Savings account + lottery

B00M · August 5, 2023

Fidelity or vanguard money market bro

i abandoned yotta a while ago

Edited August 5, 2023 by B00M

Nice Guy Eddie · August 6, 2023

On 8/4/2023 at 11:09 PM, B00M said:

Fidelity or vanguard money market bro

i abandoned yotta a while ago

For a while I found that yotta routinely returned a higher percentage even given the lottery variability. Especially when they allowed pooling/sharing prizes. With that move, the variability dropped and I earned a higher percentage than with other HYSA. Then interest rates with other banks went up, Yottas games didn’t seem to match the increases. And while I don’t blame them for being unable to pay more than other banks, I prefer to keep my savings elsewhere.

blacklab · August 6, 2023

Yep, pulled out a while back.

It was great earning 1% when banks were paying 0.25%, now with sofi paying 4.5% and vanguard money market at 4.8% why bother with it.

3adays · May 15

Anyone have money left in Yotta? I tried to pull what I had left in there (4K) out last week and it’s held up. I also noticed my weekly deposit didn’t go through. I saw this on Reddit

gsoda3 · May 15

i'd completely forgotten i had funds in there.

how long ago did you put in your request?

Viper · May 15

I moved money out on the 11th after they announced they were ending their savings rewards but it's still processing. Luckily I only had $100 in there.

3adays · May 16

15 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

i'd completely forgotten i had funds in there.

how long ago did you put in your request?

This past Saturday.

Nice Guy Eddie · May 16

Sorry to hear Yotta is having problems. Thought it was a cool idea but removed my money a year ago. To me they appeared to underperform HYSAs and I would only check the app/balance once or twice per month. The game aspect started to bore me, so I left to pursue higher yields elsewhere.

nineliveslost · May 16

I left about 2 months ago. They changed up their game and made it more confusing and I started winning less or none at all .

Nice Guy Eddie · May 22

IMO Yotta suffered due to the prevalence of high yield savings accounts, increased interest rates, higher national lottery prizes, and normalized sports gambling. And I assume they ran out of investor money to bump prizes up as promotions.

i also became less interested in the daily/ weekly number announcements when they offered grouped accounts. If you joined large groups, then the weekly yield became flat. The gambling rush was effectively eliminated.

cool idea that was worth a try. I hope everyone gets their money back, even if via FDIC insurance.

gsoda3 · May 22

this looks like it's gonna take a while. i put in a request to get my money out on may 15 and i've gotten a few emails saying they're having issues, etc. this is the one i got yesterday.

Nice Guy Eddie · May 22

4 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

this looks like it's gonna take a while. i put in a request to get my money out on may 15 and i've gotten a few emails saying they're having issues, etc. this is the one i got yesterday.

I hate a vendor or service provider that blames their partners for issues. As a customer I contracted with you. Any hiccup is your problem to solve regardless of cost or complexity. Your problems shouldn’t be mine.

gsoda3 · May 22

36 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I hate a vendor or service provider that blames their partners for issues. As a customer I contracted with you. Any hiccup is your problem to solve regardless of cost or complexity. Your problems shouldn’t be mine.

it's shady. i think the situation is this: yotta took the depositors' money. they then sent it to synapse, who turned around and sent it (sold it??) on to evolve. apparently synapse has been running this play elsewhere (taking money through an "kids' bank app" called Copper). they disappeared everyone's accounts in Copper (no statements, no acounts showing in the app, nothing) around the same time yotta was having these issues also. i really hope these were actually FDIC insured.

Nice Guy Eddie · May 22

44 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

it's shady. i think the situation is this: yotta took the depositors' money. they then sent it to synapse, who turned around and sent it (sold it??) on to evolve. apparently synapse has been running this play elsewhere (taking money through an "kids' bank app" called Copper). they disappeared everyone's accounts in Copper (no statements, no acounts showing in the app, nothing) around the same time yotta was having these issues also. i really hope these were actually FDIC insured.

Some of these fintech companies are seemingly run by people that have no business in banking. I recall (and it’s probably on this thread) but I never could reconcile how Yotta calculated annual return. I would calculate a 1.5% (or whatever) annual return and they posted it as much higher.

Nice Guy Eddie · June 4

Youtube video from a guy who calls out scammers. He turns his latest video towards Yotta and the finance influencer who hyped them and in some cases invested in Yotta.

I didn't realize that the "banks" holding onto the money are arguing over $150m. That doesn't sound like an easy resolution.

I also didn't realize that Yotta has transformed to a gambling site even though they use other names for gambling.

