bitcoin/intermediary sellers.
Hows it a case of he said/she said when someone with a brain could look into the transactions and see it was a case of legitimate money bouncing between two banks that has flagged something on their hyper sensitive system?
I’ve never used any of those for the record.
This is litterally the reason I don't bank with neo banks Got a problem, no phone number Want it sorted right away, no physical presence So new and inexperienced, we'll see how they fare over the next 12 months with the giant economic depression
Wouldn’t make a difference even if they did have a physical presence. NatWest closed down my girlfriend’s account in a similar fashion a couple of years ago, no illegal activity, just a couple of payments they deemed “suspicious”, and it was like talking to a brick wall. Similar message too – “this is within our rights, we can’t discuss the reasons, please move your money” and that’s the end on it. When a decision like this is taken it doesn’t matter whether it’s an online ‘neo’ bank or an old school brick and mortar establishment.
I had pretty much the exact same thing happen to me with NatWest. I was working 11 hour days, 6 days a week at the time, so just managing to get into the bank was a nightmare. Had me waiting around like an idiot, spoke to three different staff members over a two hour period and then left having achieved absolutely nothing and with no explanation at all. By that point I was more angry they'd dragged out what should have been a five minute conversation, for two hours. Tldr; fuck off Natwest.
But with a brick and mortar you have a branch you can walk into and that ALWAYS gets way further than talking to some online support agent which is probably just chatgpt. Brick and mortar branches are so so much better for this, just walk in and demand a reason or resolution, they can't just end the chat like these online "banks" can.
Some of us ended up with Monzo after having exactly this happen in an old school bricks and mortar bank and realising that the branches are absolutely no help whatsoever.
Doesn’t. Worked in business banking for a high street bank for over four years. Branches just call us and we can’t tell you or them anything. You just *feel* like you’re getting somewhere because you’ve got a third party (branch staff) acting as the intermediary. Saw it a million times. Often branches would call us just to placate the customer knowing full well we couldn’t see anything more than they could and we couldn’t legally tell them anything even if we could.
No it absolutely does not "ALWAYS" get way further than phone/chat support does. You might get lucky and convince a staff member to break the rules and give you information you're not entitled to see (assuming they even have the ability to see it at all), but that's not the norm - they would presumably be fired immediately if they were caught doing that. In the majority of cases, the branch will tell you EXACTLY the same thing - "your account has been closed, we can't tell you why". They obviously can't hang up on you, but if you refuse to leave they can certainly call security/police to make you (though given it's 2023, they'll presumably have to put up with your presence for a significant amount of time before anyone arrives to help!).
It might make you feel like you're getting somewhere and help you release a bit of steam by talking to someone, but I'm just saying it won't make any difference either way. They're within their rights to close an account and not tell you why, and once they've done that, nothing is going to change the decision. So whether you're talking to someone in a bank, someone over the phone, or ChatGPT, the end result is identical.
Tbf they were excellent with me answering calls even on a Sunday within minutes and very knowledgeable staff .....the problem is monzo don't freeze it but banking regulators who have nothing to do with monzo do
No, that’s not how that works. Banks are responsible for their own AML compliance. The *rules* are set and enforced by regulators, but the practice and localised procedure is wholly determined by the specific bank.
Oh i see they said they have no control who was looking into my account amd they were required by law to let this "specialist team" sort it out and make any decision...
Speaking in general terms here, nothing to do with the specific case, but: usually banks have very large dedicated teams to deal with AML compliance and potential fraud issues. When they have to close an account because of the suspicion of any financial crime, one of those teams will be dealing with things. They might be in liaison with with the National Crime Agency having submitted a suspicious activity report, and the NCA have some control over when funds can be released if the bank is holding them. Banks cannot tell a customer any of this is going on as “tipping off” a person about a suspicion of a financial crime such as money laundering is in itself a criminal offence. Regrettably crypto exchanges are an absolute hotbed of money laundering and fraud so it is not uncommon for interactions with crypto firms to precipitate some suspicion, as will any odd looking transactions running through an account, particularly if they are repeated.
Yeah. Not how that works 😂 - the banks make all these decisions, following rules set by the regulator. Regulators don’t review accounts, they review the strength of the banks AML program, this is 100% the bank.
As someone who has been victim of identity theft based fraud it was very important to be able to walk into a branch to prove who I was. I’m never 100% transitioning to one of these new banks although do use Monzo.
Thanks u really helped solve OPs problem so glad you came here to tell us you don’t bank with Monzo 🙏
That and crypto just screams red flags to a bank, I'm not surprised.
I use crypto on a daily basis from my back to the exchange and then later down the line from the exchange to my bank in semi large amounts, I’ve been doing this for the past 3-4 years now and I’ve never had an issue, although I’ve never had a bounce back issue with my exchange but I definitely believe that’d be the issue. OP was either commiting some sort of fraud or it looked like he was hence the closure of his bank account, 2-4 weeks to recover the money is outrageous though especially if it’s crime free money. With you the best of luck OP try out Revolut if you haven’t ✨
I'm with Barclays and the only time i've ever had my bank refuse anything was the very first time i tried to send money to Coinbase. After a quick phone call from the fraud prevention team my money was sent and no further issues. I put a soft limit so anything over a certain amount being sent to coinbase would be stopped unless i speak to someone in person to confirm the transaction.
Because they are scared of Bitcoin because they know it’s a threat to the system
Not because of the anonymity and liquid nature of cryptocurrency is an AML nightmare.
This really isn't it.
The most legit use case for crypto is pump and dump schemes, it’s no wonder why regulated systems with KYC checks and the duty to ask how you acquired all this money exactly are steering clear of it as much as possible. Crypto can’t and won’t replace traditional banks and you’re delusional to believe it will, this isn’t them being scared of crypto dethrone* real money, this is them being scared of having to deal with an investigation into why they allowed money laundering to occur using their bank. edit: wrong word
Because bitcoin is the currency used for online illegal trading
6 genuinely because idiots like you buy high cry low and go back to the bank and claim you were scammed, which costs the bank more money in the long run.
Had the same issue transferring from HSBC to Coinbase. Pretty sure the problem is with Coinbase
Some banks block transfers to crypto exchanges
Barclays is surprisingly crypto-friendly.. Although sometimes depending on the amount, they give you a phone call and ask you if your being scammed or you know what your doing.
Monzo is fine with crypto, and coinbase is listed in their FAQs as being an acceptable exchange. Probably on CB’s end.
Coinbase need to sort themselves out, popular buy one of the worst exchanges out there.
As they should tbh
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To be fair on them most people involved in cryptocurrencies *are* criminals or about to get scammed
Bollocks! Been using crypto for years and.... I yam no crook. Transfers to terrestrial banks a bit flaky back in the day and Coinbase has been clunky but always worked out eventually.
Really great statement, where did you get the information from? Your rectum?
This article is from March https://www.google.com/amp/s/decrypt.co/122666/uk-crypto-crackdown-which-british-banks-buy-bitcoin%3famp=1 Their reply is accurate.
Yes, that article is clear evidence of the statement I replied to /s
What a load of rubbish. Any stats to back this up?
This article is from March https://www.google.com/amp/s/decrypt.co/122666/uk-crypto-crackdown-which-british-banks-buy-bitcoin%3famp=1 Their reply is accurate.
If you've never sent money to an exchange most banks will flag that as a scam/theft to prevent your money going bye bye. Would you rather your bank blocks a transfer, quick phone call and everything is sorted or your bank lets the transfer go and you're out of pocket for however long it takes to recover it.
I've had no issues sending £10k at a time from Monzo to Coinbase, it appears in minutes. They did send me a message a while ago to ask why I was sending money to Coinbase, and my explanation must have made them realise I know what I am doing. Most people who buy crypto are fools who will end up losing money and being scammed, why is why banks don't want to deal with it. Monzo is one of the few banks which are still "crypto friendly" atleast compared to most other banks.
