Consumer complaint received 2016-09-14
Company: Remitly, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Other transaction issues

Complaint:
On XXXX/XXXX/16, I opened an account with Remitly in order to send {$200.00} dollars to a relative in XXXX. I choose 3 days for it to process which allegedly equaled to the company not charging for the service. A day later I received a mail that transaction XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was cancelled due to security reasons, a catchall phrase that entails providing additional bank or payroll information as other remittance companies have requested for me. Instead this Remitly company cancels the transaction and customer service is unable to disclose the reasons as to why not only the transaction was cancelled but my account with them closed, too. This was the vague explanation given by phone customer service representative and confirmed in an email in response to my query about the opaque ways in which this company is operating, see email below. It might appear that this company is quick to collect client 's sensible data, such as birth date, bank account information, but then invokes security reasons, which they are unable to explain for turning clients away, which raises questions as to the use of such sensible information provided to Remitly in good faith by customers in need of sending money to relatives. 
I write this because since this is a company that markets itself widely among the XXXX community, I am thinking that they are doing the same to nonXXXX speakers unable to report Remitly for their questionable practices clothed in security, anti-fraud laws, which could be easily explained to clients and could be fulfilled by gathering more information from them in order to carry out the service they promise to deliver. 
Thus, I am worried about the information Remitley collected from me, how are they going to use it since they closed my account, why are they so secretive about telling people right out about the reasons they take such unilateral decisions if remittance senders are all well aware that they need to provide sensible personal and financial information in order to support their families XXXX and trust such remittance companies, which in turn declared themselves unable to explain the reasons or laws they are basing themselves on to cancelled transaction and refuse the services they offer to clients. 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX Today at XXXX XXXX XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX, Thanks for your email. 

We apologize for any inconvenience you 've encountered with this transaction. We have a robust and industry leading fraud detection system that helps safeguard our customers ' personal information. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with a specific reason as to why the transaction has been declined and we regret to inform you that your account was suspended for security reasons. We apologize, but we are unable to disclose the specific reason for this decision. This is due to our need to protect the integrity of our system. 

If you have further questions, please feel free to reply to this email or call us at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

Regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX Customer Care XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX | www.remitly.com

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation