Varo Money

I love this app. I also like the links to my other banks with varo. I can get a rough balance in one location.

A versatile banking account. Easy deposits and transfers to other accounts.

My husband and I was IRS tax refund was set to direct deposit into my Varo account. However, I was notified the day before the direct deposit that for apparently arbitrary reasons that refund would be returned to the IRS and my account was going to be closed. I have never utilize my Varo account for any other purpose other than to have my tax refund direct deposited to it. It is now been three weeks and when I contacted the IRS yesterday they advised me that the bank has yet to return my refund. When I contacted Varo to find out what was going on I was advised that I could only communicate with the department handling it via email and was given no resolution to the situation. The money from my tax return is desperately needed by me and my family to keep a roof over our head and food in our mouth and I have repeatedly tried to contact Varo now with no response. Should I not get my tax refund either through my Varo account or it be returned to the IRS so they can mail me a check, me and my children will be homeless entirely due to Varo‘s in action and completely unacceptable Customer Service. I am begging you to help me get some resolution to the situation as quickly as possible. I am the mother of two small children and cannot stand to think that I wouldn’t be able to feed themOr shelter them because I haven’t gotten the money that is due to me from Varo. Please help me

I have been a member of Varo for almost if not a year. The level of treatment as far as customer service after my money was stolen from me is unacceptable! I had fraudulent transactions on my account in October of 2019 6 of the 8 transactions where credited back to my account but 2 of them were found to be non fraudulent. The 2 transactions that were found to be not fraudulent were made in another city at least 100 miles away from where I live. Varo did nothing but "investigate" and close the dispute, didnt advise me of there findings or anything. I could not tell my side or update them about anything that was done on my behalf. Now months later, once again, its the same thing more money was stolen from me from a person not even in this country this time but in Indonesia, and they are doing nothing about it. I am looking for another bank to handle my money ASAP. I thought that what happpend in October was an isolated event but its proving not to be. My cell phone or my computer has been hacked or bugged and Varo is not giving me the tools or the information to protect myself and stop it. Varo needs to redo the protocol on matters like these so this does not keep on happening. Whoever handles my claim needs to be in DIRECT contact with me through a phone call not a email only.

Last night I was driving home, coming back into the twin cities but a bit more than an hour and a half out yet. I live in ***. It was around 12:30am and my gas light came on. I stopped at the closest gas station I saw. Tried to put gas in my tank and *declinedNo that can't be, I have $202 left, of course the gas station is not open either. I sat in my car and opened the app, I get a warning that my biometric security was invalid and would be contacting me soon. Soon came and went, no answer, no account access, no phone number working, no money and definitely no gas, so in March... In *** I'm stuck in the dark and cold with nothing at all. As the night gets closer to dawn, about 6am or 5.5 hours after the situation began. I'm hungry, thirsty, I have medication I need to take... Etc.. everything that could get worse basically is getting worse. And I work soon. I keep trying to reach them some way, still not a thing, I work in IT. I monitor security in the ***. I begin to think about why they're taking so long...? We would never survive a tag open this long. DING DING Varo!!! They don't have anyone working over night. There is absolutely no way a company would ignore an issue like this, no matter the circumstances or what type of security it is. The whole reason a company exists is the customers. They did not make an attempt to contact me and no one can contact them over night I guess, because I could not. I am cold thru to my core, if the spring wasn't just a mild one and like last year, 7°, I would probably not be typing this.

When I say I don't have gas, I mean it. I ran the heat toward the beginning of this issue, I thought it was going to be solved quickly. Varo was running smoothly the entire time I have had an account.
11am- 10.5 hours after the issue began, I'm still in my car. No word, not able to contact them. I haven't eaten, but I got water and was able to use the restroom. Suns out, I will make it thru this. But my work shift is 2/3 over. I can't miss days, it's conditional employment, (if I fail any mandatory conditions = NO Job.) its a very good job, keeps a roof over my head, the heat on, bills paid and food on my table. My mother 70, moved in when she retired 2 years ago and I take care of her finances as well. 12:18pm almost 12 hours after the situation began... I get an email, DING DING Varo!!! The email States that there is fraudulent activity on my account... It's suspended. I have to send them pictures of my Driver's Liscense and a utility bill... WHAT?!!??? I'm in my car more than an hour and a half from home. Why would there be mail, especially utility bills in my car? I ended up finding a letter from my ***, That's official enuff. Can't get more official than the government. And I have a health plan changes form in the envelope from my Dr.s Office. Two things. I think by now it's about 1:40pm and the Identification is in. 3pm & 4pm 2 almost full hours of me being on the phone while their "Employee" rattles off handbook paragraphs to me... Ok. I do, what their guys do. I have to verify IDs to allow clients to reset their company passwords all of the time, (I work help desk also at times) he says over and over, they will take 4-24 hours to fix the issue... No they won't kid!!! I've been outside unable to do anything with my money, go home, all the same stuff as before, just worse.
I ask for a supervisor and after a good 15 minute hold time (customer service at Varo is a dumpster fire.) She gets on the phone with an attitude immediately and starts talking down to me and told me she hears I have some information that I would like for her to verify. I told her not to worry about rattling off the *** that robot already said 90 times. She gets very strong arm with me at this point, to a guy who has officially been told he lost his job, (yeah I lost the best career that I have ever had) I've not eaten, I've been cold, I have become forced into an economic hardship by their ZERO REGARD for the person but 100% FOCUS on who this "Criminal" using my account was and protecting some money. That's NOT customer service. That is blatant neglect to a human being in a dangerously long/cold/miserable situation. I am borderline diabetic, I do not have it but I get sugar spikes and dips sometimes. I can still fall into a coma if it's bad enuff and never wake up. What for? They have an automated fraud detection and protecting program/system in place to work 14 hours a day for their employees. Must be ruff. But they don't have anyone on over night to rectify issues so they don't turn into this absolute disaster? That is not the way people want their accounts and money protected. By a thing that doesn't know what's fraud and what's you, using your own card, 3 times the night before. When did it become a bad thing to use my own money? *WHEN THERE ARE ZERO NOC/SECURITY/whatever they call customer service now after today, because it the furthest from the truth. I know how long it takes to verify IDs. It doesn't take until 8:51pm?!!!!? Now!?! This is terrible. They have too large of a security umbrella on our accounts when there isn't a person there to fix fatal errors. They might as well have a catastrophic failure in their power system and back up powers. Because what did this terrible Security Protocol, system, program and terrible execution do?

It's 21 hours since my account became disabled/suspended by their out of date system and life changing error.
As of this moment typing, I am in... MY CAR!!! STILL.
NOT A WORD FROM THIS DISASTER THAT CALLS ITSELF A BANK
MY KIDS... HAD TO WAIT AT SCHOOL UNTIL THEIR MOTHER COULD GET THEM. 3 HOURS. 8 year old twins, might have gotten hurt, dad never came.
I am so hungry I might eat my bank card. Then it'd be useful. I'm sitting in the same place. Still 1.5 hours from home. Out of water even. Oh yeah... If March in ***, and dark again.
It's past the rules and protocols, the "Every Customer Is Given The Same Time Sir..." I bet they were all stranded for an entire day outside too right? But their situation is supposedly the same. I'm not sure medically I should drive home if I ever see my money again... Passing out while having sugar issues, almost diabetic, on the highway is not safe. What's Varo going to do about that? Send a driver And get me home? To my childless house, that I can't even leave for work tomorrow?
VARO COST ME:
$160 (Work shift)
$40,060 (Annual Earnings and my job)
$500 (My time, health, comfort)
Probably more I can't remember right now because I'm cold, tired, hungry, thirsty, angry, distraught and stranded.
$40,720 if I math right...

To protect my $200 dollars. And haven't fixed it yet. How often to people steal card #s from IT professionals? Haha not enuff for this to have meant this much damage to my life. And if it was a purchase I made, a simple update to the dinosaur technology they possess could have sent me a text message and asked me if I recognized the activity or not. Costs them quite a few dollars for that upgrade. YES, they can use the $40k they STOLE from my pocket, mother's medicines, children's mouths...
Varo Owes me more than an apology. I'll take a 50k 0%APY Loan to get my life right. What does a company like Varo... Not a Bank... a Company... Terrible Company... Ever have to face for stuff like this?
Probably nothing because some Orange snake Drew up their legal terms and conditions. But they should lose the Varo Equivalent to what they lost me.
That's a start. They have the same policy in place for emergency situations as they do for that gal who selfies her bank card onto ***. My situation and That "made up gals situation^^^" are not the same... When you take "Hers" and put it with mine in the real world. That's like comparing D Days losses to a spilled bowl of apple Jack's. I hope that sounds stupid enuff now, I can go more random but I shouldn't have to. DDay vs Cereal? Crazy... 100% "Her" Fake story vs my very real story? They are treated with the same exact protocol literally. And one of them is FAKE!!! This is tragedy and insanity. Hands down the worst thing that's ever happened to me or my family. Varo gets to skate on down the road and I gotta start over? Let the "fraudulent activity detected" Scam and the "criminals" take the $200 from my account please, next time. There are other complaints like this posted, I saw them and can't believe it. It's too similar to be coincidental and "criminals" maybe they steal our money and invest over night, we've heard of that before... But they ate dirt as Coronavirus had an effect on many stocks and this is how they cover it up? (That's crazy and I am not being serious, but something outrageous happened for me to suffer this miserable day. 9:38 PM March, *** 21 he 8 mins since my situation began. I'm still in my car right now... Cold Etc.. you know the rest... No word from Varo. I wouldn't be any better than they are right now with the things I want to say. So I'm done... This is what they did to me today... Who's next? Make this right. I didn't deserve this. Neither do the rest of the people it happens to because you think any kind of data or financial data security systems should be alone and controlled by a broken and unreliable system.
Get what you pay for. What I paid for I guess...

So VARO ... Great job, all of you. I don't know what I would do without that $200 whenever your policy changes and you expedite my ticket and fix YOUR MISTAKE!!!
Miserable Excuse for a company. MONEY LION tho... They would have gotten me a town car and a ride home.
----
***
His Car
March
Winter
MN
21:21
*Crickets<--- Varo

I have Varo no fee overdraft and its been working fine, I can overdraft up to $50 which helps a lot living on a budget, my account was -$26 this morning so I was gonna get a few things we needed like toilet paper, soap and dish soap which came up to like $7 something and my card was declined, tried calling them twice to explain and both customer service agents got attitudes and hung up on me. I had a few friends looking to open bank accounts and I was going to refer them to Varo but I won't be doing that noe, I will tell them to go elsewhere. Now we can't even wipe our *** so thanks for lying about your overdraft feature

On March 3rd 2020 I was locked out of my account randomly. Then on March 4th they shut my account completely and denied me access to services. They refuse to explain why. I haven’t used the account in a few months, nor have I used the card. I’m very concerned with this behavior.

closed my account without reason or cause. This caused me a great financial hardship.

I have set up this account in January this is my first time using it and my money was never deposited into my account I call customer service they suck because it takes a hour to get through . I just wanna kno why am I having deposit problems when they are suppose to come two days early anyway !

I have been waiting 5 days for my money after being told wait 24-48 hours for my account to be unfroze after Multiple attempts of calling this business nobody has been able to give me any answer I have not been able to touch any of my money or even get in touch with the people that are doing this or try to solve the problem I have gotten hung up on I have gotten talk back to you I have just got treated like I was nothing or like I’m tripping because my money Multiple attempts of calling this business nobody has been able to give me any answer I have not been able to touch any of my money or even get in touch with the people that are doing this or try to solve the problem I have got a hook up or I have gotten talk back to you I have just got treated like I was nothing or like I’m tripping because my money is froze it and I cannot use my money

Account Frozen/ Closed for no reason out of nowhere leaving my young child and I stranded with no way to retrieve our funds. I’ve reached out via phone and email with no response. Attorney General contacted.

The best bank ever! Greatest decision I’ve ever made!

Awesome customer service. Quick response to questions. I feel my money is safe.

Last night I was locked out of my account suddenly, with no reasoning, then charges started to get declined even though I have the funds in my account. I’m now on the phone with the “customer service” & am informed that they have frozen my account & cant give me any information as to why & cant say when it will be reinstated but I “might get an email from the security team within 24 hours asking for more information”.... ???? This is my only checking account & my car insurance payment is supposed to go out today, not to mention I need to pay for gas, food, etc. I’ve NEVER dealt with a bank who randomly holds your money from you with no explanation... I was put on hold for 15+ minutes to wait for a supervisor who told me the same thing & that she “understands my frustration” towards the fact that I’m going to run out of gas, not be able to eat & get a late fee for my car insurance- but there’s “nothing she can do”. WOW. Will be immediately switching to a different bank as soon as my account is reinstated [unless they just decide to hold onto my funds forever!]

Great bank, great looking card, get paid two days faster

No complications when using the card. Purchasing items are easy

I have never been more upset by any experience with a financial institution in my entire life than I am right now by the experience I am having with this business. I worked very hard today to make $250 in tips at my job. I got off work and went straight to the nearest gas station to upload every penny onto my PayPal account. As soon as that money hit my paypal account I immediately transferred all of it to my Varo account. Now I can’t even log into my account or make ANY type of transaction on line. I even got declined when I tried to make any size withdrawal from the atm. I know the money is in my account because when I call the customer support line, that is about the only information I’m able to receive. My account balance and the fact that I must call back during normal business hours to speak to a representative. There is no word to describe how upset I am by this because I needed to have immediate access to MY money so I could eat and put gas in my car in addition to paying people back who had borrowed me money. They were counting on me paying them through cashapp and that was the reason why I chose to put money onto Varo because it does link to cashapp. I am starving and I can’t eat because I don’t have food and I can’t go buy food because Varo has my money locked and I can’t talk to Varo because it’s Saturday so they don’t open until 11:00 am. On top of that, I made a promise to pay someone back today who loaned me money. Now I am not able to keep that promise because Varo put a lock on my card. I NEED to have this issue resolved immediately and then I am most definitely going to delete my account

I had a fraud charge of $99 on my account and they refused to return my money - claiming “there was not suffice information to prove fraud”. Although it was a city I don’t go to and a gas station charge of $99.

Now, today, while I’m at work they charged me $15 and all the charge says is “car expenses”. But I’m at work and haven’t used my card all day.

How is that even possible? Horrible bank

This has been the worst experience ever, and I hate that I ever signed up with this company. I received deposits in my account from my insurance. In 3 separate increments, the first was received with no issue, and then the remaining were held. My account was then suspended ans I was asked to provide endless amounts of information, for whatever reason they did not find satisfactory. So they then removed the deposits, and sent them back to my insurance company. Once, that was done my account has STILL been placed on hold, and I have not been able to access my payroll that was received to the account after it was placed under suspension. I have received that payroll in the account a number of times, and they have yet to release my money. This company is the WORST ever. They are holding my money hostage, and I need this to be resolved immediately.

The last two days has been very stressful for me. Varo money put my money on hold and it is still frozen. Calling her number is useless the only way to contact them about this issue is through their email support. Initially they asked for documents regarding my proof of origin/income for my direct deposit. and further they wanted me to send them statements for all my external bank accounts that had been used in 2019. Wanting my total earnings for the entire year. Anyways very extensive documents were requested. I asked multiple times for them to call and talk to me but to no avail. I have never had any issues with any other bank but they told me they liked it air on the side of caution with potential fraudulent activity. what is more upsetting about all this is this is the second time and they have requested the same information. They were satisfied in September but now they have to do it again. I have never had any other issues with any other bank. And after reading many reviews on *** I quickly see I am not the only one. As of this morning they have blocked me from commenting on their *** page. Only positive feedback apparently! Right now my money is still in limbo.