Transferwise (Wise) Legal Action in process

[PacificRIM]

Last week Wise closed several of our accounts including personal and business. All are crystal-clear for the purpose of DD and AML/CTF compliance. There were no warnings or prior communication to closing. Just a letter saying that accounts were closed. Later same day I've learned that there were more accounts closed worldwide same way.
Further there was a letter advising that some DD checks will be completed prior to any refund of a remaining balance. Considering that one of the closed accounts had over 150k balance, the closure had completely paralysed all work and lead to a huge losses, we have instructed our legal team to start legal proceedings against TW immediately.
After reading this forum I've found that there are many people ended up in the same situation where accounts were closed and no funds returned. Should any of those wish to join our claim to upgrade it to Class Action, please contact me via PM and we can talk.
Situations like this should not be left without action as they are using our funds interest-free and we are loosing clients, money, reputation.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

Interest free? They are paying negative rates to hold your money.

You think Wise closed your accounts for no reason? Right.

“No funds returned” what are you on about. TransferWise is not a scam operation and I have never heard of a legit operation not getting their money returned swiftly.

 

[PacificRIM]

Interest free? They are paying negative rates to hold your money.

You think Wise closed your accounts for no reason? Right.

“No funds returned” what are you on about. TransferWise is not a scam operation and I have never heard of a legit operation not getting their money returned swiftly.

They can pay any interest, It's none of my business. But holding someones funds for no reason is not right. Yes, they've used to be ok. And I did not say they were scam. Read better. If there were proper reasons they should've explained that as any normal regulated financial institution does. Compliance - ok, not a problem. But not in the way of just closing accounts. Do you really think I'd go legal if had any doubts about compliance? Right. Further to that, there is no negative balance in Australia where they hold at least our funds.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

21.3 We are not liable for business losses. If you use our Services for any commercial or business purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

3. Suspension and termination​

We alone will determine whether there has been a breach of this Acceptable Use Policy through your use of our Services.

Most likely you are wasting your time, energy and resources for no good.

 

[PacificRIM]

21.3 We are not liable for business losses. If you use our Services for any commercial or business purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

3. Suspension and termination​

We alone will determine whether there has been a breach of this Acceptable Use Policy through your use of our Services.

Most likely you are wasting your time, energy and resources for no good.

Thank you fro advise but it's not a waste of time as in Australia we have more acts pursuant to which they will be taken to court. These include Consumer Act, Fair Trading Act and others. Also in Common Law it is different how T&Cs are treated vs Europe. TW is licensed in Australia and therefore there is jurisdiction here to sue them. It only takes a good thinking and lawyer to act outside of square and to approach cases like this from another side. So we shall see. Oh, and please don't forget that there is no suppression on disclosure of details to reporters and mass media, if you know what I mean.

 

[jjrapy]

I think what PacificRIM is saying is that they can use your money to profit from it, call it investing in whatever they want but they don't pay any interest to the user. As long as they have liquidity to cover day-to-day operations.
And the closure of his account brought him losses, he can suit if he wants I guess and if he feels affected for that action.

Good luck

 

[NicolasMaduro]

Thank you fro advise but it's not a waste of time as in Australia we have more acts pursuant to which they will be taken to court. These include Consumer Act, Fair Trading Act and others. Also in Common Law it is different how T&Cs are treated vs Europe. TW is licensed in Australia and therefore there is jurisdiction here to sue them. It only takes a good thinking and lawyer to act outside of square and to approach cases like this from another side. So we shall see. Oh, and please don't forget that there is no suppression on disclosure of details to reporters and mass media, if you know what I mean.

I don´t see how a Consumer Act can help you. Isn't Consumer act to protect the 'Consumer'?

 

[PacificRIM]

I don´t see how a Consumer Act can help you. Isn't Consumer act to protect the 'Consumer'?

Looks like you're protecting TW or a part of it. This is not a place to discuss strategy of a serious proceedings. But still, yes, it is to protect consumer and from the point of view of the law I am a consumer to services of TW which is licensed in Australia. But its not the only act applicable but many others related to financial institutions in our country.

 

[NicolasMaduro]

Looks like you're protecting TW or a part of it. This is not a place to discuss strategy of a serious proceedings. But still, yes, it is to protect consumer and from the point of view of the law I am a consumer to services of TW which is licensed in Australia. But its not the only act applicable but many others related to financial institutions in our country.

You must have misunderstood the consumer act. It has nothing to do with B2B transactions.

When you signed up with your business account you accepted their ToS which includes that you they can close your account if they want,
and you also accepted that they are not liable for any business losses.