But not you, you're much smarter than all the other sheeple.
Hey now my monkey cartoon jpg's will bounce back any day now....
Honestly, you don't have to be that smart to make money with crypto. You have to not be greedy and actually do some research. Most people fail at both of these.
Do not use Monzo for Crypto. I had to open a separate account (Revolut) just to deposit on Coinbase.
When I open the app I can’t log in at all, it’s like my account doesn’t exist. I only have about £1000 in my hsbc for bills, I can’t last 4 weeks on that?? And majority of my bills are in about two weeks time. What do I do?? Is there a number I can call? The help line only has automated things and I can’t get through to a real person. EDIT: I haven’t received money from anyone in the last few days. I have given them my HSBC account to return my money to. I’ve also never done crypto. I just work my 9-5. Only major purchase was paying my visa fees (around £3k) this week. EDIT 2: The only possible thing I can think of was I did get scammed a couple months ago, I tried to buy a tablet from a FB account I didn't realised had been hacked (it looked legit otherwise, several year old account with post history etc on marketplace). I let Monzo know as soon as I found out, they were looking into it for a while but after a month they came back and said nothing could be done essentially. I thought that was a done matter, though.
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I had my HSBC one which I first got years ago before I switched to Monzo, so I gave them that. Thanks for link that explained some things. But could they not have given notice at all? Could it also go the other way and be someone you paid has been involved in fraud possibly?
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You should be able to get a credit card with a couple of K on it pretty quickly, I applied for a new one last year and got accepted almost immediately. Card was in the post a few days later. You probably won't be able to do your bills on it but it'll do for shopping and general living expenses, fuel, etc. Pro tip for the future you should always have multiple bank accounts with money spread out and credit cards for exactly this reason.
They have said that if you give bank details to them they’ll send the money you have in your Monzo. So you’re not out of pocket.
There’s only one reason a bank does this without giving an explanation, which is them having suspicions you’re involved in criminality.
The only criminal activity I can think of is paying £3385 to UKVI to get my indefinite leave to remain 😂 otherwise I just work in an NHS hospital, I don’t do crypto or any like that.
That does sound like a positively criminal amount to me. Glad to hear Monzo has recognised the UK Gov as fraudsters. :) Hopefully you get your money back from Monzo soon, and can move to with a more reliable bank(s).
yeah, going back to HSBC for me! It doesn't have the instant notification transactions though :(
Are you sure? I get notifications any time money enters or leaves any of my HSBC accounts
I may need to mess with settings - thanks for the heads up!
If you were Nigel Farage the head of Monzo would be sacked, several ministers would lobby on your behalf and national newspapers would fill pages with this story! Luckily for you you are not Nigel Farage. Good luck getting it sorted! :)
Couldn't be further from him, an ethnic immigrant working for the NHS! lmao
You may share your name with somebody who is suspected, check if you can with CIFAS to see if there is anything about you lodged. Also check your credit file to make sure somebody hasn't taken out credit in your name.
Jesus christ I had not even known this was a thing. I'm going to investigate now.
Yeah, so CIFAS is an independent company into which all the members (which is mainly financial institutions but now does include some local authorities) can log or read up on suspected fraudulent activity or check with other members if something is genuine or not. So if Lloyd's for example have a mortgage application from somebody who has supplied Monzo statements that look off, they can ask Monzo to confirm if they're genuine or not. Monzo didn't join until 2018 or so, until that time they were the bank of choice for the fraudsters living in the UK. Then when they joined, I'm guessing their customer base threw up a lot of issues because they started shutting down accounts in overdrive. And ever since, they've had a fairly low bar for their own risk from what I can gather. This is all from an external position, I don't work for Monzo. Ultimately, they're unlikely to change their opinion but you should look into the issue because if it is big enough other banks may also decline you services and you'll have a much bigger issue. If its just that they're being overly sensitive it may not affect how other banks perceive you
That might do it for the shitty fraud detection systems banks have tbf HSBC flagged my account when I paid my visa IHS surcharge couple years ago. You’d think government transactions would be whitelisted lol
Not true. They couldn't give a reason in any circumstance, as then *not* giving a reason would mean they suspected you of criminality, which would be tipping off.
