Not upheld: Account closure without notice complaint against WorldRemit Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr D complained that WorldRemit closed his account without explanation and withheld rewards from his Refer a Friend scheme referrals. Mr D had opened the account in 2018, used it briefly in April 2018, then not again until August 2023 when WorldRemit closed it. He had made over 20 referrals under the scheme. The ombudsman found that WorldRemit was entitled to exercise its commercial discretion to close the account and withhold rewards under the account terms, and that although more notice could have been given, Mr D suffered no actual loss or significant distress. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the principle that financial services providers have commercial discretion to decide whether to provide or continue services, and this service will not usually intervene as long as that discretion is legitimately exercised. The account terms gave WorldRemit wide discretion to close accounts and to reject referral rewards if the scheme was being misused. Although the ombudsman noted that more notice could have been given and that no serious or persistent breach was identified, the ombudsman found that given the nature of the services and the fact that Mr D had not used them for many years, no actual loss or significant distress resulted that would merit compensation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website