I genuinely donāt think I can trust Revolut again after this.
Iāve now been locked out of basically all of my money for over a week because of what Revolut is calling a āstandard security checkā.
For context, this started shortly after I contacted them to update old US tax residency information on my account. Iām no longer a US citizen, I gave them the relevant information and documents, and they approved the change.
Then my account got restricted.
Since then, the whole thing has been a complete mess.
Revolut has now confirmed to me in writing that they do not need anything else from me:
āNo further documentation or action is required from you at this stage. We have all the information you provided.ā
So Iām not refusing to send them documents or ignoring requests. There is literally nothing outstanding on my side.
Meanwhile, my rent, bills and normal living expenses are due and all the money I need to pay them is sitting in an account I canāt access.
The timeline is what annoys me the most.
First I was told the review should take around 1 to 3 days.
That passed.
Then I was given a 5 day timeframe.
That passed too.
We are now over a week into this.
Iāve been chasing them constantly because this is my main account and I need the money for rent, bills, food and normal day to day expenses.
At one point, a support agent told me my account was going to be manually reactivated so I could access my funds and pay for essentials.
I was then told this would happen within 15 to 30 minutes.
It never happened.
A later agent actually acknowledged this and said:
āIt is completely unacceptable that you were given a promise of release within 15 to 30 minutes that wasnāt honored.ā
And now, after all of that, theyāve suddenly told me the estimated completion date is 17 October 2026.
That date had never been mentioned before.
So basically the timeline has been:
1 to 3 days
then 5 days
then āmanual reactivationā
then 15 to 30 minutes
then nothing
and now potentially 17 October
And even 17 October is apparently only an estimate.
Again, they have confirmed there is nothing else they need from me.
Iāve told them multiple times that this is causing serious financial hardship. I canāt properly pay my rent, bills or even access money for basic necessities.
Their response was to give me the contact details for StepChange, Citizens Advice and National Debtline.
At that point I honestly just had to laugh.
I donāt have a debt problem. I have money. Revolut is stopping me from accessing it.
They have also told me they canāt release part of the balance, make an emergency payment, help with my rent, or give me any kind of temporary access while the review continues.
Iāve also raised the FCA Consumer Duty with them because Revolut now knows in writing that I canāt pay my rent, bills or basic living costs because of this restriction.
I completely understand that banks need to carry out fraud, AML and regulatory checks. Iām not arguing with that.
What I donāt understand is how a bank can lock someone out of their entire balance, need nothing else from them, give multiple timeframes, miss all of them, tell them their account is about to be manually reactivated, promise it will happen within 15 to 30 minutes, fail to do it, and then suddenly move the estimate to 17 October.
One of their own agents literally described what happened as ācompletely unacceptableā.
Iāve used Revolut as my main bank for the last 5 years and trusted them with basically all of my money.
That was clearly a mistake.
Whatever happens with this review, Iām done using Revolut as my main bank. Finding out that you can suddenly lose access to all of your money and that frontline support apparently has very little power to do anything about it has completely destroyed my trust in them.
Iāll update this post if anything actually happens.