Is it legal for Lloyds to offer the fixed rate Isa to selected existing customers ?

whu

roddydogs wrote: »

No- cause the offer ends 9th Feb!

I was told yesterday that they are extending it until 20 Feb
UPDATE - Told the 20th on Friday on the phone aswell but others seem to be told that it is the 16th- haven't they realised yet that clear information should be provided to customers to avoid confusion

Somerset

roddydogs wrote: »

I would guess that thiey've offerd it to customers with a large amount.........ie possibly over £20k.............i have been offered it and accepted..........offer ends 9th Feb..........would the people who haven't been offered it care to post the amount they have invested?

I've 30K

My mum got the offer, she has 8K in there.

Btw the usual Lloyds confusion. I spoke with my branch manager yesterday who was totally pi**ed off because he (the floor staff) had no knowledge of a) the first letter with the offer b) the second tranche of letters saying variable with notice waiver, or c) what the criteria for the offer was. I was the 6th customer in yesterday querying it. He called head office for me and I am now being 'offered' the offer. He asked what the critea was and apparently was told 'random selection' - he actually said 'I don't believe that'. Anyway per him th closing date is 16th Feb not 20th Feb. As I said usual Lloyds confusion.

humfer

Just called Lloyds TSB up again as they have failed to get back to me after I raised my complaint. No surprise there

Refused to send me or my wife the offer and was told any customers sent the letter was done on a completely random basis, though she did mention only one per household

All she could tell me was that the official (i.e. available to all) 2009/10 fixed rate ISA would be launched on the 18th February. Anyone want to bet that its at least 1% less than the early bird offer??

whu

read a piece in the Times today - it said that it was not illegal but they will take up the issue with Lloyds to clarify the criteria

humfer

whu wrote: »

read a piece in the Times today - it said that it was not illegal but they will take up the issue with Lloyds to clarify the criteria

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article5678278.ece

Think this is the link to the Times article you mentioned

Baldur

Somerset wrote: »

.....Anyway per him th closing date is 16th Feb not 20th Feb. As I said usual Lloyds confusion.

I received the 'Early Bird' offer letter & application form this morning, after chasing them up on Tuesday - the letter confirms the 16th February as the date by which applications must be received (LTSB's bold type):

We need to receive your application by 16 February to guarantee the interest rate - you'll find the rates in the table on the first page of the booklet' Please ignore the date in the booklet that asks you to send your application back earlier than 16 February.

If you take up this offer your ISA will start on the 1 March 2009 or, if you have a Fixed Rate Cash ISA that matures after the 1 March, it will start the day after your Fixed Rate Cash ISA matures.

humfer

Both myself and my wife have complained about not receiving the early bird offer to Lloyds and this morning we have both had our 'final response' letter and inviting for us to use the Financial Ombudsman Service if we wish to pursue the matter

Do you think its worth the hassle of doing this? We have taken transferred our ISA's into the new LTSB 2009 fixed rate ISA, but we will continue to effectively loose 0.5% of our entire balance. I know some people were offered the deal after complaining and the Times article showed there was a little confusion maybe not in the legality of the customer targeting, but certainly in the fairness. Would be interested for any views....

Milarky

humfer wrote: »

Both myself and my wife have complained about not receiving the early bird offer to Lloyds and this morning we have both had our 'final response' letter and inviting for us to use the Financial Ombudsman Service if we wish to pursue the matter

Do you think its worth the hassle of doing this? We have taken transferred our ISA's into the new LTSB 2009 fixed rate ISA, but we will continue to effectively loose 0.5% of our entire balance. I know some people were offered the deal after complaining and the Times article showed there was a little confusion maybe not in the legality of the customer targeting, but certainly in the fairness. Would be interested for any views....

Well the FOS won't look into anything if it involves the "legitimate exercise of a firm's commercial judgement" - as that is deemed outside its scope.

So you'd have to state that the 'Treating Customers Fairly' principle appears to apply (as far as you are concerned) and that you want the FOS to mount an investigation into Lloyds' (as you see it) inconsistent application of that principle even if there is a 'conflict' involving the 'legitmiate exercise of [their] commercial judgement' - which might otherwise limit the scope of their investigation. See if that gets you over the threshold. However it's very thin indeed. Perhaps the starting point is where the onus lies in relation to the TCF principle - is it for the customer to provide evidence of its non-application or for the bank to provide evidence of its working?

FOS are a waste of space I'm afraid - massively dissappointing because (rather like the FSA) they operate within the framework established largely by self-regulation. The willingness of any operative in the FOS to even apply their minds to a particular customer's complaint is therefore circumscribed by rules of the 'don't go there' variety.

dunstonh

Both myself and my wife have complained about not receiving the early bird offer to Lloyds and this morning we have both had our 'final response' letter and inviting for us to use the Financial Ombudsman Service if we wish to pursue the matter

That means they are telling you that they dont think you have a case but you do have your legal right to pursue it to the FOS if you want.

Do you think its worth the hassle of doing this?

The FOS are taking about 18-20 months to handle complaints at the moment and typically reject 2/3rd of them. You need to decide if its worth it. I'm not even sure the FOS will consider it as its a commercial decision and not within their remit.

GiraffeMan

Milarky wrote: »

Well the FOS won't look into anything if it involves the "legitimate exercise of a firm's commercial judgement" - as that is deemed outside its scope.

So you'd have to state that the 'Treating Customers Fairly' principle appears to apply (as far as you are concerned) and that you want the FOS to mount an investigation into Lloyds' (as you see it) inconsistent application of that principle even if there is a 'conflict' involving the 'legitmiate exercise of [their] commercial judgement' - which might otherwise limit the scope of their investigation. See if that gets you over the threshold. However it's very thin indeed. Perhaps the starting point is where the onus lies in relation to the TCF principle - is it for the customer to provide evidence of its non-application or for the bank to provide evidence of its working?

FOS are a waste of space I'm afraid - massively dissappointing because (rather like the FSA) they operate within the framework established largely by self-regulation. The willingness of any operative in the FOS to even apply their minds to a particular customer's complaint is therefore circumscribed by rules of the 'don't go there' variety.

I dont think the FOS would rule on that to be honest.