Consumer complaint received 2019-09-06
Company: Remitly, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Money was not available when promised

Complaint:
1. On XX/XX/2019 using the online service offered by Remitly Inc. ( Remitly ), I initiated a process to wire {$2900.00} USD ( the Wire Transfer ) to an account under my own name held at XXXX XXXX   XXXX, XXXX in XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( the XXXX Bank Account ). The services offered by Remitly are made available to the public on http : //www.remitly.com 2. The purpose of the Wire Transfer was to make certain credit card and personal loan payments. 

3. On XX/XX/2019, after completing the online Wire Transfer, Remitly committed to deposit on or before XX/XX/2019 an amount equivalent to {$2900.00} USD in XXXX pesos at the exchange rate of XXXX XXXX pesos per 1 U.S. dollar ( {$59000.00} XXXX pesos ). 

4. On XX/XX/2019, Remitly withdrew {$2900.00} USD from my XXXX XXXX account held at XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, California. 

5. On XX/XX/2019 at XXXX XXXX Remitly failed to deposit the amount at issue in my XXXX bank account and sent me an e-mail notifying me that the destination bank in XXXX ( i.e., XXXX ) informed them about the impossibility to complete the Wire Transfer due to a mistake in the account information. Specifically, the e-mail at issue requested me to provide confirmation regarding the XXXX Bank Accounts : ( i ) owners name, ( ii ) account number, and ( ii ) the currency of the account. 

6. On XX/XX/2019 at XXXX XXXX, I replied to Remitlys e-mail providing all of the information requested and a bank statement of the XXXX Bank Account for reference. 

7. On XX/XX/2019 during the time frame from XXXX XXXX and until approximately XXXX XXXX, I called Remitly on two ocassions to confirm whether they had received the information requested and whether they required anything additional and to inquire about the expected date for completion of the Wire Transfer. 

8. During the first telephone call Remitlys client support personnel informed me that all of my XXXX Bank Account information was correct and accurate. Instead, however, they informed me that my XXXX Bank Account had exceeded a wire transfer limit and for that reason the Wire Transfer at issue was not completed on time. 

9. After hearing this initial response by Remitlys personnel, I was immediately unsure about its truth and accuracy as I was not aware that my XXXX Bank Account had a wire transfer limitation and due to the fact that no wire transfers or cash deposits had been made to that account for at least the past 90 days. In prior occasions I had made wire transfers of similar amounts to my XXXX Bank Account without similar problems. 

10. On XX/XX/2019 during the time frame from XXXX XXXX until approximately XXXX XXXX, in between calls with Remitly, I was able to call my bank in XXXX, who informed me that there were no limitations or restrictions on wire transfers and that at no time during the past 24 hours did they receive any request to complete a wire transfer to my XXXX Bank Account. 

11. During the second telephone conversation with Remitlys client support personnel I was told again by a person who identified himself as Mr. XXXX XXXX that ther was a problem with my XXXX bank and suggested as a solution that I made a cash pick-up transfer to a friend or family member instead of wire transfer to my XXXX Bank Account. 

Although I was reluctant to adopt this solution, I agreed and Mr. XXXX changed the Wire Transfer information accordingly to substitute, instead of a wire transfer to my XXXX bank account, a cash pick-up transfer under the name of Mr. XXXX XXXX XXXX, who is a good friend of mine who resides in XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX. 

12. However, after a few minutes on hold, Mr. XXXX informed that the true problem with the Wire Transfer was due not to a limitation existing on my account but due to a limitation under Remitlys contract with a third party named XXXX who restricted wire transfers from Remitlys clients to certain amounts per month that were already reached by Remitly and, therefore, no Wire Transfers were possible for the next 30 days, unless I chose to transfer the funds to a place other than a bank such as grocery and drug stores. 

13. Upon learning this, I finally requested an immediate cancelation of the Wire Transfer and an immediate refund to my XXXX XXXX account in XXXX XXXX, California. However, Remitlys personnel informed that due to their internal policies the funds would not be refunded to my account until 10 business days.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation