Revolut Disables Cards for Customers Outside EEA

U.K.-based foreign exchange app Revolut is shutting down its cards in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), including the U.S., Bank Innovation has learned. The move is said to be temporary.

In the past few weeks, Revolut customers across the world received notifications that their cards will be inactive beginning Monday, asking users to transfer any remaining funds on their Revolut Cards to another account.  

Hey @RevolutApp you're doing a very poor job informing your clients in Russia about your policy change here. The way you do it sucks indeed.

— Andrey Smirnov (@forwardstraight) November 17, 2016

Revolut made headlines in July, when it raised $10 million in Series A funding round to facilitate the way people send and receive money globally. The company previously opened up a $1.2 million equity crowdfunding round, and had more than $17 million pledged on CrowdCube in less than two days.

The company told Bank Innovation that the shutdown is “temporary,” and has occurred due to a license renewal with its payments processor. “Unfortunately, we have had to expedite this process as a way to be fully compliant with legal and regulatory obligations,” the company responded through Twitter. “Rest assured, our aim is to provide our full service worldwide again! We’re working hard to change it ASAP.”

Curiously, customers of two other U.K.-based payment apps, Neteller and Skrill, received similar messages of a temporary (?) shutdown.

@NETELLER otro sinvergüenza igual a @skrill. Están bloqueando las tarjetas para Latinoamerica. Pilas allí. Necesitamos usar Bitcoin pronto pic.twitter.com/rThRRbma72

— B (@id667788) November 17, 2016

Translation: “@Neteller yet another trick similar to @skrill. They are blocking the cards for Latin America. We need to start using Bitcoin soon.” (Yes, yes we do.)

So, what’s the link connecting the three companies? Yes, they are based in the U.K., but all three are also startups partnered with MasterCard. It’s still unclear, however, whether the shutdown was directed from the card network. Bank Innovation has reached out to MasterCard for further comments, and will update the story accordingly.