Remitly

Remitly wanted me to pay from my debit card which has no security code at the back. Canadian banks does not issue debit cards with security codes except if it is visa debit. I contacted Matt Oppenheimer, the owner to assist me to connect to my checking account so I can pay from it but he never budge. I have used World remit and Wave on several occasions and they dont ask for security codes on debit. Their system takes you straight into your checking account and they charge from it. Money is transferred to recipients in seconds but most of the time they have low exchange rates so I decided to try Remitly and I have regretted it. They promised a "locked in rate" but did not honour it. Their motto is "PROMISED DELIVERED" but it is just a "B. S."

EDIT: Changing my review as I have benefited from Remitly. First of all, if you need to contact them, not all the numbers work (especially Australia, maybe this has changed). Call their US numbers instead. If you cancel you will have to wait a couple of days before the money comes back so don't panic.
Remitly needs to improve on: customer service, offering other forms of contact like email instead of only phone calls, better "history" of users... my transfers always land in review which requires 1-2 phone calls before it's good to go, and I am often asked for the same questions/documents I have already provided in the past.
TransferWise is cheaper however Remitly don't do cash, this is where Remitly can be useful and cheaper than Western Union. Although their locations for receiving money are of course less than WU.

I place an economy transfer with them and got an email a day before the due date that its been delay and Remitly are going to remove the service fee ( there is no service fee if you send over 1000$ lol staff need to get educated) then the next day i call ask again and got an email " your transaction has been cancelled because the bank declined our request to debit your account". WTF? The same bank which is always accept the request for express transaction and now declined the economy transfer? I ask the bank and they advice there is no issue from there end. So what Remitly is doing they like express transactions cuz they give you low currency rates and make more commission on the other hand on economy transfers they loose and that is the reason they make lame excuse that bank declined the transfer.

I can only second what others have said. Remitly put transactions on hold for no valid reason, and they ask intrusive, personal questions that are none of their business. Can you imagine Amazon doing something like this before they allow you to order?

Why are you buying this shirt?
How long have you known about this brand of shirt?
Why did you choose the plaid over the stripes?
Where do you plan to wear this shirt?
Who else besides yourself lives in the place to which we are shipping?
Where did you live in 2010?
We need to know who you are. Send us a Photo ID like a Drivers License or Passport.
Oh, sorry, that's not enough. How about copies of your bank statements too.

All to send $75 to Colombia.

Cannot believe Venture Capital firms are investing hundreds of millions in Remitly. The VCs need to oust the founders before they bankrupt this company. As happened to Travis Kalanick at Uber. He got his money, but he cannot continue to abuse everyone he comes in into contact with.

Matt Oppenheimer Founder & CEO, MUST GO... like in FIRE HIM, REPLACE HIM, TERMINATE HIM. This company will not survive with a management change.

I used two different bank cards. Each time "some "suspicious activity" was noticed and the transaction was cancelled. I went on chat with their support only to wait for their response about 5 minutes each time I typed something in. The person simply copy-pasted the same messages I received after submitting my transfer request. I told them Remitly wasted close to 20 minutes of my time and ended the chat.
I tried their phone support and got to talk to a woman with a very strong (I'm assuming) Indian accent. I could barely understand her. Same story. She would "check on something" time after time and tell me the same stuff I already got before. No way to solve the issue or even learn what the problem was in the first place. I was told I will hear back from them within 24 or 48 hours (don't remember now). Needless to say, they never called or emailed me.
I would say, their customer service will not solve anything for you. Just because they pick up the phone reasonably fast, doesn't mean it will result with you getting any help.
That's my experience with Remitly. My warning to others: use at your own peril.

The customer service representative saulo/saolu is very arrogant and not helpful, not willing to tell me the reason why my transfer was declined and said that "Remitly MERELY relys on family and friends recommendations" after I said I wasn't satisfied with the service and would not recommend my family and friends to use it. Even more, right after saying that, he/she directly ended our live chat without waiting for my response. And as a result, unfortunately I couldn't download the chat history, otherwise I would be more than happy to remember the name of this customer service representative clearly and show you how rude I was treated.
I am keep my words by sharing my experience with Remitly especially the customer service experience on google review, app review, trust pilots review and with my friends and family. If Remitly only values business customers who transfer a large amount of money in one transaction, why bother to ask us to refer our friend and family by advertising the bonus? To me, $20 referral bonus wouldn't be attractive enough to ignore the disgusting experience with your customer service representative Saulo or Saolu.
If you are thinking about engaging the service of Remitly, THINK TWICE, unless you are fine with not being respected by them.

