Lloyds Platinum no longer free

flashnazia

Anyone with a fee-waiver on this account will lose it from October:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/aug/03/lloyds-platinum-account-loses-sparkle?newsfeed=true

Many Lloyds TSB banking customers, who have had the usual £17-a-month fee waived on their Platinum account for years, will have to pay from October if they want to continue to keep the free travel insurance and other benefits.

As part of an overhaul, which will also substantially raise the cost of going overdrawn for those holding a paid-for account, Lloyds revealed that a "small" number of those packaged account holders, who have enjoyed the "fee waiver", will have to pay from 2 October.

Many long-standing Lloyds customers, who agreed to keep a certain balance in their current account – typically £4,000 or more – were offered the "free" upgrade to Platinum, which offers free travel and mobile insurance, AA cover, plus several other benefits such as fraud protection policies and reduced overdraft charges. The regular charge for this account is £204 a year.

Money reader Gordon Watson, who lives near Royston in Hertfordshire, contacted us this week to say he and his wife had been told they would have to pay from October. Although it turned out that their account will remain free, it has emerged that other customers have not fared as well. A Lloyds spokesman confirmed that a "small number of customers" have had the "fee waiver" removed. However, he declined to shed any light on how this group would be selected.

One conclusion is that it will be customers who don't buy enough other products, or keep sufficiently high balances in their account, though this has been denied by the bank.

Anyone else affected by this?

John_3:16

This may be link to the Gold account thread?

kar999

John_3:16 wrote: »

This may be link to the Gold account thread?

Yep... see my thread here.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4082579&highlight=

If you have a black square on your letter you have been discriminated against and will lose your fee-waiver. I've writen to their ex-santander CEO who appears to have bought his old banks worst customer service record across to Lloyds.

MoneySaverLog

kar999 wrote: »

I've writen to their ex-santander CEO

Will make little difference

exel1966

Probably. Lloyds operate some accounts on an individual basis.

APR's on credit cards are set on an individual basis.

Some savings accounts offer enhanced rates to selected customers.

Some people will keep their free banking for these accounts providing they meet the minimum balance requirements.

Business decisions based upon account operation, risk factors and other reasons probably, not what I'd call discrimination.

Random selection without any reasoning possibly would be discrimination, but everyone has free choice of where to bank.

exel1966

flashnazia wrote: »

Anyone with a fee-waiver on this account will lose it from October:

For Anyone read 'a small number of customers' only.