As an independent contractor, I aometimes use Revolut to collect payments from businesses. Revolut gives me the flexibility to save on forex by providing multiple currency accounts. Great.
But my experience of receiving transfers from 3rd parties has never been good, 3 transfers received until now and all three require customer support. Every support operator asks for “source verification”.
Coming from a banking background, I fail to understand this? Who should verify whom, for what and why?
Revolut offers accounts to customers after validation of their identity papers (at least in my case).
A third party transfer implies that I get paid by a company/person(s) again via a SWIFT registered financial entity mostly from Germany or Canada.
These institutions have anyway verified the sender as either they own accounts with them or if its a personal transfer across the desk the person identifies himself with proper Identification documents.
In effect the source is verified by the sender and the recipient has been verified by Revolut. What is then source verification?
Revolut must get their act together to publish those guidelines if any, else operations personnel ask for “invoices”, e-mails etc… My Bank never asks me how I got the money. A bank should not bother about how I received my money whether it was against an invoice or it was private or legal etc.
Revolut has all the rights to screen my recipients against any standard Financial Sanctions databases when I transfer money out to them, but not at reception of money as that is the job of the sender bank. We have to accept their judgement. Unless of course the source is unverifiable.
As a responsible customers, we are responsible to make declarations to our corresponding tax authorities and its not Revolut’s job of acting as an universal ombudsman.
Make those guidelines clear, its getting to the point of irritation.Personally I want Revolut to be successful, but they have to raise their game. Its a great idea but sloppy execution is letting it down.