My review is in regards to Transaction IDs
R*******296 and
R*******418

Horrible experience. Scheduled a payment, Remitly asked for recipient ID which was provided, then they made some lame excuse of "suspicious activity" and canceled the transaction. Contacted support, the support agent told me "After careful review, this transaction was cancelled to ensure we comply with our Risk and compliance policies."
I said this is very generic, give me a specific response that I can fix.
She replied "well this is just verification processes we need to compliance" - again a generic response.
I asked what is that they were unable to verify.
She replied: "that is a process that makes risk department. If you want I can escalated the transaction to that department so you can received a contact from them I they can answer to that question in specifically way"

I agreed and created another transaction. Which was also canceled without being given any valid reason.
Support was in broken English and mostly generic - the company failed to live up to the standards of customer service.
I would very strongly advise everyone to find another source to transmit your money instead of wasting your time with these people and frustrating yourself and the receiver of the money.

You are guilty until verified innocent! 3 transfers to Mexico, 2 times provided bank statement. Asked some ridiculous questions I assume are for anti money laundering or fraud idk but after all that I awake to my transfer being canceled and account locked for 'suspicious activity' thanks to covid literally no way to contact them. I guess you can't answer emails or calls from home? Total of 3 transfers was 2100 no were near their alleged sending limit, wtf? Remitly need to reconsider their business model, they project their own shady dealings onto you. The entire purpose for this business is considered a red flag for suspicious activity according to a Google search. If security is so important they need to rebuild the service from ground up to 100% verify you before you can hit authorize save us the stress

I used regularly without any problems for ages
Then Remitly suspended my account without any warning or explanation
I read their guidelines and policies and could not see any reason for suspension?
I had not done anything supsicious or illegal?
I had however helped many people to buy food because they could not work during covid?
Excuse me for being a Christian and wanting to help people?
I have sought for 5 days to get some kind of explanation but they will not give me one
I said i had to send money to my fiancée urgently but they still would not reply to me
Thankfully I found a reputable company that was able to help me.
I still sought an explanation but they refuse to give me one
This is the most appalling customer service I have ever witnessed in my life

Don't trust this company. Remitly should be investigated by a senate overhearing comity for anti-American and communist practices but they have gotten too powerful. They systematically terrorize their customers with Gestapo style interrogations and call it a security measure. Then then seize your account hostage and refuse to delete your personal and banking information against your permission or will even under protest. Are you sure you understand what you are really agreeing to when you click that box for their term's agreement? It would take a room full of attorneys to interpret its intentions. Ever wonder why such a simple service has such a complicated agreement? Ever wonder why they have the need to require you to be totally vulnerable to them. According to them, under that agreement they have the right do anything they want to you without you having any recourse to stop them? The customer service security agent admitted to me that Remitly is constantly being used to transfer funds for illegal practices. I was then summarily accused of laundering money on a 30-dollar transaction so my friend could buy a lousy sim card! Are you freaking kidding me? My account was seized and placed into suspension permanently because they say the recipient gets too many transactions from other people. What does that have to do with me? Then they refuse to remove my personal and banking information even though I can no longer use my account. Why? They say they have the right to keep my banking and personal information against my permission! What kind of Nazis are these people? I love the Indian people but is anyone else getting tired of being transferred to India were their people are being exploited and trained to employ customer services practices that would never be allowed in USA? Is this really a company you want to give power over your financial freedom to? I could care less about them suspending my account. I don't even care about the lousy 30 dollars. You could not pay me to do business with such people now that I know who they really are. What makes me feel violated is that they are keeping my personal and banking information against my permission. Why? After the account is closed the business should be concluded and no reason to keep someone's banking and personal information. I am writing the banking commission and my senator to report Remitly for what I believe are illegal business practices they are conducting on USA soil! If anyone has any other resource to report these people to that I can use please contact me. And for gosh sake, please think twice before you click that box. You just may be giving up more rights than you understand. I only lost 30 dollars but I wonder how much money they make on this scam if they do it everyday. Do you know? I don't! I am going to keep posting this on as many sites as I can to warn the American people. Trust me. Americans do not want to support this kind of company. They are against every kind of freedom and rights we believe in.

