Beware of N26 - Day one without access to my account
- Thread starter candleleigh
- Start date
resjudicata
New member
@resjudicata That’s true, but doesn’t everyone have a bank and a Amex? Or a creditcard? I mean really just one bank? I get it my apologies.
resjudicata
New member
danyyyy101
New member
@candleleigh N26 support take a week to respond to every communication which can't be answered immediately. This makes them frustrating to deal with.
I've never been locked out. I have been asked to explain the source of large transfers within seven days or they would lock my account. They send an in-app notification and an email.
My main current account is with them, but absolutely do I have a backup in case they lock me out, as it would take some weeks given their week long response time to get it unlocked.
Sorry to hear of your travails.
I've never been locked out. I have been asked to explain the source of large transfers within seven days or they would lock my account. They send an in-app notification and an email.
My main current account is with them, but absolutely do I have a backup in case they lock me out, as it would take some weeks given their week long response time to get it unlocked.
Sorry to hear of your travails.
danyyyy101
New member
@wmnoffaith1 The EU requires proof of traceability of funds for all payments 1000 euro or above. Or if 1000 euro lands in your account within a day.
Most banks use automated systems which auto flag accounts and then have a human review manually. That's fine if you have enough staff for the workload. I don't think N26 have enough staff if they take a week to respond.
N26 have no account and transaction fees. No other bank in ireland has that. But you get what you pay for, lower fees gets you less service, though sudden account and card locks are not unknown in any of the big banks either. Usually you get it fixed same day or next day however.
Most banks use automated systems which auto flag accounts and then have a human review manually. That's fine if you have enough staff for the workload. I don't think N26 have enough staff if they take a week to respond.
N26 have no account and transaction fees. No other bank in ireland has that. But you get what you pay for, lower fees gets you less service, though sudden account and card locks are not unknown in any of the big banks either. Usually you get it fixed same day or next day however.
robert1849
New member
@danyyyy101
I didn't know this. I presume when transferring from different banks where the source and target accounts are in the same name, the traceability is inherent to the transaction. Any thoughts on this?
I didn't know this. I presume when transferring from different banks where the source and target accounts are in the same name, the traceability is inherent to the transaction. Any thoughts on this?
danyyyy101
New member
@robert1849 If the source bank is on the "good" register, then yes if the name of the sending account is the same as the destination account, usually that raises no red flags if the value is below €10k.
In the past when transferring €30k between accounts both in my name, I've had the transaction stopped because they wanted proof of source of funds i.e. from where did I originally get that money?
Proving that can be hassle, like digging up wills to prove it came from inheritance etc. But what else can you do in the end?
Something a lot of people aren't aware of is within the EU financial information is automatically shared with all EU tax authorities. Every account you have the balance is shared at least every month, sometimes daily. Most EU countries have a similar financial information swapping agreement with the USA with their tax authorities. Basically you need to assume if you live in the OECD, all the OECD tax authorities can see all your financial data on a monthly or better resolution.
Also, in some countries it is legal to sell your financial transaction information to a central register, where it can be resold onto commercial buyers. Political parties will buy that data, and use it to target you for votes and other things. In EU countries it's supposed to be "anonymised", but from other data sources you can buy e.g. card purchase history or mobile phone location history it's possible to deconstruct which household with a good accuracy. All that is automated by commercial data providers, if you're willing to pay you'd be amazed at the fidelity of "estimated" information about people you can buy, even in the EU.
Despite all that, the EU is rife with financial crime, mainly VAT fraud for business and scams for individuals. That's mainly because the powers that be don't actually care about individuals that much. They only care about groups, particularly ones who control swing voting blocks such as the elderly. And the VAT fraud, that they do care about a lot, but not enough for each country to give up their exclusive control over their VAT system. So tens of billions gets defrauded every year, and nobody will do anything about it not because they can't, but because they don't want to.
In the past when transferring €30k between accounts both in my name, I've had the transaction stopped because they wanted proof of source of funds i.e. from where did I originally get that money?
Proving that can be hassle, like digging up wills to prove it came from inheritance etc. But what else can you do in the end?
Something a lot of people aren't aware of is within the EU financial information is automatically shared with all EU tax authorities. Every account you have the balance is shared at least every month, sometimes daily. Most EU countries have a similar financial information swapping agreement with the USA with their tax authorities. Basically you need to assume if you live in the OECD, all the OECD tax authorities can see all your financial data on a monthly or better resolution.
Also, in some countries it is legal to sell your financial transaction information to a central register, where it can be resold onto commercial buyers. Political parties will buy that data, and use it to target you for votes and other things. In EU countries it's supposed to be "anonymised", but from other data sources you can buy e.g. card purchase history or mobile phone location history it's possible to deconstruct which household with a good accuracy. All that is automated by commercial data providers, if you're willing to pay you'd be amazed at the fidelity of "estimated" information about people you can buy, even in the EU.
