Unhelpful Lloyds

Greebo74

Just been to see Lloyds to try and refinance our loans so the monthly payments are less.

Basically we would like a joint loan of £25k (which is the amount they gave me personally to consolidate some debts 3 years ago) to clear both our loans and reduce our monthly payments by about £300, which we can use to pay off the loans quicker.

The 'Advisor' suggested, instead of throwing the savings we have at the 16% loan to reduce the balance, that we use it to pay off our credit card that is 0% for 22 months??

Am I being silly or is this advice sound a bit off?

Apples2

He is a salesman, not your financial advisor.

Greebo74

She wasn't even trying to sell me anything. I liked the last one who listened to what I said. This one just kept saying 'Oooh I don't think that's a good idea'.

I don't want your opinion love, I want your money!

chalkie99

Banks are businesses.

The first rule of economics is "The aim of a business is to maximise it's profits"

She didn't want to sell you a loan which would mean you were £300 a month better off because that would mean her company was £300 a month worse off.

She didn't need to sell you anything - just keep you paying as much as possible.

As Apples said, these people are sales people not "advisors". they are working in the interests of the bank, not you.

KingElvis

Wow, that's some loan too....25k....crumbs

Greebo74

Pah. Don't like banks now!

chesky369

They don't care if you don't like them.

AuntyJean

1. Don't take out ANY joint loans.
2. Take Martin's advice and pay off the highest interest loan first.
3. Lloyd's are only interested in themselves, not you. They can only give you advice on their own products not the best for you.

Try calling the debt help service - NOT a fee paying one mind you!

Forum_Sense

I mean no offense but you dont sound very financially smart if:

if you have savings yet your looking to borrow.
Your wanting another 25k loan.
You have a substantial balance on your credit card.

Believe me the advisor would have got more kudos out of you by selling you a loan yeah. Perhaps not all of your credit card is 0% as you may think. Perhaps some is a cash advance at a higher rate than your loan? In any case a loan is structured and your forced to bring it down via your DDs. Therefor if your not making any headway with your credit card balance then it's certainly an option for them to suggest clearing the debt with your savings. Some people maybe yourself just cannot clear credit cards and at the end of the day it's the banks money, maybe they want you to consider clearing it. You can't ignore it forever, that's why the country is what it is today.

Lou67

Hi there!

Me and my hubby were with Lloyds for some 15-16 years, and though we found them to be Ok back in the 90s, they got more useless and unhelpful as the years went on. Basically, they were great when we had a lot more income than outgoings and were not struggling financially, but were useless when we needed help.

About 4 years ago, we wanted to take out a consolidation loan to pay off a bunch of debts at the time (credit cards/store cards/overdrafts/existing small-ish loans etc) and only have one payment to pay out, and a lower monthly balance. Their advice/answer? "No we can't lend you anything else, you are 'maxed out;" and they told us to LIVE OFF OUR CREDIT CARD. I'm not kidding. When we went to the C.A.B, the advisor there nearly fell off her chair when I told her that!

Upshot is, as people have said, they are not 'money advisors,' they are there to make money out of you, and will keep letting you do anything that makes them more money, and will not be fond of you re-arranging your finances to benefit you. At the end of the day though' do what IS best for you.

If they won't help you do what is best for you, then I would consider changing banks... we did: 2 and a half years ago (to Barclays,) and have never been happier with ANY bank. When we went bankrupt, they were extremely helpful, and didn't close our accounts down like many other banks do.

Just my views based on my experiences of course.

jonesMUFCforever

The only comment I have to make is - LLOYDS did not spend a penny of your money - it is not them that have got themselves into a hole (ok yes taking over Halifax has clobbered them LOL) but they are an easy target aren't' they? Just like any other bank in fact.