Revolut has frozen our account with £37,000 house deposit inside - we exchange in two weeks: CRANE ON THE CASE

My partner and I are about to buy our first home. Our £37,000 deposit is saved in a joint account with Revolut, and we each have a current account with the bank too.Two weeks ago, my partner was told her current account was being put under a routine security review and had been temporarily frozen. When we checked our savings account with the deposit inside, we couldn't access that either. We are due to exchange contracts on our house in 12 days' time and need to transfer the deposit to our solicitor then.We've been given conflicting reasons for the account being frozen, from a 'policy breach' to something about 'crypto unstaking'. We don't have any cryptocurrency. My partner just uses the account to receive her salary and for normal day-to-day spending.The clock is ticking and Revolut keeps giving us deadlines for when the investigation will be finished and then missing them. We don't mind if her account is closed, we just need to get the money out. X.W.F, Oxfordshire Anxious wait: This couple can't access their £37,000 house deposit because Revolut has frozen their account - and they are set to exchange in two weeksHelen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: Buying your first property is more stressful than sitting exams, getting divorced or even having a baby, according to surveys trotted out by the industry. So for you to lose access to your hard-saved deposit just as you were in view of the finish line caused immense anxiety. All banks (and Revolut is now a bank, having received its UK license earlier this year) must carry out anti-money laundering and identity checks on their customers, and have the right to take away their access to their accounts while they investigate.Often, this happens when someone has sent or received an unusually large sum, if identity or address data is found to be out of date, or their usual pattern of spending changes - but you said this hadn't been the case. The bank will be tight-lipped about has triggered their investigation, as they do not want to give fraudsters intelligence that could help them evade their checks. CRANE ON THE CASE Our weekly column sees This is Money consumer expert Helen Crane tackle reader problems and shine the light on companies doing both good and bad.Want her to investigate a problem, or do you want to praise a firm for going that extra mile? Get in touch:helen.crane@thisismoney.co.ukIt is possible that security is heightened at Revolut. Last month, hackers posing as Italian government officials tricked staff into handing over the personal details of 680 customers - thought to be those with large cryptocurrency holdings. The group threatened to sell the data to other criminals unless Revolut paid a $3million ransom. It's not clear whether this was paid. In your case, you were told the investigation of your partner's account was due to a 'policy breach,' but later told it was because she had activated the 'wealth protection' feature inside Revolut. This puts in place stricter security including a 'selfie check' when withdrawing money from an account, and ironically she had done it to protect your deposit. Later, you were told it was due to crypto, which you don't own. Your partner wasn't asked to provide any identification or information about the source of funds in her account, which is common when banks are carrying out these checks. Revolut's main point of contact for customers is the AI chat function within the app. You felt this wasn't always helpful and that you often had to repeat information.Customers understandably get frustrated when they find they have been locked out of their account, but can't get an answer as to why. Readers have told me in the past that they had to borrow money for a bus ticket when they couldn't fill up their car, or were forced to survive on food in the freezer because they couldn't pay for shopping.If anyone reading this doesn't have a back-up current account, this is your sign to open one - making sure it is with a different banking group than your own.While your own Revolut current account was briefly frozen as part of the investigation into your partner, access was restored quickly - which was a good job, as you have two children under the age of six to look after. Having your bank account frozen is distressing, but in most cases customers are at least given a clear timeline of when the bank's investigation will complete and their account will either be restored, or closed. If closed, the money is normally sent to another account within a few days. This wasn't the case for you with Revolut, which was particularly unfortunate because you were facing a very hard deadline to exchange on your new home.If you weren't able to send your deposit to your lawyer you risked delaying the move, or worse, the seller pulling out and the whole thing collapsing. You'd also handed in notice to the landlord of your rented home, meaning that if the move was delayed your young family risked being left without anywhere to stay. You were initially told the investigation would be finished a few days after the account was frozen, but nearly every time you contacted Revolut it pushed this back by a few more days, causing your anxiety levels to surge. You were told 'operational volume' had delayed things and paid £175 in compensation for this, but you still didn't have the crucial funds to complete on your home. This was when you contacted me. I spoke to Revolut to plead with them to get your deposit transferred out to an account you have with a separate bank - and fast. A few days later, I'm glad to report you were reunited with your cash and are now ready to exchange on your new home. A spokesperson for Revolut said: 'Account reviews are mandatory and necessary to protect our customers and the integrity of the financial system. 'As part of our regulatory obligations, we may apply restrictions to customer accounts for a variety of reasons and we can’t always disclose why a customer's account has been restricted.'The account review is now complete, and full access to the funds and accounts has been restored.'We’re sorry that our review process took longer than usual in this case, and that our communication with the customer didn’t reach its usual standards, particularly given the inconvenience this caused during an important life moment for the family.'Frustratingly, we'll never know why your account was frozen. You've had more than your fair share of stress, so here's hoping the rest of the move goes off without a hitch. CRANE ON THE CASE