Edited June 4 by Nice Guy Eddie

The Royal We · June 4

I've got a decent chunk of funds stuck in Yotta too. Total BS that they haven't been able to come up with a solution since 5/11.

gsoda3 · June 4

46 minutes ago, The Royal We said:

I've got a decent chunk of funds stuck in Yotta too. Total BS that they haven't been able to come up with a solution since 5/11.

i really hope the research i did about yotta being FDIC insured was accurate lol. i have no idea what next steps look like other than waiting.

Captainant · June 5

6 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

i really hope the research i did about yotta being FDIC insured was accurate lol. i have no idea what next steps look like other than waiting.

The way the coffeezilla video explained is that the money IS insured, but only against bank failure. Inaccessibility doesn't mean the money is gone, you just can't touch it right now.

You have to hope that a for profit Fintech company puts your interests over their own

Parliament · June 5

I have become a Boomer, because I never heard about Yotta, can't understand what they were about, and have no clue why you'd wanna deposit your money with these idiots.

Yotta Bank was cofounded by Adam Moelis in 2019, following a different model from typical banking interest payment methods. According to Yotta's website,[1] users receive free entries into daily sweepstakes instead of predetermined interest rates, with each $25 in your account getting you an additional ticket.

A total of six numbers then get drawn every night at 9 p.m. EST, winning you anywhere from a few cents to $1 million depending on how many numbers match your tickets.

In May 2024, Yotta cited a dispute between two of their banking partners as the reason for several thousand accounts being locked, the total savings in which amount to over $112 million. Synapse, a bank partnered with Yotta, declared bankruptcy earlier in 2024.

immamac · June 5

Fucking seriously?

B00M · June 5

7 hours ago, Parliament said:

I have become a Boomer, because I never heard about Yotta, can't understand what they were about, and have no clue why you'd wanna deposit your money with these idiots.

The article you posted explains what they did pretty well if you’re still able to read. Do you recall that interest rates were near zero for a very long time? Remember that pandemic that required stimulus and resulted in a lot more dollars in circulation looking for returns? Yotta was about as fun as a savings account can be. It’s a good idea and it was reasonably well executed. It’s not particularly surprising that rapidly rising interest rates caused deposit flight from yotta, stressed the fuck out of their business model, and forced them to halt withdrawals.

Johnny Chimpo · June 5

Once they started lagging behind the money market funds I pulled all my money out. Thankfully. I hate to hear people have money trapped in there. That’s the worst.

Nice Guy Eddie · June 5

1 hour ago, Johnny Chimpo said:

Once they started lagging behind the money market funds I pulled all my money out. Thankfully. I hate to hear people have money trapped in there. That’s the worst.

Same here. I feel for everyone that has trapped funds but for former customers like Chimpo and I, I'm curious how it plays out. In my own self interest, I hope they don't look to claw back funds from former customers which has occurred in past fintech bankruptcies.

gsoda3 · June 5

11 hours ago, Captainant said:

The way the coffeezilla video explained is that the money IS insured, but only against bank failure. Inaccessibility doesn't mean the money is gone, you just can't touch it right now.

You have to hope that a for profit Fintech company puts your interests over their own

thanks for the summary.

B00M · July 2

Insult to injury, yotta sent out this email yesterday

Quote

Investigation of Data Breach at Evolve Bank & Trust

Evolve Bank & Trust, a partner bank we worked with, confirmed a data breach that exposed information on their servers. Per Evolve, this data breach includes personally identifiable information such as name, Social Security number, bank account number, and contact information. While we have been unable to confirm a complete list of impacted Yotta customers from Evolve, it is our expectation that a majority of end users were impacted.

Your Yotta credentials and password were not exposed, as this information never touched Evolve. However, to open bank accounts at Evolve, we collected KYC (“Know Your Customer”) data as required by federal regulations. This information was provided to Evolve.

Since Evolve has frozen payment processing for RDFI transactions (such as ACH pulls) and debit and credit card transactions since May 11th, any exposure of your account numbers or debit/credit card number is unlikely to pose a risk.

Evolve will be providing updates on this page, and we will provide any updates as we have them. Evolve told us they intend to notify each individually impacted end customer directly by July 8th. We will work to get a complete list before then from Evolve and notify anyone impacted as soon as possible.

Edited July 2 by B00M

Bozo_Casanova · July 5

I'm very sorry that several of you have been impacted by the Synapse/Evolve mess through Yotta. It's a disaster, and it's so complicated it's not worth deconstructing what happened here. I can't handicap your chances of seeing it again, and I hope you can afford to lose it. At this point, I would be more worried about whether your personal information was compromised in the massive Evolve bank hack.

To understand what happened and asses your chances, I would strongly encourage you to avoid non-expert sources and to follow Jason Mikula's coverage of the SynapseFI bankruptcy case on his Substack. This is a good post to read first, but once you do, just search his entries for "Synapse" and "evolve." He's a good follow on Twitter as well.

Happy to explain any of the jargon he's using.

Edited July 5 by Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova · July 5

Would also recommend this article from Alex Johnson's "Fintech Takes".

Nice Guy Eddie · July 5

Why isn't FDIC coming to the rescue of the depositors? I can understand that if someone had their savings in crypto or another financial product that you're not covered by FDIC insurance but isn't this deposits that the consumer rightfully thought was in a savings account advertised as FDIC insured.

Is the FDIC waiting for more information/bankruptcy proceedings to finalize before paying out, or was Yotta and Synapse/Evolve fraudulently claiming it was FDIC insured when it wasn't.

Bozo_Casanova · July 5

53 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Why isn't FDIC coming to the rescue of the depositors? I can understand that if someone had their savings in crypto or another financial product that you're not covered by FDIC insurance but isn't this deposits that the consumer rightfully thought was in a savings account advertised as FDIC insured.

Is the FDIC waiting for more information/bankruptcy proceedings to finalize before paying out, or was Yotta and Synapse/Evolve fraudulently claiming it was FDIC insured when it wasn't.

Jason covers a lot of that in his posts, but the summary is that the yes, FDIC insurance covers savings and DDA accounts* in the event of bank insolvency that’s not the issue here. The issue is that funds can’t be accounted for, literally. Meaning the fundamental accounting infrastructure between the parties involved is not currently able to be reconciled.

its a mess.

*DDA or Demand Deposit Account usually refers to a checking or spending account. While the differences aren’t well understood by consumers they are actually quite significant.

Edited July 5 by Bozo_Casanova

SimonBolivar · July 5

I have $300 in this mess and I'm glad I never tried to put more over there.

gsoda3 · July 5

my original withdrawal request from may 15th was cancelled and when i try to request another withdrawal it says "withdrawals from yotta are currently disabled."

Captainant · July 5

Bozo_Casanova · July 5

1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:

my original withdrawal request from may 15th was cancelled and when i try to request another withdrawal it says "withdrawals from yotta are currently disabled."

If I were in your shoes I would write to the bankruptcy court and do some reading starting with the sources I posted above.

Also relevant FRB issues enforcement action on Evolve.

Edited July 5 by Bozo_Casanova

nineliveslost · September 25

Any update? I heard there might be a "reconciliation" by Oct 18. no clue what the fuck that means

SimonBolivar · September 25

7 minutes ago, nineliveslost said:

Any update?

Yeah, I still don't have $346.14

The Royal We · September 25

5 minutes ago, nineliveslost said:

Any update? I heard there might be a "reconciliation" by Oct 18. no clue what the fuck that means

I've got a decent amount of money still stuck with them. I contacted their support at the end of August for an update and received a quick response:

Quote

Thanks for asking. According to the Synapse Trial Balance Report, your funds are at Evolve. At this time we do not have updates about access or disbursement regarding funds at Evolve. We will be sure to reach out with new updates as soon as we have them.

I've been checking their updates and trying to read through the filings as this thing drags on. The most pertinent one recently was:

Quote

9/4/2024:

An additional hearing in the SynapseFi bankruptcy case was held on Friday where the Trustee discussed their most recent status report.

Evolve Bank has stated that they expect its reconciliation to take 8 weeks from August 23 when their data collection was completed.

‍

To date the following distributions have been made for FBO funds of end users of all fintech companies:

AMG National Trust: $109,270,681

Lineage Bank: $49,200,617

Evolve Bank & Trust: $0

Get your shit together Evolve.

https://www.withyotta.com/payment-processing-updates

nineliveslost · September 25

I was lucky to pull my money out in time. One of the adult kids left around $1400 in

The Royal We · September 25

28 minutes ago, nineliveslost said:

I was lucky to pull my money out in time. One of the adult kids left around $1400 in

I pulled 50% of mine out before I even knew this was going on, but still have more than your kid left in there.

The latest status report from the trustee mentions the below, which I assume means anyone with funds still stuck is taking a haircut. If I remember correctly, Yotta automatically transferred customer funds held in an Evolve DDA to a Synapse FBO account. This dirty trick means the FDIC isn't coming to save us.

I hope some motherfuckers go to jail over this. <Laughs in white collar crime>

ETA:

Just saw an update from 9/22 on the Substack that @Bozo_Casanova shared way back when:

https://substack.com/@fintechbusinessweekly/p-149089390

Edited September 25 by The Royal We

Bozo_Casanova · September 25

4 hours ago, nineliveslost said:

Any update? I heard there might be a "reconciliation" by Oct 18. no clue what the fuck that means

Reconciliation in banking literally means matching entries in accounting records with entries in the core banking system of record.

in other words, they are trying to figure out who what money does and doesn’t belong to and where it is now.
It’s a mess.

gsoda3 · October 25

Update yesterday:

Quote

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – October 23, 2024 – Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) today announced the distribution and payment processes to return funds held by Evolve to Synapse Brokerage end users impacted by the Synapse bankruptcy.

