A woman claiming to bank with SoFi says that her money has been “held hostage” for the previous 10 days, and she’s worried about her ability to pay bills as a result.
The video detailing the predicament comes from creator Oddnumber (@904diary), who says TikTok took down the original video after it reached 65,000 views. The new video has attracted more than 396,200 views since being posted on Sunday.
In it, the creator says of her predicament, “I have been calling them every single day. They have been responding with the same thing. They’re just like, ‘Oh, you have to wait until they review it.’”
She didn’t give a clear reason as to why her account might be under investigation or why she’s not able to access her money, but she was detailed as to the extent of SoFi’s alleged actions.
“I’m like, ‘Girl, I have bills to pay,’” she said. “Like, I’m overdue on bills because my account was frozen. I can’t do anything. I can’t take anything out. I can’t deposit anything. I can’t even, like, access my account or routing information.”
She claimed that SoFi’s not even allowing her to close the account until the investigation is over. She also said she called the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after seeing a Reddit post dispensing that advice, but she’s no closer to resolution in the two days since filing the claim.
Toward the end of the video, she noted, “I have loved banking with SoFi up until this point. They have a great APY, a great high-yield savings account, but after this … no.”
@904diary the video got taken down ag 65k views , not sure why.. reuploading to bring light to this issue so others dont go through what im going through with @SoFi ! i made an updated video too #sofi #onlinebank #frozenbankaccount #financialeducation #highyieldsavingsaccount ♬ original sound – oddnumber
Commenters provided some advice.
“My rule is if the bank doesn’t have a physical location I can walk into, I do not bank with them,” one offered, referring to the fact that SoFi is an online-only bank.
“As soon as the restriction is lifted,” another counseled, “take all your money [out]and open an account at a credit union.”
Someone else gave the obvious advice, “Cancel direct deposit!” to keep more money from going into the account she can’t access.
“I never understood why people had multiple checking accounts at different banks,” another observed, “until something like this happened to me.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and to SoFi via email.
