Revolut FinTech Gets Twice The Complaints Of Rival Monzo

Revolut, the U.K. FinTech, has more than double the complaints from customers that rival Monzo received during the years between 2015 and 2018.

The Financial Times, citing the Financial Ombudsman Service, said it received 171 customer service claims from consumers in the U.K. between the start of 2015 and the end of 2018. Monzo had 82 complaints from consumers during the same period. Monzo and Revolut are the leading FinTech banks in the U.K. and have seen business boom as more consumers move to the internet for their banking needs.  Revolut’s complaint numbers are tiny compared to Barclays and Lloyds Bank, which each got more than 100,000 complaints in the same period.

“Although it’s no surprise Revolut isn’t receiving the same number of complaints as bigger banks, it will no doubt want to improve on the current trend,” said Gareth Evans, co-director of the Financial Inclusion Centre, a consumer rights group, in the Financial Times report. “As these shiny new FinTech firms become more prominent, it’s important to take note of any early warning signs.”

Critics say the customer service complaints are due to the fact that Revolut has been growing too fast during the past several months. Revoult dismisses the concerns, even though it has raised the ire of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority and the Lithuanian parliament. The Financial Times reported Revolut has been trying to improve its customer service by introducing a phone line. Some of the complaints referred to slow responses when customers needed prompt help and accounts being frozen without any reason. Some complained they had to resort to texting customer service to get help. Starling Bank, another online bank that launched in 2017, had 51 complaints during the period. It has about 600,000 customers.

Revolut told The Financial Times it is taking all of the customer complaints seriously. “Having been operational for longer than our competitors, we would expect to experience some complaints,” a spokesperson told The Financial Times. “While our current rate of complaints is very low proportionate to our customer base, we are fully committed to continually improving our services and will always do all we can to ensure our customers have no reason to complain.”