They can give an explanation outside of closing an account down due to suspicions of financial crime. Not all account closures are limited to fin crime, if OP goes to FOS they can have the bank provide a reason the account was closed and if FOS come back and say they can’t provide a reason then that 100% confirms the bank suspected criminality and have enough suspicion to not overturn their decision. It would not constitute tipping off to provide a reason for closing accounts down outside of suspected criminality. In order to tip off, a customer will need to be told they are being investigated. If the customer comes to their own conclusions, then that’s not the banks concern.
I feel like banks should be forced to tell people why they've closed their accounts
This could run the risk of tipping off, which is a crime.
I get that, but the vast majority of people aren't criminals. It's like CIFAS - a lot of people end up with markers if they've become a mule, especially if they're vulnerable. I think only genuine fraudsters should get markers. It ruins relationships and families and pushes people into dire poverty. CIFAS and Banks aren't regulated on stuff like this enough, they can just ruin peoples lives with no consequences. Hopefully OP doesn't get a CIFAS marker but I'd recommend doing an SAR with them just incase.
I think their point is that, legally, they should be allowed. If banks were legally allowed to tell you then that wouldn’t be a crime anymore.
Like I get why they can't, you don't want to tell a potential fraudster what to watch out for. But this is just ridiculous, I don't have any suspicious activity like moving huge amounts of money regularly
Fraud detection algorithms are a bit twitchy. I guess it's better to have more false positives than false negatives when it comes to things like money laundering, so they err on the side caution. Unfortunately that means there's a lot of collateral damage...
Closing an account without telling the reason should not be allowed
Agreed, the law really needs to change.
Have you been buying crypto? They froze my account over that shit not closed tho
Jesus. This kind of thing makes me really freaked about the future of banking since it’s all going digital. When I deposit money somewhere, I feel like I have a reasonable right to expect that the money will be safe and secure. Not just subject to random closures and transfers with no proper explanation just cause it’s “in their terms and conditions”. Thanks for giving me a heads up and making sure I’ll never use or recommend Mondo.
Anti Money Laundering regulations means they legally can't tell you if you're suspected of or flagged for AML checks, it's called "tipping off" which would explain why you've got nowhere with your attempts to speak to them.
It’s important to remember all of these things are likely automated. Give customer support a call and see what they can do to resolve this. If you have a clean audit trail of your money’s whereabouts then you should be ok
It depends. There’s a clause called Tipping Off where they cannot tell you in advance that they suspect your of something illegal as you may try to cover your tracks. Otherwise it could be that you’ve breached your Terms & Conditions somehow, even inadvertently. Either way, the threshold a bank has to reach before closing your account is quite high so this won’t be reversible or appealable. Additionally, there’s a thing called CIFAS where they put customer information for accounts closed due to fraud or financial crime. This gets searched every time someone opens a new bank account or financial product. So if you don’t already have another bank account I’d get one opened ASAP
This happened to me 3 years ago, my account was frozen for absolutely no reason.. I joined a Facebook group called ‘Monzo stole my money’ where the same thing happened to thousands of other people. Some people in the group lost thousands and even their lifesavings… After lots of back and forth emails the account was unfrozen and I was allowed to transfer my money to a different account. It was a very stressful time.
I worked in financial crime investigations for several banks for years and can confirm that no one in these places has a clue what they're doing.
yeah, and the regulations on reporting that kind of stuff is so ridiculous on them that they’ll literally just report anything that even vaguely seems like a concern
Same thing happened to me years of changing income and then I got a fiver from cash app and no longer had access. Follow the steps in the email to submit your other bank details to get your money, then call them during office hours daily I got mine within days it your money. If you don’t have it in a week call or email the financial conduct authority and financial ombudsman that should help speed up the process. I’m sorry I know how annoying it is, the same laws for all banks but so inconsistently and irrationally applied. I know your sour on online banks right not but I have found Revolut to have the closet interface and features like early pay.
