Bad surprise for hundreds of Belgians! The problem is this: many customers are no longer able to use their online account at the German neo-bank N26 announces Het Laatste Nieuws. It is a non-traditional bank with no physical office. About 7 million people use their services worldwide. Launched five years ago, it had managed to slightly shake up the classic banking landscape where rigidity is often required.
The scammed people are nearly 2000 to have gathered on a Facebook group and 200 in another WhatsApp. In question, the imminent bankruptcy which would hit the group according to our colleagues. Hour after hour, new aggrieved people are coming forward. The objective is to help each other to build a case against the bank.
The problems started on April 14, with the blocking of the first accounts. According to several customers, N26 does not respond to their mail. Some claim to have lost up to 25,000 euros in this (bad) adventure. “N26 refuses to answer questions, but tells us in a press release that it was a mistake and that it “presents no risk of bankruptcy”is surprised one of them.
In the past, N26 has already been fined more than 4 million euros by the German banking supervisory authority, due to shortcomings in its system for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. A special commissioner has even been appointed by the regulator to monitor the company’s compliance and imposes a temporary cap of 50,000 to 70,000 new customers per month. A binding system that Italy has also put in place for its subsidiary.
After this beginning of the scandal, the bank still reacted. “We want to reassure that N26 does not present any risk of bankruptcy, since we have solid fundraising and financing”, she assures. The bank also swears that the Belgian customers affected are not too numerous. “For 150,000 Belgian N26 customers at the start of 2022, only a few dozen are today affected by the closure of accounts in Belgium”he explains. “We quickly corrected this issue and adjusted the measure put in place. Our teams are also in the process of contacting the affected users directly to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”
According to the support service, you have to open a new account to transfer money to it. But no explanation is really provided for the blockage.