US neobank Oxygen switches focus from banking to health in new strategy
San Francisco-based digital banking platform Oxygen says it has “temporarily suspended” its banking services as it looks to redirect its focus towards health-focused solutions.
Oxygen temporarily suspends its banking services
In a statement on the company’s website, Oxygen says it officially commenced the “account closure process” on 8 March, with both consumers and business users being informed that their accounts will be closed on 29 March.
The firm adds that customers will have continued access to their accounts until 29 March and that any remaining balance left in their accounts after this date “will be returned to you via check by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. within 45 days”.
Oxygen says customers will no longer be able to deposit funds into their Oxygen accounts from 16 March and “all services in connection with your Oxygen Savings Account” will be discontinued by 21 March.
In an email to FinTech Futures, Oxygen says it is “only temporarily pausing Oxygen Banking”.
David Rafalovsky, who was appointed CEO at Oxygen last year, says that with the “rapid changes” currently being experienced by the industry, “we see an opportunity to redefine our role and deliver even greater value to our customers”.
“During this transition, we will be focusing our efforts on creating a product line that integrates health with financial solutions.”
As part of its “transformation”, Oxygen is set to launch Oxygen Health, a health-focused offering, by the end of this month.
Rafalovsky says the new offering will provide users with “the tools to invest in your future health and fiscal well-being all in one platform”, working in partnership with alternative and supplemental health plan providers.
Founded in 2017 and launched three years later, Oxygen had previously centred its remit on providing banking services for consumers and small businesses, including current and savings accounts, money transfers and cashback rewards.
The company secured $20 million in Series B funding in February 2023 from backers including Y Combinator, Rucker Park and Possible Ventures.
Worst bank oxygen bank has locked my account and I am no longer able to get my money from my checking and savings account on the 6th of March I could not longer get into my accounts when they had sent a email saying I had until the 29th of March to transfer my money or get it out of my accounts I have called several times and the number is not working now I have to wait until they send me a check in the mail 45 days after march 29th all my money was in my accounts my bills have to be paid and I can’t pay them because the bank locked me out of my account
They knew about this for months apparently but let us know two weeks before closing. I get paid once a month, and now am I screwed with no money for an entire month because I was not informed in time to change my banking info with my employer so now the money is in limbo.. and could take 45 days to arrive to me by check. If they had warned us about this when they KNEW they were closing maybe I could have changed my info in time and none of this would’ve happened. Scum bags. And I am going to tell my 500k followers on tiktok and YouTube all about this scummy business so that hopefully no one uses their crappy health crap that they plan to roll out. This is not how u do business!
This is some bs I had money in my savings and when I went to transfer some out it was gone why didn’t they been tell us about this now I have to wait for my money to come to do anything I hate this so much
Call Oxygen bank The money in your savings account ask them to transfer it to your oxygen balance and they will with no problem
I changed my social security direct deposit to my other bank and it should it be deposited on the 1st. It went to oxygen and now My social security I’m not able to transfer to another account. It showed on social security it was going to the new bank so I didn’t do anything.i didn’t have any money in it. So what do I do now? I can’t wait 1day let alone 45days
Same EXACT problem im having! And this bogus axx number isnt working either i been on hold for @hours!
I can’t believe this this is some serious BS I never even got the email that said that the accounts were closing I thought it was weird a week or so ago when I tried to load cash into my account and couldn’t but then I just tried logging into my app a couple days ago and it says account closed I have all my money going into this account and I didn’t get any notification that they were closing. I searched through all my emails and can’t find any email where they said that they were closing accounts. The only emails I received would have been too late anyways for me to do anything , I can’t believe now I have to wait 45 days for a check in the mail in order to pay my bills I have written due in like three days. How am I going to do that now?
This is definitely bs. They never sent me an email informing me that my accounts would be closed. I checked every email folder I have and absolutely nothing. Same with my bf. Luckily I didn’t have anything in my accounts, I did receive a check for $0.01 LOL. Now my bf is screwed over because he had his tax return direct deposited into the account, not knowing that they were planning on closing the accounts. So his return was deposited apparently, and Oxygen/The Bancorp Bank sent him a check issued by non other than the Bancorp Bank, and we can’t seem to get it cashed anywhere. We have tried depositing via check scan on PayPal, and Cash app. We have tried Walmart, Kroger, etc. I don’t understand why we can’t get this check cashed. So frustrating. We have bills that need to be paid Like yesterday 😡.
So how do I cash the check they sent me? I’ve tried grocery stores, cash app and PayPal, Walmart etc. And cannot get it cashed.
Sorry, but all these comments saying they couldn’t get their money out is BS. I didn’t have Oxygen Bank long but it was by far the best bank I’ve ever had… And I’ve hopped around A LOT looking for a bank I was happy with.
Chase is my runner up… But they charged me two overdraft fees on a charge that was made in error (not by me)… For some reason I was charged twice (I cannot even remember where it was now because it’s been so long) and of course you know refunds are never instant. Well, by the time I got the refund for the second charge, which shouldn’t have been made in the first place, I had two overdraft fees because of other automatic charges. This was never rectified… So that’s why I left Chase.
But I may go back to Chase now that Oxygen is gone. And I don’t think I’m going to be a fan of the new Oxygen app… I don’t need to invest in my healthcare because I already have that. I liked the bank the way it was… They should have made a new, separate bank for for that because now that’s just going to be too much.
But anyways, I had deposits coming in up until the very last day… And was able to get my money out with no issues whatsoever. They just removed the rewards options and some other options… But none of them had anything to do with withdrawing your funds… They wanted you to withdraw your funds. Why would they want to create more work for themselves? Having to sit there and mail out checks, even if completely automated it would still cost to mail them. I know stamps were 63 cents but I’m sure they get a discount and to make it easier we’re going to say…. At 60 cents each, if they have to mail 1,000 checks that would cost them a total of $600. Why TF would ANY company want to lose money??? So don’t blame them or try to make them look bad just because you don’t know what you’re doing… That is in no way their fault.
Also, we were all notified about this, I want to say on March 6th, but I know for sure by March 8th. They allowed deposits to be made all the way up until the final day March 29th. I don’t understand how 3 weeks isn’t enough time to change your bank info??? According to the Social Security website normally you have until the 15th to report new DD info for the following month. So that gave y’all 7 days, a full week, to make necessary changes. So again, how are you going to blame them for your procrastination??? I mean I procrastinate too… But I don’t blame anyone but myself when I do. Also, in the email we ALL received it said a check would be mailed on April 5th for all remaining funds in the account on April 1st. And even if funds were deposited a later date that a check would be mailed… And that customer service is absolutely available until AUGUST 31ST!
So again, don’t try to make a good company look bad because you chose not to do what you needed to do… Yes, occasionally shit happens like somehow your DD info isn’t changed when you report it… But again, you should be verifying this info. If I knew I needed that deposit to live on I would be making sure it was taken care of… I wouldn’t wait then bash a company because I failed to do my due diligence. Oxygen Bank was an amazing bank… I was sad I didn’t find them sooner. Also, kinda shocked there isn’t more hype about them. I’ve now been on the hunt to find another bank as good as they were… And I have yet to do so. But the search will continue… They set the bar pretty high though. So I’ve been pretty disappointed will the other options I’ve found. Which is why it pisses me off so much to hear people talking badly about them.