lloyds personal banking advisor

nickj_2

mrs j had a meeting with her personal banker/ advisor with lloyds last year .
now mrs j is martins worst nightmare come true, until i intervened she was maxed out on several credit cards , not paying minimum amounts , going over her overdraft limit etc etc , you get the picture .
so last year she gets her yearly invite to go an "discuss" her finances with her p.b.a , i have just discovered that her "advice " was to increase her overdraft so that she wouldn't get bank charges(which naturally she's taken right up to the limit and beyond..... sigh) and even though she's permanently overdrawn she was signed up to lloyds premier account for £25 per month , so is lloyds policy to take someone who is in debt and push them further into debt and to give them something that they don't need and can't afford , do i need to make a complaint ?

Premier_2

What do you wish to complain about? :huh:

You say mrs j was going over her overdraft. The bank offered to raise the overdraft to avoid the huge unauthorised o/d charges that apply. The fact mrs j didn't act responsibly and still went over her increased o/d limit is not the bank's fault.

Provided the bank considered the o/d limit they offered to be resaonable (which it no doubt is in these credit crunch times), then the bank appear to have acted perfectly reasonably.
If mrs j didn't want the extra credit line, she shouldn't have taken it!

nickj_2

Premier wrote: »

What do you wish to complain about? :huh:

You say mrs j was going over her overdraft. The bank offered to raise the overdraft to avoid the huge unauthorised o/d charges that apply. The fact mrs j didn't act responsibly and still went over her increased o/d limit is not the bank's fault.

Provided the bank considered the o/d limit they offered to be resaonable (which it no doubt is in these credit crunch times), then the bank appear to have acted perfectly reasonably.
If mrs j didn't want the extra credit line, she shouldn't have taken it!

it's obvious that she hasn't got enough money so why suggest she takes out a £25 a month bank account?

MME_2

How much is her overdraft? At the time she could actually have been saving money with the interest free amount and lower interest rate. Doubt it now with the £5 overdraft fee. Was she already paying for phone, travel insurance and breakdown cover etc?

dunstonh

mrs j had a meeting with her personal banker/ advisor with lloyds last year .

lloyds personal bankers are not normally advisers. You shouldnt mix them up.

i have just discovered that her "advice " was to increase her overdraft so that she wouldn't get bank charges

That seems like common sense from Lloyds.

which naturally she's taken right up to the limit and beyond..... sigh

Naturally? The majority of people would not do that. However, it is unfortunate that some do lack self control.

so is lloyds policy to take someone who is in debt and push them further into debt and to give them something that they don't need and can't afford , do i need to make a complaint ?

Lloyds saved you wife a lot of money in charges. They are not responsible for her lack of control and responsibility. Unless a member of Lloyds staff went shopping with her and forced her to use the card then there is no case to answer here.

The only person you should be complaining to is your wife. It is her fault and to be honest, I think the attempt to blame others is a bit off.

shortchanged_2

Basically Nickj, your mrs needs to either earn more or spend less................the choice is hers. Or ideally a combination of the two.

What does she spend all her money on? Is it stuff that is unecessary?

You seriously need to sit down with her and nip this in the bud or you'll have some miserable and stressful times ahead.

MonkeyMad

nickj wrote: »

so is lloyds policy to take someone who is in debt and push them further into debt and to give them something that they don't need and can't afford , do i need to make a complaint ?

Seems to me mrsj is already getting things she can't afford since she is maxing out her (raised) overdraft. Perhaps you would like Lloyds to call the overdraft in now in order to save you any more hassle about it?

podperson

There's not much you can complain about - it sounds like your wife was at her overdraft limit and getting charges so the bank offered to extend the limit to stop the charges. Now she could have used that as an opportunity for a bit of breathing space and to try and get out of the overdraft without being stuck with charges - she didn't she spent the additional money. Now I'm struggling to see how the bank can be blamed for her doing that. If they had refused to extend the overdraft would you be then complaining that it's their fault she had hundreds of pounds of bank charges she couldn't afford to pay?

Regarding the premier account - whether it was any use to her at the time or saved her any money I have no way of knowing. But again she should have been able to take the responsibility to look at what was included in the account and say either yes it is going to save me money so I'll take it, or it's no use to me I don't want it. The bank didn't make her take it - they offered it and if she didn't need it she could have just said no.

patricia50

nickj wrote: »

mrs j had a meeting with her personal banker/ advisor with lloyds last year .
now mrs j is martins worst nightmare come true, until i intervened she was maxed out on several credit cards , not paying minimum amounts , going over her overdraft limit etc etc , you get the picture .
so last year she gets her yearly invite to go an "discuss" her finances with her p.b.a , i have just discovered that her "advice " was to increase her overdraft so that she wouldn't get bank charges(which naturally she's taken right up to the limit and beyond..... sigh) and even though she's permanently overdrawn she was signed up to lloyds premier account for £25 per month , so is lloyds policy to take someone who is in debt and push them further into debt and to give them something that they don't need and can't afford , do i need to make a complaint ?

Ive just put a post on here about the very same thing, Its all very well saying she shouldn't have gone up to the max etc and people can be very smug but I have been in the same position. Far from saving her money they just want you to take out more loans, credit cards etc then when you have trouble paying them you no longer have a "helpful" advisor calling you in to discuss your finances. We are not all the same and I believe they exploit those of us who are not the sort of character who are good at dealing with finances and telling them "NO I DONT WANT ANOTHER LOAN, CREDIT CARD" or whatever. Those people who have said to you that the bank are trying to help you save you money are very naive to the way banks work. Not sure about a complaint but I understand how you feel 100%

patricia50

dunstonh wrote: »

lloyds personal bankers are not normally advisers. You shouldnt mix them up.



That seems like common sense from Lloyds.



Naturally? The majority of people would not do that. However, it is unfortunate that some do lack self control.



Lloyds saved you wife a lot of money in charges. They are not responsible for her lack of control and responsibility. Unless a member of Lloyds staff went shopping with her and forced her to use the card then there is no case to answer here.

The only person you should be complaining to is your wife. It is her fault and to be honest, I think the attempt to blame others is a bit off.

I so disagree!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

dunstonh

patricia50 wrote: »

I so disagree!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Good for you. Now tell us why as you dont appear to have done that.

How is it that moving expensive credit to cheaper credit is a bad thing?

It only becomes bad if you continue to spend on the more expensive credit. The bank is not responsible for you doing that.