I tried to send money to my friend through this joke of a company. I went through all the hoops Remitly asked if me. They sent a message that it would be an hour for processing. The next day, I got a message saying the transaction was cancelled due to suspicious circumstances. I was also locked out of my account. When I called them they insisted they know more about the reason I wanted to send the money. Who is my recipient? What is our relationship? What is my purpose for sending the money? I said that I am sending money to a friend. Beyond that they have no right to know anything. It's an invasion of privacy. After spending an inordinate amount of time on hold and after speaking with a supervisor, who continued to insist on knowing about my and my friend's private life, he refused to do the one thing that this company does, making it a completely and utterly useless entity with no good reason to exist.

Please save yourself from all the stress. I had multiple transfers to a person from the Philippines whom i do not know or i never ever met. I NEVER AUTHORIZED THESE TRANSACTIONS. IN TOTAL THE "SCAMMER/HACKER" SUCCESSFULLY TOOK $615 AND $900 FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT. Transactions were done at 3pm and 4pm PH time which is around 4am or 5am CST my time. Multiple attempts were done and some were successful. Remitly security system is easily breached or hacked. I do not really know what happened but my best guess is it was someone who works for Remitly that did the transfers. Also, the receiver's information including bank information is someone from the Philippines. I am from the Philippines and i know you cannot open a bank account in the PH if you do not give copies of atleast 2 IDs. DO NOT USE REMITLY FOR MONEY TRANSFERS. SAVE YOURSELF FROM SCAMMERS. REMITLY DO NOT INVESTIGATE. I haved used remitly since 2017 and only today i had this problem. NEVER AGAIN I WILL USE REMITLY!

I don't know what happened to this app, when I started using it I was amazed on the efficient that this app showing. Unfortunately there are no more consistent good service provider this pandemic year. Don't hold the money of the costumer that is a mortal sin. We costumers send money to our love ones becoz Remitly need it. And this money are not just money, it is a bloody hard worked money. Let the costumer understand if needed more identification but NEVER HOLD THE MONEY AND ASK FOR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. And hold it more than 48hrs. And just say normal procedures! Costumers are not stupid so don't let us speak to stupid representative!

I have been a Remitly customer for almost 3 years and have made 120 transfers to the Philippines. I had a brief issue about 2 years ago where Remitly asked for bank statements. At the time I was disturbed by their untimely request for financial information.
Yesterday my account was blocked after I transferred 44,500 PHP. The recipient is expecting the funds in the next couple of days and Remitly blocked the payment after issuing me with a payment receipt (which I had already forwarded onto the recipient).
I tried to contact Remitly Sydney almost 20 times today and their phone service is not working. I managed to get another number online and had a faulty recorded message. To solve my issue the only choice was to use the Remitly chat option. I had 3 chat sessions and chatted with 4 Remitly representatives for at least 4 to 5 hours. They kept on asking me the same questions... I uploaded many bank bank statements from different accounts. They didn't understand that my MasterCard and Visa direct debit card numbers are different from the actual bank accounts they are linked to. Ohhh, man they tried my patience.
My last chat session was with Geron and it lasted for more than 1 hour. He claimed he had no knowledge of my previous sessions so I had to repeat my all over again for the fourth time.
Two Remitly representatives I chatted with admitted the Sydney office had phone issues but not Geron. Geron kept on telling me my phone was ringing and I wasn't answering it.
They behaved like suspicious investigators who had valid reasons for denying me my transfer to the Philippines and kept asking for more and more financial information.
Don't rely on Remitly, they will embarrass you and degrade your good name (with those who are expecting timely money transfers) when you least expect it. I will be making enquiries to see if I can make a formal complaint to the Banking Industry Ombudsman's Office and do my best never to use Remitly again.
DO NOT TRUST REMITLY TO DELIVER.

