Why has my account been restricted and how to regain access? 🔒

Article updated April 2023

There's nothing more frustrating than discovering that your Revolut account has been restricted. But why does this happen? 🤔

Revolut is a financial services company dealing with other people's money. Naturally, we have to stick to the rules and regulations governing financial services.

In the UK we're governed by the UK financial regulator - the Financial Conduct Authority or FCA. In the EEA, we're governed by the rules of the Bank of Lithuania and the European Central Bank. Both regulators' rules are designed to ensure that:

✅ There's a competitive landscape that supports innovation
✅ Fair financial services are provided for both customers and businesses
✅ Financial crime can be detected and prevented wherever possible

So why do some accounts become restricted? 🔒

As a regulated company, we have procedures that we can’t avoid. We uphold these to maintain the highest regulatory standards and protect the security of your account.

So while regulatory checks are performed, the relevant departments work hard to minimise disruption while an account is temporarily restricted.

Sometimes we might have to work with partners to get the information we need to carry out our procedures.

Why do some accounts take longer to review than others? ⏳

Occasionally, it can take slightly longer than expected for our relevant team to complete the standard security check of an account. This usually happens when we need to work with external partners to gain their perspective, which may cause a delay.

And why isn't customer support helping me unlock my account? 🤯

As much as our support agents would like to help, they don't have the power to 'unlock' accounts.

Unfortunately the current regulations don’t allow us to share any information or provide updates while a standard security check is still ongoing.

This means that our agents cannot share information on why your account has been restricted, or how long it will be until the standard procedures are over - the law is the law and it applies to all of us.

So, what can I do if my account is restricted? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hopefully your account will be fully functional before you know it. If you do find your account is restricted, you can:

✅ Follow any steps or notifications in your app, which might be to verify your identity or to confirm a piece of financial information
✅ Make sure if you’re uploading documents that images and text are clear, they are your documents, and they are up to date and valid
✅ Message us on the in-app chat to find out if there are any details you need to provide (type 'live agent' in the chat to speak to support directly)
✅ Get documents for your recent transactions ready, so when we reach out to you, you’ll have them close at hand!
✅ Although we can’t always disclose why your account has been restricted, we ask you to be patient while we investigate your case