Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

I have no idea what Revolut is.

Not really surprising, really. These prepaid credit card fintechs have no profitable business model—they're all hemorrhaging cash badly, with growing losses that wildly outpace their incremental revenue growth or even declining revenues in some cases. The only ones that make any money is, in Canada, Peoples Trust Company which collects all the card issuance, administration, and wholesale transaction fees it charges to the likes of Koho, Stack, Aura, Neo, and Wealthsimple. Not sure who issues Revolut in Canada, but it may well be Peoples Trust Company.

Their only hope is that (a) they sell their online platform technology to the Canadian banks seeking innovative payment cards or (b) they can sustain themselves by drawing in fresh rounds of venture capital until 2023-2024 when Payments Canada is slated to demise the Electronic Funds Transfer system for retail payments and replace it with a new, as yet to be named real-time payments system in tandem with open banking legislative amendment initiative changes that will allow financial institutions to share customer information and data in real-time to facilitate real-time synchronization of all a customer's accounts into one or more online platforms. It's unclear which is the more likely outcome for these fintechs. 😛

Cheers,
Doug

The prepaid card service business of Peoples Trust was around long before these fintechs showed up. I suspect the business will go on regardless of the fintechs.

The business is somewhat like those general stores that supplied picks, shovels, and other necessities to the gold prospectors. Not as exciting as finding gold. But, more likely to earn a profit.

The fintechs are just technology companies. They are not financial institutions.

If you were sending money to Revolut Limited in the UK, then you were sending money to a company that's not even in Canada.

Payments Canada's Financial Institutions Branch Directory has no deposit taking financial institution with "Revolut" in its name.

Norman1 said
The fintechs are just technology companies. They are not financial institutions.

If you were sending money to Revolut Limited in the UK, then you were sending money to a company that's not even in Canada.

Payments Canada's Financial Institutions Branch Directory has no deposit taking financial institution with "Revolut" in its name.  

I have dealt with them to send pesos to my father in Mexico (he has a Mexican bank account). Always got the interbank exchange rate with no fees for my father or myself. Huge savings compared to regular banks (that being said, I'm now making sure to spend all the money I had left with them!!!)

fbeaulie said

I have dealt with them to send pesos to my father in Mexico (he has a Mexican bank account). Always got the interbank exchange rate with no fees for my father or myself. Huge savings compared to regular banks (that being said, I'm now making sure to spend all the money I had left with them!!!)  

I'm surprised they haven't frozen your account at some point until you provided proof of the sources of the funds you are sending to your father. Their money laundering/fraud algorithm is very aggressive and wide sweeping.

fbeaulie said

I have dealt with them to send pesos to my father in Mexico (he has a Mexican bank account). Always got the interbank exchange rate with no fees for my father or myself. Huge savings compared to regular banks (that being said, I'm now making sure to spend all the money I had left with them!!!)

It is not necessarily bad that Revolut is not regulated as a financial institution in Canada. The situation is similar with the smaller currency exchanges.

When I buy a US$ cheque from a currency exchange, the exchange rate is better than from a bank. There's also no bank draft fee if the amount is over a certain limit. But, the cheque is just an ordinary cheque drawn on a business bank account in the US.

Briguy said

So who regulates them in Canada ? They don't have a banking license. Their web page says to complain to Peoples Trust if you don't get satisfaction from chatting with them on their app or tweeting them on Twitter. When I phoned Peoples Trust to complain they denied that they handle complaints, then a week later emailed me that they learnt from Revolut that my issue had been handled.

I suspect no-one special regulates Revolut in Canada. Just like no-one special regulates a neighbourhood corner store that sells prepaid cards.

The so-called balance on a Revolut card is likely just an authorized spending limit and is neither an individual deposit nor an individual credit card balance with Peoples Trust.

Norman1 said

Briguy said

So who regulates them in Canada ? They don't have a banking license. Their web page says to complain to Peoples Trust if you don't get satisfaction from chatting with them on their app or tweeting them on Twitter. When I phoned Peoples Trust to complain they denied that they handle complaints, then a week later emailed me that they learnt from Revolut that my issue had been handled.

I suspect no-one special regulates Revolut in Canada. Just like no-one special regulates a neighbourhood corner store that sells prepaid cards.

The so-called balance on a Revolut card is likely just an authorized spending limit and is neither an individual deposit nor an individual credit card balance with Peoples Trust.  

I looked up the cardholder terms,you are right, seems like Revolut is treating the prepaid Visa card like their own personal piggy bank, with no protections for the cardholder. This is much different than the way Stack or Koho hold their funds in Peoples Trust. If your card gets stolen and used they will not reimburse you for funds lost before you notified them. Also, they say you can complain to FCAC, but when I did that, FCAC claimed they had no jurisdiction over them. I'm going to paste particular sections of the agreement:

Prepaid funds accessible by use of the Card are held by Revolut for your benefit, are not a deposit and are not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). Peoples Trust Company has no responsibility or liability for any funds in the Revolut Account or accessible by use of a Card. Revolut has sole responsibility and liability, subject to the terms of the Revolut Customer Agreement, for any funds in the Revolut Account and accessible by use of a Card. Please also note: The Card may be deactivated at any time if fraud, related to the Card or use of the Card, is suspected.

