Revolut
[GB]Warning for business owners — Revolut Business merchant account restrictions and what to expect I run a small UK agency and want to share an experience in case it helps anyone else considering Revolut Business as their main account, especially if you take card payments from clients. A larger-than-usual client payment landed in our merchant account from a legitimate, verifiable client (signed contract, proper invoice, the works). Within a day, the account was restricted pending a “security review.” No warning beforehand. What followed was five days of in-app chat support giving repeated, conflicting timelines. “24 hours.” “By end of day.” “By this time tomorrow.” “2 business days.” None of these were honoured. I was told a manager wasn’t available to take over the chat and that managers are bound by the same process anyway, so escalating internally didn’t really go anywhere. I provided every document they asked for, fully signed contract, invoice, the lot, within hours of being asked. It still took days to even get a templated “final response” to a formal complaint, which didn’t resolve anything or give a firm timeline. Meanwhile, as a small business, that held payment is real money I needed for payroll and to cover upfront costs to actually start delivering the work the client paid for. It’s not an abstract inconvenience, it directly affects whether you can pay your team on time. I’ve now escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is the right of any UK business banking customer if a complaint isn’t resolved satisfactorily. **My takeaway for other founders:** if you’re relying on a fintech as your primary merchant account for anything beyond small, predictable amounts, have a backup. A traditional business bank or a payment processor like Stripe alongside it means one frozen account doesn’t stop your whole business. I didn’t have that backup in place and I’m fixing it now. Has anyone else been through this with Revolut? How long did it take to resolve?
