I know this will be put down to standard bank processes but I’m really annoyed. My account has been blocked after I transferred €10k from a savings account to Monzo.
This is from an Irish account in my own name, from an account that I have been regularly transferring money to since I signed up to Monzo a few months back. I had transferred about €5k to this account.
So now my account is blocked for 48 hours while a team of 'specialists’look into it. I have provided the statement for the account.
Just venting here. Had been impressed with Monzo but this has made me doubt my plan to close my BOI account
They’re going to struggle if they start this craic with blocking accounts. Difficult enough to build trust as a new entrant, Revolut killed trust with many people doing the exact same thing which led to it becoming for many, a secondary account they wouldn’t keep large amounts of money in. Given Monzos stated ambition to become people’s primary bank account they’d need to be careful with not getting trigger happy blocking accounts
Monzo is going to be as trigger happy as they want due to AML and KYC/KYB, source of funds etc. They have to do this by law otherwise they get fined. So they’re certainly not going to stop.
Keep your emergency fund in a separate bank for if this happens, and just give Monzo all the info they need and they’ll get through it at some point.
Agree, it’s exactly these type of stories that has killed Revoluts trust with a lot of people. Monzo will have the same fate if this was to become a regular occurrence I feel.
Regulations require them to monitor and react to suspicious transactions. As for what they consider suspicious, and how they react, that’s up to them.
The reason Bank A might ignore a large payment. whereas Bank B might block the exact same payment, comes down to risk appetite, not regulation.
So it’s incorrect to say that they are required to do this. They have many levers at their disposal to alter the sensitivity of these systems, as their risk appetite changes.
It’s hardly a surprise that a fintech within a new market is going to be far more risk averse than a big player like BOI. I’d expect more blocks in the short term.
Once Monzo have some data for longer term usage within Ireland, they will be able to recognise what “normal” is for their customers in Ireland, and their blocking will become more accurate.
Sadly, terms like KYC, ML and Tipping Off are thrown around a lot by people (who don’t work in banking), but are entirely irrelevant for the vast majority of blocked accounts.
None of this helps the person impacted though. It must be extremely frustrating.
Adhering to regulations is completely anticipated and acceptable. Locking down an account for 48 hours or as you put it “at some point” is unacceptable. This should be a P1 intervention particularly given they have no footprint in the market yet. My expectation would be a block on the particular transfer is fine if resolved within 2-4 hours. Anything other than this, the Irish consumer just won’t give them the time of day.
Many of us are “stuck” with having a Revolut account because everyone has it and it makes life easier. Monzo have no such USP and as such risks becoming unnecessary.
I have personally embraced it, switched my salary and have no issues to date but hearing about complete account blocks makes me nervous.
Assuming all is as it seem here (and there’s no reason to question the OP), I do find it strange and worrisome that an entire account would get locked down for an inbound transfer.
Of course regulations must be followed for everyone’s safety and security, but surely holding the transaction itself for checks is a much less intrusive option than blocking everything. I find it even more strange when the amount originates from an account already in the same account holder’s name in the same country - because in that case surely the originating account institution would have been required (and can assumed to have done) their due diligence under the same regulatory framework already.
Interested to know the outcome of this. The proof is going to be in the timeliness of Monzo Ireland’s response here, and I know if this was me, the speed of the response would determine whether I would be out altogether (also to the OP - I don’t suggest closing that BOI account )
Even though was only 24hours I’m still very frustrated by it. Transfer of €10k from an Irish account in my name (which I have been transferring too each month) to my Monzo account hardly seems justified for raising sufficient red flags to block the account even temporarily
The whole blanket freeze though, that would concern me - particularly if I had things like DD’s due to come out during the frozen period. Nothing like having to resubmit payments, challenge late payment fees etc
Glad to hear it’s been resolved. What way are you leaning? I’m panicking now about having switched my salary over . I love the app but I’m not rich enough to risk having them decide at will to restrict access to my cash. Think I might go back to having my salary paid into EBS and just top up Monzo weekly or something like that
I’m going to leave as is for the moment. Monzo not my only account so I would have been completely stuck. But if caused issues with DD payments etc that would have been much worse.
Wasn’t a salary transfer so I wouldn’t expect an issue with a regular transfer of similar amounts each month.
One off transfers may need to be managed more actively. Maybe do a couple of smaller transfers rather than all in one go.
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