Lloyds to charge for old Gold Service accounts

kar999

As a customer of Lloyds for over 35 years I have never had to pay a fee for my Gold Service account so long as I kept £2k in there.

I got a letter today to say this would cease for everyone from 2 Oct and I'd have to pay £12.95 per month for my Gold Account.

No chance... the "added Value" benefits I use are not worth the £155 annual fee so I'll downgrade to their non-fee paying classic account. I'll try and upgrade that to Vantage but I have 3 other standard Vantage accounts maxed out which is the limit.

I spoke to their CS dept and the change is non-negotiable and a lot of long standing similar customers were complaining.

Maybe time to switch my main current account in general although I did get £200 for "soft switching" one of the LLoyds Vantage accounts to the Coop before resurecting it.

Any worthwhile switching incentives going at the moment?

Chrisv

kar999 wrote: »

As a customer of Lloyds for over 35 years I have never had to pay a fee for my Gold Service account so long as I kept £2k in there.

I'm in the same position kar999.

I have received a letter 'Important changes to your personal current accounts' together with a booklet 'Your Gold account from 2 October 2012', but I can't see mention of having to pay the fee.

Am I mis-reading or have you received a separate letter about the charges?

kar999

The covering letter mentioned that they could not afford to offer the benefits without a charge. There was only one letter.

kar999

The only benefit I really made use of was the travel insurance. The breakdown cover was only the fairly basic level so it was cheaper for me to have full blown recovery/home start plus joint cover elsewhere.

If I need travel insurance I will just go out and buy it as and when needed as I dont travel extensively anyway.

It was nice to have not paid a fee for 20 odd years which must have saved me £3k (gross) even though I always had to keep £2k in my account at a naff-all interest rate.

As a 35 year loyal customer, I've probably cost Lloyds too much, especially as I'm milking my 3 vantage accounts. Maybe it's time for me to change?

simax

No such thing as loyalty, especially if you're costing them money...

kar999

Agreed. I'm on the wrong side of their business model as I dont have any borrowings at all with them. I only opened 6 Vanatge accounts (3 each for me & Mrs Kar) purely to milk them (with a circular standing order) as instant access savings accounts rather than current accounts.

Maybe I should write to them and give them notice that I will making a monthly charge on them for my share of their bailout as a taxpayer!!

kar999

I'm going to downgrade to their non-fee paying Classic Account. I assume I can do that without having to open a new account and transfer all my DD's. If I have to do all that messing arround I may as well switch to a new bank.

If I can downgrade, I plan to open a non-fee Nationwide current acccount WITHOUT switching to get free Travel insurance. I can pay the £750 in a month via a S/O.

Their T&C's say you dont have to switch to get the insurance...


To qualify for other Flexclusive offers, you must hold a FlexAccount with a Visa debit card (not cash card+) and

• Have been paying in £750 (excluding internal transfers) a month for the last three months,
• or;
• Complete an account transfer to us (from a non-Nationwide account) using our Account Transfer Service, or have done so in the last four months

exel1966

I wait with dreaded anticipation for my letter. It was inevitable it would happen one day. Shame because I've claimed on the travel insurance twice before, mobile insurance once and like the Sentinel membership. Never had to use the AA service but it was useful if needed as it covered any car you were in.
In real terms it wasn't free, for me costing approx £25pa which was well worth it. I'll downgrade and stay with Lloyds, but won't use the new account, just use the 28 years as an account holder on future credit applications.

brass_in_pocket

Has anyone else had this letter? I've had the booklets and general stuff but nothing about me having to pay the charge - does this letter arrive separately on its own?
Bit of a pain as the travel insurance was excellent, worldwide coverage and up to age 80 which is unusual.

keithwjones

brass_in_pocket wrote: »

Has anyone else had this letter? I've had the booklets and general stuff but nothing about me having to pay the charge - does this letter arrive separately on its own?
Bit of a pain as the travel insurance was excellent, worldwide coverage and up to age 80 which is unusual.

Letter was with book. But rest assured they will charge if you do nothing.

Keith

johnk

I am in the similar situation (Platinum account). I received the booklet and the cover letter but could not spot any mention of change in this respect. Could anyone quote the wording if you think otherwise?