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.
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.