New Lloyds Vantage current account

zerog

iilg wrote: »

On the website now it just says that one is to visit branch. Are they fed up of fielding phone calls on this?

http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/vantage4.asp

Just call them and say something like you weren't confident that the branch did it correctly, and since you didn't go to a branch, they won't have!

Gromitt

zerog wrote: »

To be more precise, it's 2.96% on £5,000 and 3.93% on £6,000. So £70.24 more, per account, for a basic rate taxpayer who uses the account optimally. (Lloyds' itself quotes £148/year on standard and £235.80/year on 4% offer)

£70 more than the 3%/5K account, but only about £36 more than a typical 3.17% savings account.

zerog wrote: »

PS. I got a disparaging tone of voice from the Vantage phone team after they asked me to name a DD for "security" and I said "Tesco"

I think they'll learn their lesson from this one and in the next T&Cs, they'll be saying "2 direct debits to a recognised utility provider"

Dustykitten

I have read part of the thread but not all pages, could somebody answer this for me?

If I use a CC that I rarely (never) use for the DD would this count as being active?

If I have more than one Vantage account (5) do I need two per account? Would there be a benefit to amalgamating my funds into 2 accounts and leaving the other three dormant or just close them?

Thanks in advance

ETA could you if you wanted choose a charity and do a £1 per month DD like to a school PTA etc

Steve_xx

Dustykitten wrote: »

If I use a CC that I rarely (never) use for the DD would this count as being active?

If I have more than one Vantage account (5) do I need two per account? Would there be a benefit to amalgamating my funds into 2 accounts and leaving the other three dormant or just close them?

Yes you can use the credit card. The LTSB terms do not state that the DD mandate has to be "active" - it merely states that it has to be setup.

Yes you need two per account. But, you can only activate the 4% rate on 3 accounts.

Regarding the last part of your question. If it is a DD mandate then it's a DD mandate regardless of who is drawing it.

psychic_teabag

zerog wrote: »

To be more precise, it's 2.96% on £5,000 and 3.93% on £6,000. So £70.24 more, per account, for a basic rate taxpayer who uses the account optimally. (Lloyds' itself quotes £148/year on standard and £235.80/year on 4% offer)

I think it's fair to say that you have the other £1000 elsewhere earning around about 3%. So I'd go with the comparison of 6000 @ 4% vs 6000 @ 3%.

Chorlie

slopemaster wrote: »

Just took 2 quick phone calls - one to move DDs on old credit cards; one to Lloyds to get the 4%.

Was feeling quite pleased until I realised I will only make an extra £10 a year
(as I've got other instant access accounts paying 3% anyway)

So the £5/month from Halifax is actually much better

As others have pointed out its 4% Gross on the full £6000; but if you have the Halifax Reward then just transfer £1000 from the Lloyds Account to the Halifax and then straight back again, that way you've done the monthly credit of £1000 to both account so you'll get the 4% on your Lloyds account and you'll get your £5 from Halifax....

tftftf

Following advice from some people in this thread, I have opened two Tesco Instant Access Savings accounts, and have added all three of my vantage accounts as "linked accounts".

When I set each of these up it gave me the option to add a direct debit mandate for each, which I did.

I haven't set up any regular direct debit payments to be made on any of the accounts, but does anyone know if the direct debit mandate alone is enough to qualify for the 4% rate?

I just upgraded the three accounts, and when I asked they told me that the direct debits have to be "monthly, annually or quarterly", but they seemed a bit unsure to be honest.

It seems that the best option would be to set up an annual direct debit from each account to the tesco savings accounts, but unfortunately the online banking only gives monthly/weekly as an option.

slopemaster

Chorlie wrote: »

if you have the Halifax Reward then just transfer £1000 from the Lloyds Account to the Halifax and then straight back again, that way you've done the monthly credit of £1000 to both account so you'll get the 4% on your Lloyds account and you'll get your £5 from Halifax....

Yup, that's what i do.

badger09

expatasia wrote: »

Just occurred to me that non ardent MSE users visiting the LTSB site on a very infrequent basis might confuse it with 'Advantage Saver' - what IS the point of that particular one?

http://www.lloydstsb.com/savings/advantage_saver.asp

That's one of the many accounts for apathetic/lazy/naive customers. No offense meant . Should perhaps be renamed Disadvantage Saver, though to be honest its far from the worst one around.

badger09

tftftf wrote: »

Following advice from some people in this thread, I have opened two Tesco Instant Access Savings accounts, and have added all three of my vantage accounts as "linked accounts".

When I set each of these up it gave me the option to add a direct debit mandate for each, which I did.

I haven't set up any regular direct debit payments to be made on any of the accounts, but does anyone know if the direct debit mandate alone is enough to qualify for the 4% rate?

I just upgraded the three accounts, and when I asked they told me that the direct debits have to be "monthly, annually or quarterly", but they seemed a bit unsure to be honest.

It seems that the best option would be to set up an annual direct debit from each account to the tesco savings accounts, but unfortunately the online banking only gives monthly/weekly as an option.

The T&C for the new Vantage offer doesn't specify that the DDs have to be active, let alone active monthly, quarterly or annually
Lloyds staff however seem to have their own, conflicting views.

I've played safe with a monthly DD to Tesco for £1 on each of my 3 accounts, plus assorted PayPal and little used credit card DDs, which I'll 'activate' a couple of times a year just to reassure Lloyds