Newbie here looking for some help / guidance / advice.
Opened a Monzo account on 11/2 after being pointed in Monzo direction as being Crypto friendly.
Transferred some money from my account t to my Coinbase account to link the two then transferred some from Coinbase to my Monzo account to confirm all was ok.
When I went to transfer it back to my Coinbase account, the same account it came from my
Monzo account was frozen and has been ever since now counting 8 days without any sign of access to either the account of my money.
No help from customer care who no have not responded to any message for 5 days just ignore any comments in the chat which I notice is now closed after 8pm.
I was contacted by âspecialistâ on the 12th of feb and provided proof of trades, my Coinbase account etc as requested but since then no access and no update at all.
Complaint is already logged but the stress and anxiety over the money being withheld for over a week is considerable.
Thanks for the replies and yes I appreciate it potentially raises flags for clarity I have been trading crypto for many years not just now with Monzo. When doing some research it seems monzo is crypto friendly.
In terms of sending it back again yes back to the same account where the initial money come in from so not sure there should be such an issue with that? There are not many crypto friendly banks about so alternatives were thin not entirely sure what could have been done to make it any better / smoother.
I am not surprised at all that it got frozen but the customer service is appalling now getting no replies to any messages for 1 week via the app which is supposedly the preferred method of contact. As I say I have no issue with them investigating and happy to provide any and all detail as required but to get silence is not really a good experience.
So for clarity I donât remember saying get rich scheme or magic beans.
The money was deposited from my crypto wallet to an account in my name and then attempted to send it back to the originating account that the money was deposited in from not multiple different accounts. The last time I checked this and indeed crypto was not illegal.
If the account is closed no issue with that send the money I put into it back to the originating address in Coinbase not a problem at all.
Thanks as mentioned happy to wait itâs the lack of any sort of update or even acknowledgement to my messages which is not helpful. I would have thought crypto in then out to another bank would have been worst I didnât think in and then back out to the same address would be an issue.
By contrast the support team on the phone are excellent whenever I have had to call up which given wait times is not often but on the 2 or 3 times I have canât fault them at all.
When they have an update for you, theyâll come back to you. Sending messages each day isnât going to speed that up and them replying to say âWeâre still investigatingâ isnât a gain for anyone.
Opening an account and transferring money out and back on the same day, was always going to result in this. You knew that already.
Your complaint wonât go anywhere, just wait for them to release your test payments and find another bank.
I did know that yes but I also expected having provided the required documentation around wallets and coinbase account complete with trading history etc would also have seen it unfrozen within maybe a week.
Will wait and see on the complaint as whether it goes anywhere or not depends on time frames for this to be sorted as just withholding money without providing an update etc is also not ok not when it is approaching two weeks.
This has been covered a number of times by the likes of guardian money, bbc watchdog etc
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Anarchist
(Press âHelpâ search âContact usâ or email help@monzo.com or call 0800 802 1281)
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Whilst it is certainly possible to find information to support the assertion that Monzo is crypto friendly, my âresearchâ (browsing here, Twitter, and Reddit) would support the opposite hypothesis.
Just in case research is done in the future regarding MONZO and CRYPTO, hereâs more advice from several years ago:
For the purpose of transparency, I have Crypto invested and have sent amounts from Monzo to the Crypto Exchange but I have not used my Monzo account(s) to receive crypto withdrawals.
I guess it could also depend on the volume, depositing or withdrawing ÂŁ500 a couple of times a year on an account which is handling your day to day stuff might be ok. Maybe an account which is mostly crypto and for higher amounts may cause issues.
For none crypto stuff, imagine going in with 5k cash once from a private car sale every few years, probably fine. Doing it every month, probably not
Bitcoin definitely used to be traceable. I was involved in a case a few years ago (in an IT security role providing evidence) that was successfully prosecuted.
Iâd imagine theyâve up to a month or so to decide. Please correct me if Iâm wrong, this is the case at several legacy banks. Again, they canât tip off.
Yes, a few years ago a Monzo staff member said that crypto for personal use would usually be ok, but if someone looks like a trader then that could be considered business use and the account closed for that reason (as well as all the other reasons high volume crypto trading sets off red flags).
Some of the responses on here are exactly as youâd expect.
Iâm not sure how one contributor knows how busy Monzo are, but they appear to have some inside knowledge. Regardless, a large banking corporation such as Monzo being âbusyâ is no excuse for someone having their facilities frozen for over a week with zero contact. Anybody who says otherwise doesnât understand that Monzo are not a charity run by volunteers.
I use crypto, and have for years. I am an experienced investor and have some assets in stablecoin making 9% interest. I am fully aware of the risks involved and am happy to forego the usual 85k protection per account having weighed things up, I also pay all tax due on these amounts. Having cryptographic assets doesnât make me a global arms trader or general wrongâun, as seems to be the inference on any answer relating to crypto.
Regardless of your opinion of crypto, I would argue tirelessly that itâs not a banks job to police the use of my own funds, once I have authenticated with the bank and passed their KYC checks. Its a shame that as hmrc and other organisations outsource their responsibility to front line banks, it gives those banks outsized powers to do whatever they like in the name of âcomplianceâ sometimes causing normal ppl real pain.
Regardless of my rant, the OP should expect to know whatâs happening with his accounts and have some contact at the very least.
Thanks for your reply glad to see I am not alone in my thinking thatâs itâs wrong to say that by investing in crypto I must naturally involved in financial crime or purchasing magic beans, which just sound like jealousy.
I have been in crypto for a number of years some good some bad but always above board so to be treated like a criminal without updates was and is a new experience. As you say the biggest issue was the not knowing and getting no updates.
Update
Despite people saying the complaint will go now where I just have to wait etc the complaint did go somewhere I was contacted and had my account enabled around 1 hour ago together with an apology / recognition that it took too long.
Will I stay with Monzo not sure I will see how the next couple of weeks pan out with using it but so far it seems much better than my starling account