Consumer complaint received 2020-06-23
Company: TransferWise Ltd
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account

Complaint:
TransferWise is an international money transfer company based in XXXX XXXX that offers digital customer accounts in various currencies ( USD, EUR etc. ) through regional offices ( New York, XXXX etc. ). I am personally impacted by the following, but have also studied many reviews ( XXXX reviews etc. ) and TransferWise has systemic problems with ( 1 ) improperly closing customer accounts, ( 2 ) improperly withholding and not returning customer funds, ( 3 ) not allowing for appropriate or well considered redress by their customers, ( 4 ) not providing the consumer details of his or her account or transfer information at account closure, thus making it difficult to research or to make a complaint using their own historical info, ( 5 ) using " risk appetite '' and financial regulatory compliance as a ruse to hide their improper mis-dealings and that they are simply ineffective, inefficient, and negligent with properly handling and processing customer appeals and the related compliance requirements. ( 6 ) I suspect TransferWise might also be doing some form of " redlining '' ( above and beyond actual monitoring for suspicious financial activities ) in deciding which accounts to selectively close and withhold funds.

My situation - Recently started relationship with TransferWise. On or about XX/XX/2020, sent three money transfer transactions ACH funded directly from my personal US non-TransferWise bank account. Also, because it seemed convenient, opened a EUR and USD accounts with TransferWise and funded those accounts. TransferWise closed system access and accounts on XX/XX/2020 without warning and gave no details. I appealed decision on XX/XX/2020 and TransferWise requested ID and I provided passport. TransferWise said they would review and get back to me. On XX/XX/2020, a TransferWise email advised " We need some more information from you to reopen your account '' and provided a link. Following the link led to a page, without TransferWise requesting more information, that simply stated " After reviewing your case again, weve decided to keep your account closed. Re-onboarding you is out of our risk appetite. '' My issue is that on one money transfer transaction, I am unable to provide the details of the payment to beneficiary as I do not have access due to the closed system access and accounts. Plus, TransferWise owes me USDXXXX which is combined amount in a USD and EUR account opened with them ; they did not address the return of these funds in their last communication. And I was not given a fair opportunity to understand their concern or to even appeal. Plus, TransferWise, from a risk standpoint never provided any information or expectations on my usage of their service from a risk standpoint ( transfer limits etc. ). In TransferWise 's final exchange, they never requested any appeal information contrary to their email ; it was as if they already made up their mind without actually attempting to research the situation. Whatever concerns TransferWise has about me or my transactions they are without merit. The myriad of negative online consumer reviews of TransferWise corroborates my situation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation