A sleeping man woken up by the Revolut notifications — Image by Cybernews

A tired customer reported his bank, Revolut, to a UK’s financial regulator for sending him push communications while he was asleep which, he claimed, led to a tough time at the office the following day.

The payout was modest — but the ombudsman felt it was fair. Despite the disrupted sleep and a tough day at work, the ruling found that Revolut had not acted improperly, and the compensation offered was considered proportionate to the impact.
User controls played an important role in the decision. Because Revolut allows customers to manage app notification settings, the ombudsman considered that the user had some ability to prevent similar disruptions.
Wider concerns did not lead to further action in this case. The customer's attempt to secure a larger payout was unsuccessful, and his concerns about Revolut's use of AI were considered outside the ombudsman's remit.

Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.

According to a Financial Ombudsman’s (FOS) decision letter, issued in March, Revolut was forced to pay the princely sum of £25 after the customer – identified only as “Mr A” – complained about the inappropriate timing of the communication and its impact.

The customer received two marketing notifications from the bank’s app on separate occasions during the night.

The alerts were enough to wake him from sleep, and given that a family member was unwell at the time, left him worried that something had gone wrong.

Mr A told ombudsman James Akehurts that he was unable to get back to sleep and had to suffer through “a bad day at work."

Late night notifications from fintech ruined tired customer's day at work. By Shutterstock

For its part, Revolut initially offered the customer £25 in compensation and explained that users can manage notification preferences through the app.

The fintech also argued that some communications are sent to meet regulatory requirements and so couldn’t be restricted to specific hours.

However, the bank accidentally sent the money to the customer’s business account rather than the personal account that received the notifications.

Complaint escalated

Hoping for a larger payout, Mr A then escalated the dispute to the Financial Ombudsman, whose job it is to resolve disputes between consumers and financial businesses.

However the watchdog ultimately agreed with an earlier investigator that £25 was reasonable compensation.

The ombudsman also agreed that Revolut had not acted improperly by sending the notification when it did.

“Firms are free to send notifications when their regulatory obligations require it,” Akehurts wrote to the customer, in a letter explaining his decision.

“And while I acknowledge Mr A’s comments about the timing of the marketing notification he received, given it was through his app which contains the functionality to turn such notifications off, I don’t think Revolut got things wrong here.”

Use of AI

Even if Revolut’s communications had been outside the regulations, the ombudsman said he was satisfied that the amount of compensation “sufficiently” addressed the impact of the nighttime pings.

Revolut's notifications are not inherently louder than other banking apps, but it can surprise users with its distinct, sharp "cash register" or "cha-ching" sound that can cuts through ambient noise.

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The ombudsman also acknowledged in his letter that the complainant had concerns about Revolut’s use of AI, but said that those concerns were beyond its scope and would need to be submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to review.

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