Lloyds TSB Classic Plus interest dropping 1%. Is Vantage dropping too?

stator

Hi All,

I couldn't find a similar thread discussing the upcoming drop in interest rates on the Classic with Plus account. It used to be 2.5% gross on the first £2.5k (and 0.1% therafter). Whilst they are changing all the overdraft charges to their new fee structure they are also dropping the rate of my Classic with Plus account from 2.5% to 1.5% on the first £2.5k (and 0% therafter) :mad:. I always preferred the Plus account to the vantage because it gives me interest on my wages and at the end of the month I transfer anything left to my cash ISA which gives me a better rate, so I don't go over the £2.5k limit Vantage hasn't been worth it for me.

I got notification of this yesterday. I can't see any mention of it on the website yet.

So my question is to the Vantage account owners, are you all getting a similar 1% drop in the rates? Also does anyone know if it's possible to switch from Plus to Vantage?

simax

stator wrote: »

Hi All,

I couldn't find a similar thread discussing the upcoming drop in interest rates on the Classic with Plus account. It used to be 2.5% gross on the first £2.5k (and 0.1% therafter). Whilst they are changing all the overdraft charges to their new fee structure they are also dropping the rate of my Classic with Plus account from 2.5% to 1.5% on the first £2.5k (and 0% therafter) :mad:. I always preferred the Plus account to the vantage because it gives me interest on my wages and at the end of the month I transfer anything left to my cash ISA which gives me a better rate, so I don't go over the £2.5k limit Vantage hasn't been worth it for me.

I got notification of this yesterday. I can't see any mention of it on the website yet.

So my question is to the Vantage account owners, are you all getting a similar 1% drop in the rates? Also does anyone know if it's possible to switch from Plus to Vantage?

Did you get a letter?

Biggles

I got a letter, but there was no mention of reducing the interest on my Classic Plus or Vantage accounts, other than the fact that they were no longer paying 'standard interest' (the useless 0.1%) on amounts over £2,500 (Classic Plus) or £7,000 (Vantage).

Milarky

Biggles wrote: »

I got a letter, but there was no mention of reducing the interest on my Classic Plus or Vantage accounts, other than the fact that they were no longer paying 'standard interest' (the useless 0.1%) on amounts over £2,500 (Classic Plus) or £7,000 (Vantage).

Therefore they will still pay 4% for now. The interesting thing about this is any reduction of interest (rates) has to be notified at least 60 days in advance (see Payment Services Regulations - 2009) so we have a rolling 60 days notice for any such future changes and it will be well signposted here by the first person to be notified.

simax

stator wrote: »

I got notification of this yesterday. I can't see any mention of it on the website yet.

Aha!! Found it!

http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/changes_to_our_accounts.asp

And here is the meat of it:

Lloyds_TSB_Website wrote:

Changes to interest rates for current accounts with Vantage or Plus

If you have a current account with Vantage, you will still earn interest on the first £7,000 in your account as long as you meet the Vantage conditions of staying in credit during the billing period and paying in at least £1,000 per calendar month. However, you’ll no longer receive 0.1% AER/Gross* credit interest on amounts over £7,000 or when you don’t meet these conditions. As all of the other interest rate tiers are staying the same, Vantage still offers very competitive interest on your current account.

If you have a current account with Plus you’ll still earn interest on the first £2,500 in your account as long as you meet the Plus condition of paying in at least £1000 per calendar month. However, you’ll no longer receive 0.1%AER/Gross* credit interest on amounts over £2,500 or when you don’t meet this condition. We’re also changing the interest rate on balances of up to £2,500 so you’ll now receive 1.5% AER/1.49% Gross*.

I'm glad I shifted my money away from my Classic Plus now - makes my decision much more justified

Biggles

On closer examination of my letter, the last paragraph on the front ends "However, you’ll no longer receive 0.1%AER/Gross* credit interest on amounts over £2,500 or when", but the last two words are obscured by the preprinted phrase 'Turn over' on the bottom right of the letterheading, so I had been unable to tell that the para was unfinished. The next para, overleaf, is about the procedure for if you have any questions.

So I regard myself as not having been informed about the reduction in interest rates, nor has anyone else who received the same standard letter, though I doubt that will make any difference!

Funkyfreddy

Milarky wrote: »

Therefore they will still pay 4% for now. The interesting thing about this is any reduction of interest (rates) has to be notified at least 60 days in advance (see Payment Services Regulations - 2009) so we have a rolling 60 days notice for any such future changes and it will be well signposted here by the first person to be notified.

With effect from 2 Dec 2010.

Vantage balances to £7k remain unchanged (although
not clear if Vantage balances to £1k will earn the .1%)

Nothing then though for £7k+

FF

stator

Aha, well thanks for the info, I guess now I want to switch to Vantage. Does anyone know if this is possible? I don't want to change my account number and sort code as if I do that I may as well move to Santander with their %5 + £100 offer.

simax

Yes, you can upgrade to Vantage via online banking. However I did the other and moved to Santander for the 5%. :beer:

Mags_cat

Hmm...haven't had a letter yet, I shall keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the heads up, chaps!

arjar

It seems that Lloyds have sent out letters tailored to individual account types. So my letter refers only to the changes to the account type that I have (a Gold Plus account), but has no information about other accounts. I went into a branch to get clarification about some detail, and after some discussion, discovered that it would be to my advantage to change to a vantage account (which pays significantly more interest than the (time limited) easy saver account I use for immediate reserves).

So the net result is that I have changed to vantage and transferred everything from the saver account into the current account, where the top slice (up to 7k) will get 4%. Even taking account of the tiered rates in vantage, I'm better off putting £7k into it, rather than leaving it in the 1.6% easy saver account (which reverts to 0.1% after a year anyway).

All terribly convoluted. To be honest. I'm so p****d off with Lloyds mucking about with rates and providing limited information, that I'm about ready to move. But where to? The whole system seems to be riddled with deliberate complexity and confusion. Oh for a simple, transparent, stable system. I don't even want 'high' rates. Just a bit of honesty and transparency. All advice welcome.