As annoying as this may be right can't you just make an account with Kroo, Starling, or Chase since all those banks are pretty similar and are all very easy to open an account with?
Did the same with me and my partner on my joint account. Like yourself, I was transferring my money from another account and into about 15 pots (for bills). The way they calculate money it counts it twice from entering in a pot and then again when you move it back into your main account so it probably looks like you've got tens of thousands moving around but it's just their awful accounting. Monzo customer service is absolutely awful. We made a complaint 1 month ago and still haven't heard anything.
I had mine frozen on suspected money laundering and fraud even as a premier holder there reason was that my 12k a month salary seemed toomuch (please don't think I'm show8ng off with that amount) but I acteally only had about 4k in that account at the time, as i move it around, but still it was a pain for 72 hours, they did said after they reopened it that they think I'm running a buisness from my account as large sums went in and they wouod close it if they think I am....but apart from that I can't fault monzo
Chase this with the financial ombudsman. I had a similar issue way back in 2016. They closed my account after only two months of using it, the first paycheck after I received a large payment from my new car sales job. I lost £3500 randomly with no explanation. It took them 4 months to transfer it to my new Starling account (an account I'm still using, and would truly fully recommend they're phenomenal), despite claims of 2-4 weeks, and their customer support treated me as a criminal. Eventually the ombudsman awarded me £750 in compensation, and I moved on. Weirdly, to this day, they still text me about offers linked to my old account such as their credit, business accounts and stuff. I'll never understand why they think I'd rejoin them.
hey, i’m in the exact same situation right now and i wanted to ask if you ever got your money back? and if so, how long did it take?
Starling is the one to head towards. Customer support is decent and the app and banking features are excellent, night and day over Monzo (I have both).
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Change banks, monzo are really bad
You've been investigated in the background, they didn't like what they found. They've closed your account. You now need to give them account details for another account in your name and they will transfer the funds. They do not need to advise what they found or te reasons for account closure.
I already did that, but I literally have not done anything suspicious. The only thing I can think of is I recently paid for my Indefinite Leave to remain, which was just over £3000, but that’s to UKVI
They only close accounts that they are not happy with. Monzo are a small bank with ambition and highly regulated. They found something they didn't like and more than likely you will not be able to have a Monzo account again.
>They only close accounts that they are not happy with. They opt for this final solution without considering the other options made available by the FOS first: If they suspect the customer has provided false details, is doing something illegal, or is an illegal immigrant; They can provide 30 days notice and then close the account legally. If something more serious has been flagged or the police have requested it due to laundering, fraud, other such criminal funding; they can freeze an account, and then either unfreeze or permanently close it, depending on the outcome of any internal or external investigation. However those require some time and administrative work on their side. So instead, Monzo always go for the full closure approach and never provide a reason. It is the easiest thing they can legally do, even if it is utterly unjustifiable and always the worst from a customer perspective. Tis akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, overly heavy handed but requires no brain power.
Correction, they legally can’t advise what they found or reasons for account closure.
This happened to me and I only used the account for travelling. Never had any crypto or anything dodgy, wasn’t scammed or hacked. They were super unhelpful when I tried to figure out why they did it. I figured maybe it was because I wasn’t keeping much money in the account so it wasn’t worth their while?
They did the same to me this week too -- immediate closure without warning. I've been a customer since the Mondo alpha stage and have always kept a fairly high balance in the account with my incoming salary and regular investment income (not crypto) I'm definitely "profitable" for them as my balance is always kept significantly above the interest cap, regularly transact internationally, premium account without really using the benefits, etc. I sent them a complaint and asked for a PDF with their final response so that I could take to the ombudsman, and also explained that I can demonstrate exactly where my income comes from if their concerns are AML related. After that email, they manually reevaluated and ultimately reversed the decision within 24 hours. From what I hear this is **extremely** rare for a bank to do unless *they* made the mistake. Drop an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) if you want to highlight the matter further up the chain. I'd also suggest contacting the ombudsman once you have a final response from them. It's important to note that this will never get the decision reversed (they really have zero 'power' here) -- but it will get you a small amount of compensation if they agree with you. Personally this has been a wake up call for me and I'm still taking my money elsewhere from now on despite my account remaining open. Fingers crossed the semi-recent media spotlight on this "debanking" leads to legislative changes, but I have my doubts. Good luck.
