Lloyds TSB Classic with Vantage -Problem

Jake'sGran

I'd be very grateful to know if anyone else has had any problems with this bank when closing their accounts. They are disputing the amount I had in the three Classic+Vantage accounts I had with them. I had 3 x £7K like many others did and understood that 4% interest would be paid on the amount between £5k and £7k so long as £1000 was deposited in each account every month. Will someone please tell me if I am wrong about this.

They say the a/cs started with one at £7k. one at £6k and the third at £3k.
It would have been pointless to have opened the third one as there would have been no interest or very little. They returned just over £12k to my current account in October on closure of the accounts. This alone is another peculiar thing as they have not explained what happened to the £4k difference. It was one of their staff who sorted out the three S/Os of £1000
but, judging by the statements they have sent even that was not done
correctly.

Someone is bound to ask about the location of he money before it was sent to Lloyds but I have found it difficult to pinpoint the movement of the £21k
as I have a number of accounts, mostly fixed rates plus an Egg account which I closed to send to Lloyds.

How can I go about reconciling the figures? It seems an impossible task.

Careful_ly

Upto 27.6.11 when the rate reduced, you earned 4% on the whole balance if there was between 5k and 7k, this was only earned if £1000 was deposited each month.
The account which had 3k in would have earned 3%. The interest is added monthly.
You say the standing order was not set up correctly, if the £1000 per month was not moved between the accounts there would be no interest.
Do you have the paper statements for your accounts?

psychic_teabag

It's no help now, but I would generally transfer the bulk of the balance out of an account myself, and close it with a balance of £1 remaining. [Though in practise I'm not very good at actually closing the accounts, and have lots of old accounts with balances of £1.]

You say "the accounts started with". Did you just set these up a while back, with standing orders, then just leave them, without keeping an eye on the balances ?

ChiefGrasscutter

I had statements once per year for each of my vantage accounts.
Along with a separate sheet giving the annual tax deducted figures.
The statements merely recorded the monthly £1000 doing the rounds, monthly interest added, and my monthly withdrawal to other places of that interest.

The OP will need to request replacement statements from the bank.
They may charge for this....which should be an "incentive" to keep your own accurate records in future....particularly as you say you seem unable to figure out exactly where the £21K came from in the first place.

jennifernil

Careful_ly wrote: »

Upto 27.6.11 when the rate reduced, you earned 4% on the whole balance if there was between 5k and 7k, this was only earned if £1000 was deposited each month.
The account which had 3k in would have earned 3%. The interest is added monthly.
You say the standing order was not set up correctly, if the £1000 per month was not moved between the accounts there would be no interest.
Do you have the paper statements for your accounts?

After the above date, the maximum interest paid was 3% on £3k-£5k, anything above £5k would have earned no interest at all. This again only if the £1000 was being deposited into each account every month.

jennifernil

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I'd be very grateful to know if anyone else has had any problems with this bank when closing their accounts. They are disputing the amount I had in the three Classic+Vantage accounts I had with them. I had 3 x £7K like many others did and understood that 4% interest would be paid on the amount between £5k and £7k so long as £1000 was deposited in each account every month. Will someone please tell me if I am wrong about this.

They say the a/cs started with one at £7k. one at £6k and the third at £3k.
It would have been pointless to have opened the third one as there would have been no interest or very little. They returned just over £12k to my current account in October on closure of the accounts. This alone is another peculiar thing as they have not explained what happened to the £4k difference. It was one of their staff who sorted out the three S/Os of £1000
but, judging by the statements they have sent even that was not done
correctly.

Someone is bound to ask about the location of he money before it was sent to Lloyds but I have found it difficult to pinpoint the movement of the £21k
as I have a number of accounts, mostly fixed rates plus an Egg account which I closed to send to Lloyds.

How can I go about reconciling the figures? It seems an impossible task.

It sounds like you have statements?

Do these show the opening balances you quoted above? (a total of £16k) If they only sent you £12k on closure, the statements must show where the other £4k went to.

The difference between the £21k you thought you had deposited, and the £16k stated above will be difficult to deal with if you have no proof of having sent it to Lloyds.

The only way would be to look at the opening dates for Lloyds and check this against other account statements to see where you withdrew money.

Regarding the standing orders, did you not have to sign them yourself? If they were done in the branch then I would have thought there would be paperwork. They would also have shown up on your on-line banking, so able to be checked.

Not much help now I'm afraid, but you do need to check that these things are working OK. Have you asked them what went wrong?

Jake'sGran

I am very grateful to you all and will take on board the comments raised. I have sorted out the statements into date/number order and will have another go at trying to make sense of them. I do keep bank records in good order but I genuinely feel that their system is a shambles. On page 1 of the statements for one of the accounts the first line shows 18/08/10 Egg Banking plc £11000 - the opening balance. On the first statement of another a/c the opening balance is showing as £6000 (17/08/10) and then £1000 two days later. - a total of £18K already.

They have made a mess of these accounts and I will have to find a way to prove it.

Thank you all once again.
.

jennifernil

You will need to work through each account and see where any withdrawals went, but if you already have figures on 2 statements that conflict with what they claimed, then it is looking good for challenging what they have said.