Despite all that, the EU is rife with financial crime, mainly VAT fraud for business and scams for individuals. That's mainly because the powers that be don't actually care about individuals that much. They only care about groups, particularly ones who control swing voting blocks such as the elderly. And the VAT fraud, that they do care about a lot, but not enough for each country to give up their exclusive control over their VAT system. So tens of billions gets defrauded every year, and nobody will do anything about it not because they can't, but because they don't want to.
robert1849
New member
@danyyyy101 All good info. I've learned a bit more. Take my upvote.
In Italy, one most report the beginning and ending balances of foreign accounts. A few years back, I took in my self made excel workbook with the info. Later when I was in the accountants office, I saw a screen up with essentially my same data from the Italian revenue service. It all matched to the penny and I am glad for that.
In Italy, one most report the beginning and ending balances of foreign accounts. A few years back, I took in my self made excel workbook with the info. Later when I was in the accountants office, I saw a screen up with essentially my same data from the Italian revenue service. It all matched to the penny and I am glad for that.
danyyyy101
New member
@robert1849 Yeah it's scary when you first see that.
The Irish Revenue prefer us to think they know everything by revealing as little as possible to us about what they know. Very different to the continent, where financial info is much more public e.g. those Nordic countries where everybody's annual income is on a searchable government website.
Problem with that approach is when they really go for somebody - as in, obviously out to destroy them - you never know if it's because they have genuine cause or somebody in there has a personal grudge. You'd like to think it's the former, yet watching somebody's life be methodically destroyed always makes you wonder about the latter
The Irish Revenue prefer us to think they know everything by revealing as little as possible to us about what they know. Very different to the continent, where financial info is much more public e.g. those Nordic countries where everybody's annual income is on a searchable government website.
Problem with that approach is when they really go for somebody - as in, obviously out to destroy them - you never know if it's because they have genuine cause or somebody in there has a personal grudge. You'd like to think it's the former, yet watching somebody's life be methodically destroyed always makes you wonder about the latter
davidjones247
New member
@candleleigh Wife got stolen 3k from her N26 account. Cloned card in non-EU country, transaction made almost at the same time she was using the card in Germany. Not a single alarm.
Support takes ages to answer. Say they can’t do anything. That we need to wait for the 45 day “process”. We can also “dispute” the “transaction”.
After a lot of complaining we finally find someone helpful in support and get the money back.
10 days later, the same amount goes out. Seems like it was “disputed” on the other side. We are still in Germany, transactions are still in the same time on the other side of the world.
N26 “can’t do anything”, “you can dispute”, “wait for the process”
Fortunately we have more bank accounts.
We will close with N26 as soon as this is solved.
Support takes ages to answer. Say they can’t do anything. That we need to wait for the 45 day “process”. We can also “dispute” the “transaction”.
After a lot of complaining we finally find someone helpful in support and get the money back.
10 days later, the same amount goes out. Seems like it was “disputed” on the other side. We are still in Germany, transactions are still in the same time on the other side of the world.
N26 “can’t do anything”, “you can dispute”, “wait for the process”
Fortunately we have more bank accounts.
We will close with N26 as soon as this is solved.
@candleleigh People never learn till it happened to them.
N26 is under heavy, heavy scrutiny of its banking/financial authority for being lax on money laundering.
This means, they put extremely sensitive algorithm, to meet the unwritten 'quota' of ML case. N26 is following the ML law literally to "lock first, check later" to the letter. Dotted every i, crossed every t.
To make things worse, it is a fintech, with very lean workforces. Which means there is hardly human involved in decision making of individual case, and the one that is involved is far in between.
Tl;dr using N26 as a main bank and dealing with large amount of money—no matter how legit the money-—at this state is a bad, bad idea
N26 is under heavy, heavy scrutiny of its banking/financial authority for being lax on money laundering.
This means, they put extremely sensitive algorithm, to meet the unwritten 'quota' of ML case. N26 is following the ML law literally to "lock first, check later" to the letter. Dotted every i, crossed every t.
To make things worse, it is a fintech, with very lean workforces. Which means there is hardly human involved in decision making of individual case, and the one that is involved is far in between.
Tl;dr using N26 as a main bank and dealing with large amount of money—no matter how legit the money-—at this state is a bad, bad idea
pancakes25
New member
@candleleigh I use only banks for daily spending and a local bank for savings. I always want to have the option to go to the bank in person to solve a potential issue.
resjudicata
New member
@candleleigh The same happened to me with Revolut
onepassionate1
New member
@candleleigh Can happen with any bank.
Happened to a ING account in LU
from me. Blocked for a week.
Never ever be dependent from 1 bank.
Happened to a ING account in LU
from me. Blocked for a week.
Never ever be dependent from 1 bank.
miminonoko
New member
@candleleigh It's so great to have trusted parties that can't be trusted... If only we had something that dealt with such trusted parties..
sunnydaze72
New member
@candleleigh I had the same issue with revolut in 2021 and they refused to tell me why they locked me out. My only activity was transferring into revolut from my traditional bank account and then small regular amounts into a revolut vault and to my kids. I was able to withdraw all my money a few weeks after the account lockdown but they never explained what happened. To this day I can’t open a revolut account as well as my kids can’t have a revolut account. Very poor premium support and poor customer service.
@sunnydaze72 Would you want one again after this experience?