Nequi began as a Bancolombia initiative, aiming to offer the Colombian population a different way of managing money among themselves and with the Bank.
Currently, Nequi has been formally constituted as a financing company, under the supervision of the Financial Superintendence of Colombia. However, it continues to be part of the Bancolombia Group, but operates separately to offer its own products and services.
Thus, Nequi is a financial platform equivalent to a savings account with purely simplified procedures, which has arrived in the financial sector some time ago, aiming to provide a fully digital service. It is an account that lives practically on people's cell phones, where money is managed at the pace of its own holder, allowing transfers and receipt of money, creating savings goals, paying bills, requesting loans, requesting a card, bringing dollars from PayPal, withdrawing money through correspondents and Bancolombia's ATM network, among others.
The ease of having a Nequi account is extremely high, since it is with the cell phone number, without any financial study. This indicates that a large number of people, even with or without compromised credit histories, can have access and move sums of money.
Nequi has always been characterized by offering a low-amount electronic financial service, governed by a maximum balance of 8 SMLMV, with the possibility of breaking such cap, becoming a savings account.
This year, a large number of users have raised multiple complaints to Nequi, indicating that their accounts have been seized. The first cases occurred in Barrancabermeja, which raises the following questions: Can a Nequi account be seized?
Article 594, in its second numeral, of the General Code of Procedure, determines that savings deposits cannot be seized, in the amount indicated by the competent authority, provided that the seizure measure is not related to alimony credits.
In Circular 58, signed on October 6, 2022, by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, it has been confirmed that all savings and deposit accounts with an amount equal to or less than $44,614,977 cannot be seized, provided that the seizure is not intended to guarantee alimony.
Thus, the savings deposit and/or the Nequi account may be seized, with an unseizable limit of $44,614,977. But if the credit aims to generate protection of the vital minimum of the person requesting alimony, or credits in favor of cooperatives and employee funds, it may be seized exceeding the aforementioned limit.
Nequi is obliged to respect and enforce Colombian regulations, and in turn, to proceed with what is directed by competent authorities when they require a seizure practice of its users' accounts. And once the account is seized, users will be obliged to approach their respective creditor and resolve their obligation situation, so that, subsequently, the respective competent authority orders the lifting of the seizure measure, to Nequi.