Consumer complaint received 2024-06-17
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Confusing or missing disclosures — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (IL)

On XX/XX/year> my Venmo account ( both personal and business ) was permanently suspended, yet I still have no idea why. After going nowhere with my assigned account specialist, I asked to speak to someone else and he told me there was no one else and the company would no longer be responding to my messages. I have a balance of {$29.00} stuck in my business account and {$32.00} stuck in my personal account. 

In the month of XXXX, I received 3 payments to my business account ( all from established clients and 1 payment to my personal account ( funds from a class action settlement ), then transferred those payments to my linked bank accounts, same as I have been doing for several years now. Not suspicious activity in my book but I was willing to hear the reasoning. However, my assigned Account Specialist XXXX XXXX maintains that it is company policy to refuse to even hint at the " violation '' that led to my permanent banning from the platform. I explained to him that I am not interested in figuring out how the internal systems function, I simply need to know what " violation '' was made so I can figure out how to mitigate any risk I may encounter as Venmo has my full SSN, direct access to my bank account, my drivers license, my birthday, my phone and email, my business information, link to my business bank account, etc. I get that there are automated systems that flag certain behavior, that's great. But to be blacklisted after a manual review by a live person with no discussion or attempt to validate that this alleged 'suspicious ' behavior had anything to do with me is incomprehensible. 

I tried unsuccessfully to resolve this matter with XXXX. He told me to review the User Agreement ( which is 31,279 words in case you were wondering ) and try my best to guess what had happened. When I requested to speak to a supervisor he replied with " Unfortunately, I am unable to facilitate your request. As an Account Specialist, this case is being handled by Venmos highest customer-facing team. As such, I do not have anyone else that I can escalate this matter to. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be aware that any future contact or inquiries will not be answered and that this matter will be considered closed upon your receipt of this email. '' I have a hard time believing that there is no one XXXX could have sent my concerns to. While I am sure that XXXX was just repeating the carefully scripted dialogs Venmo provides, I don't understand how it benefits the company to blacklist willing and active customers and not tell them why. 

What makes this situation difficult is that it was completely out of the blue. No warning, no notifications, no communication. Just straight to permanent lifetime banning. Seems pretty harsh but then again, I don't know the " suspicious activity '' that prompted the action. My account was verified and I have been using Venmo for years without issue. I get the importance of account security and I complied with all requests for further documentation and verification.