Budgeting app Yolt to close on Saturday 4 December – here's everything you need to know

Yolt, which has around 1.6 million users in the UK, France and Italy – although the majority are in the UK – uses a service called 'Open Banking' to allow customers to see all of their bank, credit card and investment accounts in one dashboard. You can also set up your own Yolt account and use its prepaid card.

But the ING-backed firm says the decision to shut is so it can focus on building its Open Banking technology platform. Yolt customers should have been contacted about the closure, and the company has advised customers to withdraw money and delete their accounts ahead of the Saturday 4 December deadline.

Check out our Open Banking guide for more on how this works, and see our Best banking apps guide for further info.

Your account and card will stop working from Saturday 4 December

Your Yolt profile, account and card will no longer be accessible from Saturday 4 December. You should therefore transfer any funds you have with Yolt to another bank account before then. Once you have transferred any money, you should also delete your account.

To transfer money from your Yolt account, the best and quickest way is to head to the Yolt app:

• Log in, head to the tab called 'Wallet'.

• Click 'Transfer'.

• Here, you will be able to move your money to another bank account.

• You can also head to an ATM and withdraw the cash. However, you can only withdraw up to £100 a day, with a limit of £1,000 each month. There is also a fee to withdraw cash from an ATM of 95p per withdrawal, while international withdrawals will set you back £1.65 each time. 

To get access to a Yolt bank account statement before the service closes:

• Head to the app and your account.

• Click 'Wallet'.

• Then click the button that looks like '...'.  

• On the right hand side of the page, click 'Get Statement'. Select the period you would like to export and choose 'Export Statement'.

Yolt has advised customers to delete their account by Saturday 4 December. Your balance must be at zero before you can delete your account, so make sure you have removed funds from your 'Yolt Top-Up Account', including from your 'Savings Goals' and 'Money Jar'.

To delete your account:

• Open your Yolt app.

• Head to the 'Wallet' tab.

• Click 'Profile'.

• Then click 'Delete Profile'.

You don't, of course, need to delete any of your linked financial accounts, as these are unaffected by the closure. All connected accounts will be removed from Yolt's system when your account is deleted. This will include wiping data, such as your balance, transaction history and recurring debits. Yolt will also stop processing your data according to GDPR rules and its privacy policy.

You can phone Yolt's help desk if you forget to withdraw funds before Saturday 4 December

If you have not removed your funds by Saturday 4 December, you can contact Yolt's help desk on 0800 130 3060. There is no cut-off point to phone the help desk after Saturday 4 December, as it will remain open despite the closure of the business, although it recommends you transfer any money before the deadline.

It's unclear how quickly you'll get hold of your cash in this scenario, or whether Yolt will close your account for you once your account balance is at zero – we've asked Yolt and we'll update this story when we know more.

So-called 'e-money' isn't protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but Yolt stresses that funds are are held by the company's partner 'PrePay Solutions Limited (PPS)' in a safeguarded Barclays bank account. PPS is a registered e-money provider and is licensed and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.