So my account was locked after attempting to add a virtual card to eBay. I was on data so this was partially my fault. I had just created the card, attempted to add it and it failed. Attempting to try again as sometimes this happens with all banks, it completely blocked my account. The card had not been used either.
No laws were broken and no terms and conditions at Monzo or eBay were breached.
Now, shoutout to Lily (part of the customer service) for being very reassuring of my weird situation. She knew how painful this was and how it could affect me financially and in general.
Question though, how long exactly can account remain locked for if it was a genuine banking error?
EDIT: We’re back in business now! Unsure what had occurred but it seemed to have been a background check and something seemed off on the back end, all is good now though!
It will greatly depend on why it’s been locked. Your post doesn’t necessarily give sufficient context.
Is your card blocked as Monzo are concerned that you’ve been a victim of fraud? If so it’ll be as long as it takes for the new card to reach you (a few working days).
Is your whole account blocked because Monzo are concerned you might be doing fraud? If so Monzo have 7 days to investigate but if they submit a report to the NCA and the NCA ask them for more time, it can take weeks or months.
They say Monzo have said it was blocked in error, so it’ll take as long as it takes them to fix the error. Don’t know the rules are in that circumstance, but I imagine it would be in Monzo’s best interest to fix it ASAP.
It’s eBay, so it can happen. Two things would normally trigger it: suspected fraud (Monzo aren’t known for being trigger happy with that), or it tripped something which suggested the account is being used for business which against the TOCs. Sometimes that can happen in error.
I created a virtual card as I am a Plus subscriber and when I added that card to eBay, it said it didn’t work. At first I thought it was an error on my part so I check the card and everything looks correct so I reinput the details.
Then, when I open Monzo again my account was disabled.
No transactions were made when the card was created. I created a new virtual card for online shopping, it declined for some reason and I thought maybe I put the details in wrong.
After checking it, everything was correct. So I reinputted the details only to then find out the account was temporarily disabled.
By law I won’t be able to know why this happened but I am confused as anything. No laws or terms and conditions were broken.
Yeah, i know it sounds bizarre. I was shocked myself.
Created a virtual card, attempted to add it to eBay and it said it could not be added, and yea all the details were correct. Unfortunately I don’t have screenshot evidence of this.
Don’t worry if there’s no ETA, just an estimate for a bizarre issue like this.
I haven’t done suspicious activity, and no laws or terms and conditions at Monzo or eBay were breached. I just added a card to eBay and then my entire account is frozen.
Is it possible your account was blocked prior to adding your card to eBay and that’s why they couldn’t initiate the active card check, which prompted you to check the app and realise?
I couldn’t even hazard a guesstimate I’m afraid, but hopefully Monzo resolve it for you with haste.
All I had done was create a virtual card, add it to eBay and it failed. Thinking it was probably incorrect details, I checked if everything matched and it did. I retyped it out and then bam this happened.
If your account was blocked due to suspicious activity, IIRC the bank has 7 days to review and decide whether to make a referral to the NCA. They then have 42 days to resolve the report or refer the case to the courts for an extension.
In reality though it’s likely to slip further given pressures on banks and all sorts of other sectors. Because not acting on requirements around suspicious activity reporting comes with heavy fines and even jail time, banks will always have to act on the safest of safe sides. They won’t likely be able to help at all during this time which is why the advice is usually to have a second account with some emergency money in.
Some banks would allow you to access cash if you can prove the source of funds in branch, but given Monzo have no branches I don’t know if that’s an option. Worth asking them if they’d transfer you money if you can evidence the source of funds but I wouldn’t hold my breath. An alternative would be to try and ask your creditors to divert the funds elsewhere if you’re expecting money imminently, or to borrow off family or friends. As a last resort, speak to Citizens Advice.
In terms of outgoings, you need to tell your creditors before any payments are due and ask if there’s an alternative way of making payment if this is not resolved by then. They should be able to work with you especially if they know you’re vulnerable. Better to talk to them than to end up with missed payments, as during this time payments out are also likely to fail.
What’s normal to you could be suspicious to an algorithm or a human doing a manual check, and given the penalties people will probably not try to reason and overrule flags but rather err on the safe side and block.
It’s a horribly hard time for people usually, and there is only hoping that it’s resolved soon. Once it’s all done and dusted, you can raise a complaint but it’s unlikely to result in compensation.
For future reference, always keep some money safe in another account (if you can afford to do so); and branch-based banks might have some more flexibility on how to access your funds.
This is all guesswork and personal opinion based on what I’ve seen/heard on the internet from people in similar situations. Hopefully it provides some reassurance to know what you could do if it drags on; but your first call should always be to ask Monzo of something is/isn’t possible at this time. And of course always seek assistance from others (be that friends/family or the CAB) if you are in a difficult situation be that financially, emotionally or otherwise.
Thankfully I do have some funds to spend atleast on my Nationwide account, so I am a little thankful.
Still though, I am stressed and pretty anxious on how on earth this could’ve happened. Legally banks cannot tell you what’s happened during an investigation but I am baffled as a loyal customer who’s never had faults.
I was on chat earlier on and it’s being looked at, fingers crossed its unblocked soon as I personally don’t feel as if I’ve breached any rules or the law in this case.
As I explained in my post above (which I’ve expanded slightly now) the suspicion can be anything minor that seems out of the ordinary for whoever looks at the account. There is no objective test of suspiciousness, it will be down to whoever makes the decision. And given the personal liabilities in play they will almost always err on the side of caution.