These guys are just pice of crap. Tried sending money to Pakistan, because the app for aria was not working. The money was to be delivered on July 21, Remitly asked for a piece of ID of the recipient which I uploaded right away. The status was showing in progress then. My recipient tried to get the money on July 21. Was told it wasn't available. I contacted their customer service and was told that the I'd was not forwarded to the verification department. And they will send it to them right away. I received an email from them that the money has been transferred to the bank in Pakistan.
The recipient went back on July22, and was told money was not there. I contacted them again and still verification. I asked for a manager, was told it's a part of the service agreement. The whole purpose of family emergency is brought down to ground and only for a small amount of $270.00. Waste of time... won't ever use again.

Signed up and tried to execute a transfer but was met with delays, promises, apologies, more delays and broken promises. Nothing suspicious here, just a retired USCitizen visiting the Philippines. After missing their deadline, 14 hours later Remitly asked for a Photo of my Passport, Bank Statement and to answer 7 or 8 questions. I immediately complied. Two hours later they asked for a selfie of me holding my Passport which I immediately did. That was over 4 hours ago and in about 30 minutes it will be 24 hours since I first requested this transfer. My problem now is they are holding my money so I can't go make multiple withdrawals Over the next few days from the ATM. This company sucks.

I am so mad at this company i am wasting my morning telling everyone. These people are into info gathering more than money transfers. Remitly wanted prior address prior jobs close relatives info. And all to send 100 dollars to a young woman in clothes. They asked me so many questiins about her i thought the guy was wantingnto date her or something. Then they asked about our relationship. Then they wanted to know what she was buying with the money. Then theblittle Nazi tells me we dont approve of herbusing the money to buy sexy clothes. You have violated our policy transfer is cancelled and your banned for life. This after she is waiting in colombia fornover 4 hours. Trans # 188 171 652 34. Bizarre. Used xoom took 3 minutes and xoom didnt even need to know what color her panties where today they just sent the money. Kinda like a real money transfer service.

I wanted to send some much needed relief money to a friend in the Philippines and he recommended I could use Remitly to quickly send the funds. Signing up for the account and filling out the info to send the funds was very easy. I received a confirmation stating the funds would be available about 4 days later. We received a phone call asking us to verify more information. My husband was skeptical and was unsure of sharing very personal financial information over the phone. I logged into my account and Remitly did, indeed, require some additional information. The first bit of info they wanted was for us to scan a copy of our bank statement and send it to them. Over my dead body! The customer service agent on live chat was quick to respond. Transaction cancelled, but now, 5 days later, my friend doesn't have the relief funds. Frustrating.

I have never written a review before. You can imagine what lead me to write one now. My experience with Remitly was NOT good at all.

I did send lots of money to Rwanda to support my loved ones using Remitly. After sending via Remitly, I checked my bank account and noticed Remitly had double charged me. Had I not checked my bank account, I am sure Remitly would have gotten away with it. I reported the fraudulent charges to my financial institution (USbank) and requested a refund. The bank then filed a dispute claim. I eventually got my money back after waiting for approximately 10 days.

Since this was the first incident, and I wasn't sure if this was a common place with Remitly so I reluctantly continued to use Remitly to send money to my loved ones.

A few days ago, I sent money to Kigali Rwanda and unfortunately the money was held up. The reason given didn't make sense at all. I received an email stating " our partner is taking look at your transfer".
This didn't make sense to me, so I placed a call to customer service to obtain a better explanation. A company rep answer the phone and told me the identity of the receiptent needed to be verified. Well, this was incorrect, because the receipt registered with her Rwanda National Identification card. I voiced my concern. The rep backtracked and assured me the money would be released asap and I should be patient. I did and waited for few days. Nothing changed. I then called back and spoke to another rep. This rep then told me my money was held up because Remitly was experiencing some technical difficulties therefore they couldn't release the money and they will once the issue is resolved. This was a contradictory statement. My money is still tied up. I am now planning to file cancelation to request a full refund.

Take a way points:
Double check your bank account after sending money via Remitly to ensure that you haven't been double charged. If your money is pending after you had sented, don't expect it to be released anytime soon and your best option is to cancel it. Even if you cancel it, know that you will not get your money right away. You need to wait for awhile.

Good luck.

