Lloyds Bank - AGAIN!!!!!

Everthere

Hi everyone,
Its my first time posting on this site but I have been following advice for the past 2 years and come up trumps several times.

My husband and I have both put in claims for bank charges with Lloyds TSB and tried to get them sooner by informing them of our financial hardship. I also received the letter stating that they would not consider my claim until after the courts decision and I was also told that the Customer Support Team would be in touch.
The CST phoned today to discuss my account and I must say that although I have had several disputes with Lloyds TSB I found them extremely helpful. They have combined my Credit Card, Loan and overdraft into one loan at 7%!!! I have saved over £100 per month. They also asked if my Husband could give them a call to see what they could do for him. They have combined two overdrafts, Two loans and a credit card for a loan at 7% saving us over £300 a month and I will be paying it off without just covering the interest. They also wiped my future charges and downgraded my account as I never used any of the perks.
We asked our branch a few weeks ago if they could do something similar and they said that we currently did not meet their lending criteria.
There was no credit check or lending criteria as such we just had to give them our income and expenditure which proved we were struggling.
They were very helpful and polite and I didn't feel embarresed like I usually do when sorting out my finances.
I know its not like getting your money back but I can pursue that seperately, What it has done is made my life a little easier whilst I wait for my charges to be paid back.
There number is 0845 6004593. After that its option 5.
I hope this helps any Lloyds TSB customers out there.

natweststaffmember

I gotta say that my personal opinion is never to take additional borrowing to deal with financial hardship as defined under the FSA Waiver. However, for you alone that is the way that you are dealing with your situation which should not be washed over by me or anyone else. I am pleased that they did help you. I am assuming that your charges that you asked them to look at remains on hold until the conclusion of the OFT test case?
Another question I have is, do you have any credit card charges?

Everthere

Hi, I understand that further borrowing is never the way out of debt but my overdraft was with Lloyds TSB at 14% and my credit card was with them at 19% so to borrow from them at 7% has saved me a lot of money. I would not have got round to dealing with my loan or overdraft for a couple of years and my combined minimum payment to just them alone was £130 without account charges and they instantly closed my credit card account and wiped my overdraft. I did not borrow any extra and they would not have given it to me anyway they are just trying to help to reduce customer debt by giving them better deals on the products that they currently have with them.

This just gives us a bit of breathing space and I feel relieved at the fact that I am now paying things off.

I dont know if I have had credit card charges within the last 6 years but I am waiting for my statement from Lloyds. (just getting my statements has been a battle in itself!)

natweststaffmember

I'll explain, there are times when additional borrowing is cheaper and the payments lower because they are over 5 years so whilst it saves you x amount it is done on the basis that you will take out more borrowing at a later point in time. Have you cut up the credit card and cancelled it? Have they cancelled your overdraft or lowered it to say £100.00?
How much further did your loan have to go and how long is the new loan over?

Everthere

Hiya, Yes they have cancelled my credit card so the account is closed and they have also reduced my overdraft to £0 so there is nothing available to spend. The new loan is over 7 years and my last loan had 12 months to go (I had it over 24 months). I have been paying the minimum payment on my credit card for the last 10 years so the 7 year term on this loan doesn't seem so daunting. I have another 12 months before most of my other credit is paid off not to mention the end of childcare costs which will free up almost £1000 a month. I will then use some of this to up my loan payment and shorten the term.
Lloyds did advise me that they would not be in a position to lend me more money over the next 12 months but if im honest I never want to borrow again!!

bukko

bukko wrote: »

Ok FOS form sent.
Will let you know what happens.

Response received from FOS today.
Basically "We are busy but will get to you when we can..."

natweststaffmember

bukko wrote: »

Response received from FOS today.
Basically "We are busy but will get to you when we can..."

Did you get a financial hardship closure letter from LloydsTSB?

jos004

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Did you get a financial hardship closure letter from LloydsTSB?

LTSB normally point you in the direction of Money Advice Trusts' website:

http://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/

to complete a common financial statement.

natweststaffmember

jos004 wrote: »

LTSB normally point you in the direction of Money Advice Trusts' website:

http://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/

to complete a common financial statement.

That is for an income and expenditure form. The Financial hardship closure letter outlines their decision and why.
If you read a lot of the Nationwide threads they say yes or no and why.

bukko

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Did you get a financial hardship closure letter from LloydsTSB?

I'm not sure what one of those is, but I did receive a letter from them acknowledging financial hardship, if that's what you mean.
I sent copies of everything to the FSO with the completed form, pointing out that LTSB had acknowledged financial hardship but refused to discuss the charges.
Actually, they also said that their customer support unit would contact me by phone, which they haven't yet.