To facilitate the distribution, Rust Consulting, an Exela Technologies brand, will serve as the administrator to disburse funds to end users of Synapse Brokerage that the Bank has held since the Synapse bankruptcy.

“We understand that this has been a frustrating experience for Synapse’s end users and share that frustration,” said Scot Lenoir, Founder, Evolve Bank and Trust. “Evolve has been working diligently to sort through over 100 million transaction records to evaluate the flawed ledgers from Synapse to reconstruct end users’ positions at Evolve. We know this has taken time, but we believed it was in everyone’s best interest and the responsible thing to do to complete the reconciliation and, with an accurate understanding of end user balances, begin to return funds back to those end users. We are proud of the work we have completed and hope that it will serve as an example to others.”

End user Call Center & Website

Evolve has launched a website — reconciliationbyevolve.com — which includes resources for end users including FAQs about the reconciliation process, as well as information about the process to disburse end user balances at Evolve.

Additionally, Evolve has launched a dedicated call center to answer end user questions about the distribution process. End users may call 877-873-0008 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday (excluding major holidays).

Distribution Process and Payment of End user Balances

On November 4, 2024, Rust will send an email to end users who have a balance at Evolve, directing them to reconciliationbyevolve.com. End users will login with information provided in that email. Once logged in and authenticated, end users will be provided with their Synapse ecosystem balance as well as the amount of any of their funds that Evolve holds and will be disbursing to them.

Funds will be disbursed in two ways:

Those with balances at Evolve of $100 or more will receive an email with instructions on selecting a payment method to receive their balance. The email will contain an important claim and access code to create an account to register for payment. They will also be given a set of payment methods from which to choose, which may include ACH transfer, wire, or check, among others. Payments will be sent within approximately 7 days of end users setting up their account and choosing their payment method. End users that do not respond by December 4, 2024, will receive a check.

Those with balances at Evolve of less than $100 will receive payments directly through an online payment service. End users that do not claim their payment by December 4, 2024, will receive a check.

Any end user with a balance at Evolve who wishes to receive their balance via check will be able to request one.

If you do not receive an email by November 14, 2024, and believe you are owed a balance by Evolve, please visit reconciliationbyevolve.com for more information.

About Evolve Bank & Trust:

Evolve Bank & Trust, a technology focused financial services organization, offers specialized solutions in Open Banking, Personal and Business Banking, Mortgage, SBA Lending, Physicians Capital, and Trust. Evolve has been voted a Top Workplace USA and has been named in Inc. Magazine’s 5000 List of the fastest growing private companies.

###

Media Contact:
Email: media@getevolved.com

https://reconciliationbyevolve.com/

gsoda3 · November 4

Evolve just sent out an email saying they've reconciled and will pay out amounts held in their banks (vs other banks across the Synpase ecosystem).

I had $.23 in Evolve banks. Rest of the money's in other banks.

bernorange · November 4

14 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

Evolve just sent out an email saying they've reconciled and will pay out amounts held in their banks ...

I had $.23 in Evolve banks. ...

SimonBolivar · November 4

Cool cool cool

SimonBolivar · November 4

And the wife's

Just enough to be pissed off, but not enough to really care about doing anything. Great.

The Royal We · November 4

1 hour ago, gsoda3 said:

Evolve just sent out an email saying they've reconciled and will pay out amounts held in their banks (vs other banks across the Synpase ecosystem).

I had $.23 in Evolve banks. Rest of the money's in other banks.

Mine was $.56. How is that even possible? They would really go through the trouble of only sending Evolve $.23!?

And the rest of the banks have been silent and/or Yotta hasn't mentioned anything about them so I guess this is the end?

Viper · November 5

5 hours ago, The Royal We said:

Mine was $.56. How is that even possible? They would really go through the trouble of only sending Evolve $.23!?

And the rest of the banks have been silent and/or Yotta hasn't mentioned anything about them so I guess this is the end?

this is what the yotta subreddit is saying. I think a lot of them are appealing and trying to set up a class action group.

3adays · November 5

My Evolve payment says $0.00 on almost $4000.00. That sucks, but look at some of these balances.Holy shit!

Captainant · November 5

4 hours ago, 3adays said:

My Evolve payment says $0.00 on almost $4000.00. That sucks, but look at some of these balances.Holy shit!

crazy that so many people blindly gave a fintech firm their life savings

UTPhil2006 · November 5

7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

crazy that so many people blindly gave a fintech firm their life savings

Viper · November 8

Link to join a group putting a class action together

http://www.fightforourfunds.org/

Sign In

Savings account + lottery

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