I transferred a big amount through Remitly from UK to India. Remitly confirmed that the funds have been delivered to my bank account in India so transaction has been completed. When I checked my India bank statement after almost a month, I couldn't find the transaction and money. When I contacted Remitly customer service, the lady on customer service was very rude. She said the money has been sent to the account. When I told her that the money hasn't been received in my India bank account and requested to identify where the money has gone, she refused to discuss any further details and said money has been sent and nothing can be done. When I contacted the bank in India Remitly confirmed that the funds where sent back due to some error in the transaction. They also provided me a report of this returned transaction. Remitly accepted that the funds were returned when I supplied this report to them.

Remitly held my money for almost around a month without my acknowledgement until I identified that the money hasn't been transferred. Their app as well as the customer service person repeated confirmed that the funds had been delivered when that wasn't the case. I required to chase up continuously with Remitly to get my money back and had a very stressful time. I will never use their service ever again.

Vendors are using this site to the unknowing consumer to receive funds for purchases and then not sending the merchandise. I reached out to Remitly (rep) that told me there was nothing Remitly could do! After letting them (rep) know that I was contacting the better business bureau and writing a lengthy review I was informed that the bank rep would contact me to reverse my funds then the rep ended the chat before receiving my contact info! I chatted with a second rep who told me the complete opposite that there was nothing that they could do, which is POOR BUSINESS PRACTICE! IF REMITLY IS RECEIVING THE CONSUMERS FUND AND RELEASEING TO THE VENDOR, REMITLY SHOULD DO THE RIGHT THING AND REFUND THE CONSUMER THEN GO AFTER THE V-EN-D-O-R! DO NOT USE THEM VERY POOR PRACTICE AND I WILL BE CONTACTING THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU.

I tried sending $2999. 00 maximum amount Remitly would allowed me to send not only they cancelled my transaction because of "suspicious activity" but now they have a hold on my bank account for $2999. I am so furious! They made me fill out questions and send them copies of my bank statement, only so they can cancel my transaction either way. Such a waste of time and huge inconvenience of now having to wait for my own money to be released while im in another country with a disabled child. Its absolutely ridiculous! Dont use this company save yourself the frustration. I checked them out yesterday and it said they had a 4.6 rating but now i see others have them at 1.7 because of their horrible customer service. Also i waited 2 hours to speak to a service representative another waste of time. Finally i wrote them an email this morning and got an automated response that they are too busy and can not reply back to emails, so unacceptable. They are Unreliable, irresponsible, inconsiderate and should not be trusted with your money, specially during these difficult times. Once i get back home I will be reporting them to better business bureau.

I opened an account and had to transfer CAD 999. Next day I got an email that the transaction is cancelled. When I tried logging in, I could not get in and it said there is something suspicious. I chatted with them online (someone from India), and I was told that my account access was blocked and Remitly could not tell me the reason. OK... I thought let it get to office hours in Canada. So I called them at 1pm ET and after 1 hr was told that compliance has rejected me. What! I work for one of the largest banks in Canada in risk management and I handle millions of dollars for the bank. I told these guys I want to talk to their Compliance, to which the guy said the Compliance never speaks to customers and I cannot deal with Remitly any more! Oh! What a stupid company... I asked that call center person if it was drug money or money laundering I was doing. Transfering CAD 999 from a Big 5 Canadian bank through this stupid service. By the way I also had looked up Moneygram in the meantime. The only thing somewhat attractive was the one-time promo for new customers in Remitly else, there are much better rate providers... and avoid this high-handed approach of Remitly.

Absolutely obnoxious conversation with so-called Customer Service after waiting on hold several minutes to respond to their request for more information. The questions were intrusive -- why am I sending the money, what is my relationship with the recipient, how long have I known him, etc. When I reached the point where I declined to provide any more information, the agent canceled the transaction "at my request" since I didn't want to describe the relationship. I was trying to help a friend in Nepal who has been unable to work throughout the Covid epidemic because his job relies on tourism. No company has the right to ask such personal questions. I will never patronize them.

