LLOYDS Bank credit cards

oscarward

Here's a new one,

I have a Lloyds DUO card which I very rarely use. February last year and January this year.

I had a DD to pay the card off in full , or so I thought.

My statement came today and there was a interest charge and a late payment charge as I had missed a payment.:eek:

So... when I rang the call centre I was told there is no DD. I insisted there was so after checking the operator told me that the bank cancel the DD after 6 months of inactivity. I was told it was specified on the statements. They don't send statements if there are no transactions.:mad:

They graciously refunded the late payment charge 'as a good will gesture' and the interest is only £1.32 anyway.

Has anyone else heard of this?

[Deleted User]

Yes - not a new one, but an annoying one. You need to check your statements each month to see if it says the payment will be collected by DD.

Were you not getting statements? I can't see how they wouldn't be sending them if you're not at zero balance.

oscarward

No statements were sent as there were no transactions.

There was a single transaction in Feb 2010 and the dd cleared the balance in march. the next transaction was Feb 2011

So no statements from April to February. I must confess I didn't scrutinise the latest statement except to see that the balance owed was what I was expecting so didn't see the absence of the words collect by dd
.
I've made a complaint so we'll see where it goes but tbh I'm minded to just cancel the cards as I don't need them.

izools

Unfortunately the complaint won't get anywhere because the statement says nothing about payment being collected by DD and explains how you should pay.

It is worth, however, calling LTSB to pay the balance by debit card over the phone, ask to set up the DD again, and apologise for not knowing about the 13 month rule in regard to direct debits - as no one had ever told you - but you know now - so won't happen again, humple pie etc and if they're feeling nice, and you're humble enough, you should get the fee and / or interest reversed

I fear complaining will result in you being met with a brick wall.

[Deleted User]

I'd keep the cards if they're good otherwise. The cancelled DD is annoying and can be easy to overlook, but it's quite common in credit cards. Not all do it, but a decent number do.

But Lloyds cards don't tend to be in the best buy tables most of the time, so if you've got other options then you may as well lose them. In my experience, they' ve always been the bog standard finance option. Average products, average service. Everything works ok, no horrendous experience, but nothing to write home about.

Though when you look at the likes of Santander, mediocrity's not so bad....

YorkshireBoy

6 months is very short. The typical dormancy period is 13 months.

Perhaps you should have quoted this from BACS in your complaint?...

This is covered by the dormancy period rule. All banks hold details of Direct Debit Instructions on file for a minimum period of 13 months from lodgement of the Direct Debit Instruction, in the event of no collections, or from the date of the last payment.

http://www.thesmartwaytopay.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/FAQs/Pages/InactiveDirectDebits.aspx

YorkshireBoy

oscarward wrote: »

They graciously refunded the late payment charge 'as a good will gesture' and the interest is only £1.32 anyway.

And what about the late payment marker on your credit file?

oscarward

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

And what about the late payment marker on your credit file?

That's why I'm complaining.