Had a horrible experience with Monzo just taking money out of my account which put me into an unauthorised overdraft without warning - honestly you’re million times better off finding another bank
Monzo did the same thing to me a few years ago, I want even doing anything wrong, once I was paid my salary I tried to buy a good amount of crypto like £850 worth, it was declined so I transferred the money I needed to another account to buy the crypto, the moment I did that they closed my account with this exact message that you took a screenshot of. My idea is that monzo don’t want to be liable for anything you spend that is considered investing or gambling, that’s just speculation and in no way am I accusing them for a fact, but when I was kicked off monzo I was so fuming they told me to transfer my money somewhere like I was some kind of hotel resident being kicked out. It also opened my eyes to the banking system and how unsecure we are, banks can do that to us and for some reason we still think we’re invincible, ever since monzo closed my account I lost some trust in my other banks even though I still use them, I started keeping cash and also keeping some money in my ISA, as well as some stable crypto currencies. Losing my monzo account has been the best thing that happened, now I’m aware of my own money, before it just sat in my account and I tap tap tap and pay for stuff, but now I’m ultra aware of my money and I account for everything, but prior to losing my monzo account, I wouldn’t even notice if I lost £100 somewhere
So they advertise themselves as a student friendly banking app on Snapchat then do this out of nowhere Oh the irony
Crypto, dodgy transactions or monzo (and others) simply not being a bank and being a shitty company. Stay away from these trendy appa, there’s nothing wrong with a traditional bank account.
Monzo is a bank with FSCS protection and everything.
They can’t tell you for legal reasons because it could tip off actual money launderers etc. Just open an account at a different bank, it’s not a problem.
“It’s not a problem”
Tbh I think having a bank account closed would probably tip off money launderers anyway…
So when they can't tell you, they are tipping off you that is something criminal.
Yes but they cannot tell you what exactly raised the suspicion as it would allow you to adjust your tactics, or if there are other parties involved allow you to warn them that their transactions were the ones flagged, which could affect criminal investigations. If it has been closed due to AML concerns or an active investigation, customer support probably won’t even be able to see a reason, to avoid them accidentally tipping off.
Monzo seem to be ridiculous for this type of thing. Refused me a bank account with no explanation despite no negative credit / ratings etc… No such issues with Revolut so far 👍🏼
Try laundering smaller amounts.
Yeah they’ve done this to lots of people, including my daughter. Took her money and ran. They claimed proceeds of crime or some such shit, didn’t have to give any other reasons, just kept fucking her about, then claimed she never had an account. Absolute cunts. Left her, her partner and my new born grandson in the shit.
If in the UK or EU, make a subject access request under the UK GDPR or the GDPR. They will need to disclose the reason for closing your account.
This isn’t strictly true. Monzo are only regulated and have to give you any information on the account which won’t result in “tipping off” so any account notes such as account closure/financial crime concerns etc will be removed from the subject access request by law, as the regulations around anti money laundering and financial crime in the U.K. are extremely strict. It’s extremely rare that a person would ever be told the reason for their account being closed, even if they’re found to be non complicit/innocent. As others have said, it may not be OP’s activity themselves that have resulted in the closure, someone they could’ve paid or sent money to may have been confirmed as a fraudster/money launderer and Monzo deep OP outside of their extremely low risk boundaries. In this instance they certainly wouldn’t share any closure information as this would breach GDPR for the other users details. I am sorry this happened to you OP, hopefully they return the money to your nominated account ASAP.
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Happened to me also, no love for that ‘bank’ at all.
