Consumer complaint received 2022-04-26
Company: TransferWise Ltd
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX Gentlemen CFPB Reference : Claim and request Dear Sirs : Description of the facts : 1. On XX/XX/XXXX, I requested a transfer for {$1000.00} from MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT at the XXXX XXXX New York branch ( I insist : in the name of a NATURAL Person ), to another Personal account ( which the bank assumes is from a Venezuelan citizen ) in the XXXX  XXXX XXXX. The transfer was identified by XXXX with the number XXXX. 

2. On XX/XX/XXXX, the Bank suspended the transfer and sent me an email requesting information on the transfer ( see DocumentPDF-1.pdf Image-1 ) 3. On XX/XX/XXXX, I responded to the request by providing the required information ( see DocumentPDF-1.pdf Image-2 ) 4. Dated XX/XX/XXXX The XXXX XXXX sent me an email again indicating that I did not clearly answer the questions and repeats the questionnaire in image-1 ) 5. On XX/XX/XXXX, I responded to the request ( see DocumentPDF-1.pdf image-3 ) 6. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX  sends me an email informing me that it has deactivated my account because XXXX is a restricted country for XXXX and that it does not provide services to companies or support transactions involving persons, entities or countries subject to international sanctions.. ( see DocumentPDF-1.pdf image-4 ) 7. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX sent me an email informing me that I could appeal its decision and reconfirmed its decision ( see DocumentPDF-1.pdf Image-5 ) 8. On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted the Appeal ( see document PDF-2-Appeal.pdf ) 9. Dated XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX  sends me an email informing me that it has reviewed my appeal and that it upholds its decision. ( See DocumentPDF-1.pdf Image-6 ) Some Precisions : 1. The account I registered with XXXX XXXX  is a Personal Account. It is not a Business account. It is a transcendental ( fundamental ) difference in the case at hand. 
2. I am a Venezuelan citizen. I have no international sanction, or of any kind.

3. The internal rules, regulations, banking policies and adhesion contract clauses must comply with the constitutional norms and Laws of the United States. They can not be supra-constitutional, that is, they can not be applied in contravention of the Laws of the Republic and the civil rights of citizens. 
4. XXXX as a country was not, and is not, a subject of international sanctions. If a few Venezuelan citizens and companies were SANCTIONED ( especially associated with corruption ). But that's all. Therefore, it is an act of Xenophobia and Discrimination to generalize that such specific sanctions are applied to Countries, that is, to all citizens of that Country and Nationality and that therefore the XXXX XXXX  can apply that generalization and treatment to all Venezuelans in the country, context of its policies and regulations. Incredible!!!. 
5. This precision is a question : Why the contracts of adhesion, the internal regulations and especially the policies of acceptable use 1.2.3 ( b ) * that the bank indicates as a pretext to apply the deactivation of the account DO NOT expressly INDICATE that, I quote verbatim : " XXXX is a Restricted Country for Wise ... ''? ( see image 4 Document-1-PDF.pdf ). The answer is simple : if they did, they would incur in a conduct of Discrimination due to Nationality. But if they apply that policy later and arbitrarily. And lastly, why didn't the bank inform me of that politician at the time I registered the account with my identity document? Simple : it does not do so because it would be interpreted as discriminatory conduct. 

In summary : XXXX XXXX deactivated my account because I am a Venezuelan citizen. So clearly the Bank justified it with surprising self-confidence and cynicism. He generalized that the sanctions were for all citizens of that country incurring in an act of Discrimination due to Nationality. 

In a reprehensible action based on : 1 ) my nationality 2 ) international sanctions applied to a few Venezuelan citizens and 3 ) regulations, internal rules, incomplete adhesion contracts and banking policies that violate civil rights, the Bank proceeded arbitrarily, without any reasonable justification, violating current legal regulations -- see Note ( 1 ) -- and in reprehensible conduct of discrimination and Xenophobia, to deactivate my account. But as if that were not enough, which is not ; in a reckless action informs me that they are the ones who believe that the subscriber/ see the last line of the email Image-X ). Incredible!!!. That subjective assessment must be checked and tested, and that did not happen. And without prejudice to the legal actions that I will take to denounce such an outrage and lie and restore my good name, I have decided to inform you ( CFPB ) of the discriminatory conduct that this Bank applies to Venezuelan citizens. 

It is not an opinion, nor a subjective assessment of the undersigned. Those are the facts. The consequences and damage caused by these discriminatory actions on the dignity, emotional state and self-esteem of people are immeasurable ( because I am sure that I have not been, nor am I the only XXXX ) and consequently I have decided to initiate all the legal procedures that are necessary to demand an exemplary sanction, even until the closure of XXXX XXXX operations in the United States XXXX since such deliberate, premeditated and re-confirmed conduct by the Bank 's appeals area ( and as serious as crimes such as kidnapping ) should not Go unpunished. I have the time, resources, hierarchy and experience necessary to submit this dispute to the highest jurisdictional level necessary. Such reprehensible, disloyal, arbitrary and unjust business conduct ( exercised by people from a Bank ) must be sanctioned in an exemplary manner so that this Bank and any other entity that is created above the law, are severely sanctioned. 

I understand that this first procedure is of an administrative nature and its pronouncement will be the fundamental substance of the judicial actions that I am exercising. But of course I am bringing to your attention conduct that typifies crimes and therefore I respectfully request that the CFPB also initiate the pertinent legal actions to denounce the conduct that I am reporting in this complaint. I also request that you tell me if the CFPB can take sanctioning actions and in that case I request that they be the most severe possible. 

Notes : ( 1 ) Title VII of the United States Constitution also prohibits discrimination based on national extraction. The term " national ancestry '' has been defined as the country where a person was born or, more broadly, the country from which their ancestors came ( see 29 CFR 1606.1 : Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines on discrimination based on national descent ). Likewise, section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 establishes that " all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right ... to make and enforce contracts ... ''.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation