Complaint Review: Rietumu Banka Latvia

I lost access to my US company's account with Rietumu Banka in July 2017 after my access device was destroyed in a fire.

Lack of access to the banking system prevented me from reading any of the messages sent via the banking system. Some of those messages were critically important. They have a contact phone number and email via which they could have sent important messages to me. I was in contact with my personal banker via email with regards to sending documentation to regain access by activating a new access device, but not once did he mention any other urgent actions required to maintain my account. I made four prior attempts in providing documentation to the bank to activate the device (the people assisting were incredibly unhelpful), finally succeeding on the fifth attempt in November 2018, which is when I logged in for the first time after a year.

My company's account was terminated and the money was moved to a holding account. Over 20 000 € was deducted (5k € a month for holding account penalty fee) and 200 € a month was deducted since 2017 for low account activity.

My US company has been banking with them since 2006 and is an entirely transparent student consulting company fully KYC/AML compliant and we always sent customer passport copies and invoices to the bank on request.

Fortunately we have a US Bank account and also use Transferwise. Our Rietumu account made it easier for our mostly European clients to pay us in GBP and EUR hence our reason for holding an account there.

I requested a refund and they declined. Regardless of all the legalities Rietumu legitimizes this unfair practice with, the bottom line is that its robbery and I think its worth pursuing this matter collectively.