 

[PacificRIM]

You must have misunderstood the consumer act. It has nothing to do with B2B transactions.

When you signed up with your business account you accepted their ToS which includes that you they can close your account if they want,
and you also accepted that they are not liable for any business losses.

I am talking about my personal account as well as business because they've closed that one as well. This is for the purpose of Consumer Act. B2B is covered by others. Sorry, but I am not in position to discuss legal sides of this matter in here. you will be able to read about it in Herald when time comes. This thread was about inviting others to join. If nobody will, thats fine, I have at least 5 other individuals and companies who already joined. You know, its just unfair what they do. I deal with banks and other companies a lot and if any bank has any question related to compliance - they ask and get an answer and business goes on as usual. These guys at TW just act unfair and hence the reaction. Of course, there would be many who open accounts with wallets to transact shady way. they will sit quiet if their accounts were closed. But in my case I will do my best to get the most I can from TW due to their lack of responses, unfair T&Cs, manner of conducting business, hidden fees and other means which they use.
I've only used TW because in Australia we don't have SEPA and it's easier to receive payments when working with Europe. But I was always transferring funds to my personal and business accounts to local banks. Or another person who was keeping all his savings in TW personal account now is left without a dollar because of their "T&Cs".

 

[jakubko666]

The other people joined you are from Australia too? I was looking today on their service for new personal account and this news is bad. I'm from EU.

 

[PacificRIM]

The other people joined you are from Australia too? I was looking today on their service for new personal account and this news is bad. I'm from EU.

3 from AU and others from Europe but not sure if they'd go ahead as they are different jurisdiction. I am saying if TW good or bad, I used to be happy with their service.

 

[BenC]

WISE of course have all the rights in the world to suspend their services, even if I am disappointed with the situation (we provide AML / KYC services...). However, their hoarding of client funds is completely insane. It is not about them enjoying any benefit from it, but rather the effect on former clients. They call it a post-suspension due diligence process. Earlier this month, WISE have seized about 90% of our available funds and crippled our business. If any legal action gets going, we'll gladly participate. You can find me ranting at them on Twitter.

 

[JohnLocke]

Is there any update to your situation OP, I believe it isn't that easy to penetrate a company of that size.

 

[marybis]

Last week Wise closed several of our accounts including personal and business. All are crystal-clear for the purpose of DD and AML/CTF compliance. There were no warnings or prior communication to closing. Just a letter saying that accounts were closed. Later same day I've learned that there were more accounts closed worldwide same way.
Further there was a letter advising that some DD checks will be completed prior to any refund of a remaining balance. Considering that one of the closed accounts had over 150k balance, the closure had completely paralysed all work and lead to a huge losses, we have instructed our legal team to start legal proceedings against TW immediately.
After reading this forum I've found that there are many people ended up in the same situation where accounts were closed and no funds returned. Should any of those wish to join our claim to upgrade it to Class Action, please contact me via PM and we can talk.
Situations like this should not be left without action as they are using our funds interest-free and we are loosing clients, money, reputation.

Hi,
about 9 days ago Wise closed my account without any prior communication. I have about 8000 eur on that account and they don't answer to my email to have information about refund.
It's really a crazy situation.
I'm in Italy.
Mary

 

[Member]

What I know about Wise is they have a team of incredibly professional law experts who work in more than 16 jurisdictions accordant to worldwide lawsuits. If you are willing to bring them down, more likely you will waste your time, but at least deliver your voice for this unfair matter. Good luck

 

[lory]

Hi,
about 9 days ago Wise closed my account without any prior communication. I have about 8000 eur on that account and they don't answer to my email to have information about refund.
It's really a crazy situation.
I'm in Italy.
Mary

tried to call them? I mean, dial their number on your smartphone ?

 

[marybis]

tried to call them? I mean, dial their number on your smartphone ?

They don't have a customer's phone number

 

[Hydrogene75]

Get ready to sue an army of shell companies based in different jurisdictions. Entity A, "sorry we don't hold authority for this matter ask entity B" ; then entity B will be like "sorry ask entity C". Entity C : "we have been liquidated, we can't help sorry you got owned thanks for your money"

 

[burden]

Get ready to sue an army of shell companies based in different jurisdictions. Entity A, "sorry we don't hold authority for this matter ask entity B" ; then entity B will be like "sorry ask entity C". Entity C : "we have been liquidated, we can't help sorry you got owned thanks for your money"

much bulls**t if you ask me.. you believe Wise run their business that way.