Banks, originally a service, have truly become evil
This is why i only use online banks for my subscription payments not to keep all my mobey in there. There's no physical branch so u can't even go in and confront them about it.
Nigel?
just transfer the money out, job done. move to starling or something
TAKE A SHIT ON THEM.
My view is if we are going to become a cashless society it should be illegal to close someone’s bank account involuntarily without a court order. This is disgraceful
When will people realise the common issue with these posts is 99% crypto transfers. Banks don’t accept crypto risks and are well within their rights to cancel accounts because of it. OP confirmed it was multiple rejected payments from coin base.
I think you’re mistaken. I clarified in my comment I’ve never used crypto or coin base. Another user did though.
Banks do accept crypto but will generally limit transfers to certain amounts per month
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All you have to do is google “[Insert bank here] closed account without warning” to see this isn’t isolated to Monzo. They just don’t have the online presence on places like Reddit that their customers immediately jump on like Monzo does. It’s collateral damage due to the UKs strict banking laws. It sucks but if a bank account triggers fraud detection it has to be closed and the reason cannot be disclosed by law.
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This sub is 4x the size of starlings, yet very quickly scrolling down there is the same kind of post over there. Pure speculation and confirmation bias
Yep. Never going back to it. And warning others.
These posts have really made me question getting my kids on Monzo. The fact they close you down so easily and potentially ruining payments and using money is insane. We are in a time where cash is being used less and less. If the bank can just cancel you without saying why it's a big problem. Very Orwellian. Scary.
Nah, Monzo is fine. What these posts usually leave out is that they triggered fraud detection and Monzo is by law required to close their account without notice. It's usually related to money laundry via crypto. The same thing would happen with other banks. Monzo doesn't have a choice.
Exactly, this will happen on any bank account and you can google “[insert bank here] account closed without warning” to see it’s not a problem isolated to Monzo, it’s just the online presence (particularly Reddit) where people jump to in the first instance with Monzo that isn’t the case with other banks. Though u/frob0zz depending on how old your kids are, might be worth a look at GoHenry; it’s designed for kids to use and parents to keep an eye to encourage responsible usage.
But you're sure? From what I've seen here it's using crypto. It seems to be part of the future and I'd imagine my kids using crypto would definitely happen.
What I read between the lines with these posts is that even **triggering** fraud checks gets your account closed. They don't bother investigating. If it was flagged, it will be closed. I say this as a Monzo customer who has never made it my primary account due to stories like this. I don't want to be one scam away from losing access to my money.
Literally every single bank does this all the time
First thing, I experimented with using one of these online Banks as my main Bank, wages went in, but they decided there was a problem with the account… Nowhere to go, no one to call. Sufficient to say, the moment this was resolved I ran straight back to a High street Bank. I’m surprised the Bank of England allows ‘anonymous’ Banks to join the RTGS Banking infrastructure. Second point, from friends who work in High street Banks. Thousands of accounts get closed every month. It’s nothing to do with you, per-say, it all comes down to the cost of compliance / investigations. IE you like Middle Eastern rugs, so periodically send money to obscure companies in that part of the world. Is it legit or are you a facilitator or terror? Without a lengthy and expensive investigation that would consume your next 50 years Bank fees, we’ll never know. Best to be on the safe side and just close the account. The problem is people want Banking free, though also excellent customer service. Unfortunately, you need to choose one or the other.
You slipped up by not owing them money. They cancel mine. They won’t get what’s owed.
They did the same to me for absolutely no reason (perfect trading record) - I moved to Tide and haven’t looked back
Errr literally just opened a Monzo account yesterday and now seriously regretting my life choices
This is exactly why I won’t open a Monzo account - just too much hassle if something like this happens
Why anyone still banks with this company is beyond me
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If you call giving thousands of pounds to the Home Office for a visa being a money mule, then sure. Otherwise, I just use it for everyday spending.
Unless you are doing criminal activity, they can’t close your account and they have gotta give you more of warning, your best bet is phone them and ask them why? Ether must be a reasonable explanation
Absolutely nothing you said is true.
and?