If you find an error in any transaction record, you must communicate the error to the merchant with whom you made the transaction.
If you wish to dispute a transaction on your Card, you must notify us in writing of your dispute within thirty (30) days of the end of the month in which the transaction occurred.

We may, in our sole discretion, cancel or suspend any features or services of the Card at any time, with or without cause, with thirty (30) days' notice to you or as otherwise required by Applicable Law.

The merchant or ATM should provide you a paper record of each POS transaction or ATM transaction for which you use the Card.

It is your responsibility to obtain such record and ensure that it is accurate. We are not responsible for providing you with any transaction record or periodic statement.

If you identify an error in any transaction record, you must address the error directly with the merchant or ATM operator.

Some merchants (including, but not limited to, fuel stations, restaurants, hotels, cruise lines, or car rental companies) may pre-authorize the transaction amount for the purchase amount plus up to 20% (or more) above the purchase amount to ensure that there are sufficient funds available to cover any tips or incidental expenses. In such cases, your transaction will be declined if the Balance will not cover the transaction amount plus the additional amount.
A pre-authorization will place a 'hold' on an amount of your available Balance until the merchant sends us the final payment amount of your purchase. Once the final payment amount is received, the pre-authorization amount on hold in excess of that final payment amount will be released. The time it takes for a pre-authorization hold to be removed may vary depending on the type of merchant. A hold is typically removed within seven to ten (7-10) business days for most standard merchants, and within seven to ten (7-10) business days for hotels, cruise lines and car rental agencies. During the hold period, you will not have access to the pre-authorized amount.

The funds provided by you to Load a Balance accessible by use of the Card and the Balance in the Revolut Account accessible by use of the Card are not a deposit, and they do not establish a separate individual deposit account with us or any Canadian financial institution. You will not receive interest on the Balance or on any funds you Load. The funds provided by you to Load a Balance accessible by use of the Card are held by Revolut on your behalf. You agree to hold us harmless from any and all liability whatsoever resulting from the availability or lack of availability of the Balance and the related use of the Card, the holding of funds in and the transfer of funds to or from your Revolut Account and other Revolut services including in connection with the Revolut app or other accounts you may hold with Revolut, all of which are the responsibility of Revolut and for which we have no liability.

Protection against Loss, Theft, or Unauthorized Use: If the Card is lost or stolen or you notice unauthorized use, you will be asked to provide us with your name and the Card number, and to answer an identifying question drawn from your personal information. If you lose the Card, someone might be able to use the Balance available to be accessed by the Card. The Card can be used without a PIN to make purchases online.

We or Revolut will refund any remaining Balance (less the Card cancellation fee, if applicable) after we have processed all transactions completed before we had an opportunity to act on your information

ARBITRATION - THIS CLAUSE IS NOT APPLICABLE TO CONSUMERS IN QUÉBEC - Subject to all other terms of this Agreement, and to the extent not prohibited by Applicable Law, you agree that any claim of any kind against us, Revolut, or Visa arising from or related to this Agreement or the use of the Card (i) shall be resolved by final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator at Vancouver, British Columbia and (ii) shall not be brought through class or individual litigation proceedings.

If arbitration is not permitted under Applicable Law, the parties (other than consumers residing in Québec) agree that any claim or action brought pursuant to this Agreement will be brought in the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of British Columbia. To the extent not prohibited by Applicable Law, if such a claim is advanced by class proceeding by any other person on your behalf, you will opt out of, or not opt into, such proceedings as circumstances dictate.

Complaints: If you have a complaint or inquiry about any aspect of your Card, first attempt to resolve the complaint or inquiry by visiting the Revolut app Help Center or by calling 1-855-700-4250 (toll-free in Canada). If customer service is unable to resolve the complaint or inquiry to your satisfaction, please call us at 1-855-694-6214 (toll-free in Canada) or submit your complaint or inquiry through the form found at http://www.peoplestrust.com/en.....s/contact/. We will do our best to resolve your complaint or inquiry.

If for some reason we are unable to resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you may refer your inquiry or complaint to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments at 1-888-451-4519 for resolution. If the Cardholder has a concern regarding a potential violation of a consumer protection law, a public commitment, or an industry code of conduct, the concern may be communicated at any time to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, either in person, by letter, by telephone, or through its website at:

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

427 Laurier Avenue West, 6th Floor

Ottawa, ON, K1R 1B9

Telephone: 1-866-461-3222

http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca

@Norman1 It's to Revolut Ltd UK

These Terms are between you (the "User", "you" or "your") and Revolut Ltd. (" Revolut", "we", "us" or "our"). Revolut is a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 08804411 and whose registered office is at 9th Floor, 107 Cheapside, London, United Kingdom, EC2V 6DN and head office is at 7 Westferry Circus, The Columbus Building, 4th Floor, London, United Kingdom, E14 4HD. Revolut is the issuer of Electronic Money in your Revolut Electronic Money Account and performs the payment services related to your Revolut Electronic Money Account. Revolut is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Electronic Money Institution under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for the issuing of electronic money. We are included in the FCA's Register of Electronic Money Institution firms (Firm Reference Number 900562) which can be found on the FCA website.