Please don't use Remitly if you want a smooth transaction. Remitly claim that the money will be available on a particular day but it's not the case. Also on cancellation, it takes 10 business days for your money to be back to your bank account. They have mentioned on the website that if you cancel a transaction within 24 hours, no money will be deducted from your account. However when I did so because I was getting a far more better rate on Xoom, they deducted my money from the bank 3 days after I had already canceled the transaction (within 24hours). When I contacted the customer care, they were rude and non-cooperative and brushed away my concerns. The amount I was sending was not small but in thousands and it mattered to me that my funds reached on time. Now I'm left with no option but to wait for another 10 business days to transfer my money.

I tried registering and transferring money through Remitly. However, even after a few hours when I did not get the transfer confirmation, I tried contacting the customer service and Remitly were on a chat. First of all, the customer service was very rude and for the whole time she tried to prove me wrong rather than explaining me how to submit the required documents correctly. And if my documents were not submitted correctly, why did they allow me to make a transfer and thus blocking my money in the Bank. I gave my Driver's licence and bank statement to them. They said they need a complete statement and did not update me until I tried to contact them to get the reasons for the delay. I am utterly disgusted and even after 3 days I am still waiting for my money to be refunded. I will never ever go back to them. Its really been a BIG hassle to deal with this company. Western Union is the best.

The initial experience was satisfactory except the fact that the transfer took over 3 days and was paid on the fourth. The second experience and the anguish is still ongoing. Initial the site said the transfer is absolutely free but towards end it said it is liable to a fee of £2.99. The rates as not competitive and now the bombshell of the fee but I still proceeded because of the first experience. But now it is over 4 days the transfer hasn't reached the recipient who is in desperate need of the money. You cannot contact them in any way and this is conveniently being blamed on Covid-19 virus. I have send them emails requesting refund of my money and the fees but no response whatsoever. This is diabolical and disgusting way to treat a customer who is the foundation of the success of the business. This utter disrespect and disregard is unacceptable from a successful Company. Avoid them at all costs. There are other better companies around; shop around on comparison websites such as Monito. Thanks reading and good luck

Remitly is truly the worst money transfer service I have ever used. But it's not okay that. It's the worst service company I've ever interacted with. Remitly are beyond the worst. This third rate joke of a company has no place in the financial services industry. I use TransferWise primarily and WesternUnion or MoneyGram once in a while in a pinch. I found out about Remitly and gave them a try and I cannot believe what I have just went through. The amount of time wasted. The incompetence.

I understand the need for outsourcing to India and the Philippines to pay people $100 a month to answer your calls. But do you have to hire the shoddiest most incompetent phone slaves in existence. Their call centers are a joke.

I sent a total of 5 transfers. The first two I spent over an hour on hold before being asked 20 questions and then the Filipina telling me she was approving my transaction like she was doing me a FAVOR!

Then after verifying my Identity and saying in an email that they "apologize for the time" it takes for the verification process and it's a "one time" process. And they won't need to do it again. FALSE!

I had to go through their verification questions and sending my bank statements every single time!

Then I sent $500 instead of $200 and they asked again for my bank account which I sent. Then without a word they cancelled my account and refunded the money and the Indian guy on the line laughed and said I can't use their service anymore?!?!?

Stay far away! They are a joke! Not even remotely worth the time and pain to save a couple bucks!

I signed up, sent in ID and sent some money to a friend (Gcash). I used online Chat for some help. Later it gets rejected. I try to sign in to Chat but it says my account is locked due to suspicious activity. (I just signed up earlier.) I follow the "Get Help" link and it goes to the Help section. It says Phone and Email are disabled due to COVID virus. Chat seems open but I have to login - but I CANNOT login. Remitly have me stuck in a loop and no want to contact them. Did anyone there think of this situation or is this just a scam site?
I left voice mail on their Seattle number but no return call.
I don't understand how COVID impacts them. It is an online company... people can work home on the computer and phone.
I think based on what i read here... its a scam.

I wish I had read the reviews here for remitly before I attempted to send a foreign friend some money before Remitly starved due to pandemic instead these fraudsters blocked the payment and kept the money and locked me out of their system and with no phone contact I could not use their chat as you can only access that when you log in i had to register under another name to get in to chat, and only after going to my bank who suggested I contact the police and wrote to the ombudsman they finally refunded me. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ATTEMPT TO SEND MONEY VIA THESE CROOKS they are literally getting away with murder and should have been shut down long ago as all these victims have been SCAMMED