Lloyds to charge for old Gold Service accounts

azzabazza

MY DH has received a letter and the booklet about the changes to his Gold account. He has read it from cover to cover and there is absolutely no mention of any charges to be applied to his Gold account. Only change he can see is that Vantage accounts are being phased out.

exel1966

Some scaremongering going on here or the OP has assumed very wrongly.

Having received the booklet about changes to added value accounts and to overdrafts from 02/10/12 I can catergorically state there is absolutely no change to the fee waiver mentioned in them.

More importantly the Lloyds website confirms that from 02/10/12 the fee waiver will STILL remains for those with the required minimum balance.

It clearly states ; † If you opened your account before 14 January 2005 your monthly fee may be waived if your balance remains above a certain level.
If your account is upgraded or downgraded you will lose the fee waiver.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/media/lloydstsb2004/pdfs/Banking_Charges_Guide_Oct_2012.pdf

See page three !!!

brass_in_pocket

Thanks for that info exel1966 - puts my mind at rest.
I'm still a bit confused about why some previous posters were so sure that they were going to be charged.

kar999

Direct from the Letter (booklet of changes also enclosed)... word for word ...second paragraph..

Changes to your account.

Until now, we've waived your monthly account fee for as long as you've kept a minimun amount in your Gold Account. However, due to the increasing cost of providing your benefits, we can longer offer this. So from 2 October, you'll pay the standard account fee of £12.95 a month. .....

I intend to call them again. I was told this was none negotiable. CS were aware of the introduction of the charges and said that a lot of people had been complaining and would be downgrading. Maybe it's because I'm milking 3 vantage accounts.

Will report back.

kar999

exel1966 wrote: »

Some scaremongering going on here or the OP has assumed very wrongly.

Having received the booklet about changes to added value accounts and to overdrafts from 02/10/12 I can catergorically state there is absolutely no change to the fee waiver mentioned in them.

More importantly the Lloyds website confirms that from 02/10/12 the fee waiver will STILL remains for those with the required minimum balance.

It clearly states ; † If you opened your account before 14 January 2005 your monthly fee may be waived if your balance remains above a certain level.
If your account is upgraded or downgraded you will lose the fee waiver.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/media/lloydstsb2004/pdfs/Banking_Charges_Guide_Oct_2012.pdf

See page three !!!

Not scaremongering but fact.

There is blatant discrimination going on depending on some criteria which was not explained but I suspect is down to personal banking profile.

There are two types of letter. I was asked by CS if mine had a black square in the bottom left corner, which it had, and this meant I would be facing the charge. I assume the other letter(s), where no fee payment would continue, didnt have this square.

The CS rep did confirm that some people would not face a charge after Oct 2.

Needless to say I have lodged a formal complant with Lloyds and asked why I have been discriminated against and under what criteria. They said each case was reviewed on an individual basis. I was given a complaint ref number and offered £10 compensation for the recent calls but that was all they could do and the complaint was then closed. I threatened not only to downgrade but also close down my main account completely... somethink they probably want, as I not a profitable customer to them.

A snotagram to their CEO is next!!

brass_in_pocket

Curiouser and curiouser - dug out my letter (with no reference to charging me) and it has a small black circle on the bottom left.

exel1966

kar999 wrote: »

Direct from the Letter (booklet of changes also enclosed)... word for word ...second paragraph..

Changes to your account.

Until now, we've waived your monthly account fee for as long as you've kept a minimun amount in your Gold Account. However, due to the increasing cost of provising your benefits, we can longer offer this. So from 2 October, you'll pay the standard account fee of £12.95 a month. .....

I intend to call them again. I was told this was none negotiable. CS were aware of the introduction of the charges and said that a lot of people had been complaining and would be downgrading. Maybe it's because I'm milking 3 vantage accounts.

Will report back.

It may have been better to post the full details and not state that "everyone" (1st post) would be liable for the change if you knew after speaking to Lloyds that it was selective accounts only. Your word for word letter confirms this as it's applicable to you only. You've had many (including myself) thinking it applied to ALL.

It will probably have little to do with 3 Vantage accounts, I have 7 sole accounts and I've never borrowed from them in 28 years so I'm far from profitable to them.
It may well be down to be your internal/external scoring or the ways in which you operate your accounts which is not "blatant discrimination", but a business decision just as credit card holders with the same accounts will have very different AER's attached to them based upon risk factor. Lloyds also operates a policy of offering preferential savings rates only available to selected account holders.

My letter which has no mention of a charge being payable has a small black circle in the bottom left hand corner which could be the difference.

Thanks for the update.

kar999

exel1966 wrote: »

It may have been better to post the full details and not state that "everyone" (1st post) would be liable for the change if you knew after speaking to Lloyds that it was selective accounts only. Your word for word letter confirms this as it's applicable to you only. You've had many (including myself) thinking it applied to ALL.

I had no reason to believe, until seeing comments in this thread, that it was specific to me. It was a two sided detailed generic preprinted letter that I assumed was across the board. The only difference between mine and others (I presume0 is the extra sentence in paragraph 2 and a black square not a circle.

When I also initailly rang CS last week they said a lot of others had complained so again I assumed it was a global change to everyones T&C's.

Apologies if I have misled anyone.

EDIT I've decided to move my main account elsewhere but leave my 3 vantage accounts maxed out. I'll be even less profitable then as I had never claimed on the added benefits in the gold account and I never earned any interest in the £2k+ I always kept in there!!

Stuff 'em!!

kar999

azzabazza wrote: »

....... Only change he can see is that Vantage accounts are being phased out.

I've only just read this part of you post ... I can't find this bit in my letter/pack.

carlbhoy

been into the bank this afternoon to close my account totally, was told by the manager of the Huntingdon branch i would not be charged the fee, and if i was it would be reimbursed, then reading this post, i see i have a black square in the bottom left hand corner, the plot thickens!, the only added extra i have used is the AA, and on this site tonight i see with a cashback deal you may be able to get the same cover for £9, £30 maximum, so sod the lot of them i'm off to Santander for their 123 Cashback account paying 3% interest