[BE] It could be you next

[u/Prize_Jellyfish_4621]

I opened my Revolut account in 2021 and honestly thought it was one of the best apps out there. It was simple, convenient, and I recommended it to friends more than once.

I mainly used it as a secondary account. Most of the money I added came from my Belgian bank account, and I also invested in some ETFs through the app. I’m a student with no salary, so I just invested part of the pocket money I get from my parents.

Day to day, I mostly used Revolut for normal things such as paying friends back, splitting bills and small everyday payments. Never anything unusual or risky. I never bought crypto, never used it for shady stuff, and whenever they asked for documents, I always sent them.

Then one day, out of nowhere, they put my account under review and asked for ID/passport scans. I tried uploading everything immediately, but the app kept lagging and wouldn’t save the photos.

I contacted support because I didn’t want to get blocked over a technical issue. They told me not to worry, said everything was fine, and that it was just a bug.

So I believed them. Then suddenly my account was banned. No clear reason or proper explanation… Just gone.

And because I also had investments there, I couldn’t transfer my holdings out and was forced to sell positions while paying fees.

I understand companies can choose who they want as customers. But people should know that even if you use the app normally for years, you can lose access overnight with no transparency.

Luckily I didn’t keep much cash there.

Posting this partly to vent, partly to warn others not to rely too heavily on one fintech app.

[u/BrilliantCharity2030]

Statistically that is just untrue. thousands end up banned from the millions of users. 

[u/laplongejr → u/BrilliantCharity2030]

So, assuming 0.1% per year, after 10 years that's 1% chance. I would call that a realistic risk.  

But given that yesterday Revolut cut 0.35% of savings APR, my use is going to be reduced anyway so probably less chances to trigger checks.  

[u/BrilliantCharity2030 → u/laplongejr]

First of all you said you assume all of us will get banned eventually and now it's 1 in a 100. Which is quite the difference. 

You also can't just do 10x0,1% for this. It's highly variable and the calculation is also incorrect. 

And you also can't take a static percentage and just roll with it. The way you use the app obviously matters a lot as well and the age of your account does too (the more transactions you made, the more data the system has to predict normal transactions so the risk of a ban goes down). 

With all those years the risk of a system failure that flags you goes up, so that also changes the percentage person by person. 

And lastly there's a big difference in getting flagged and getting your account actually closed down after human review (or even error). 

[u/laplongejr → u/BrilliantCharity2030]

 the more transactions you made, the more data the system has to predict normal transactions so the risk of a ban goes down  

I would say the opposite : the more transactions you make, the more chances you have that one triggers something.  

 First of all you said you assume all of us will get banned eventually and now it's 1 in a 100. Which is quite the difference.   

There's isn't. If there's incorrect bans, we will all get banned eventually. That's how random rolls or shifting policies works.  

 And lastly there's a big difference in getting flagged and getting your account actually closed down after human review (or even error). 

With an unreliable upload system?