Lloyds TSB/Co-op branch transfers. When will we be told what to do?

pqrdef

dalesrider wrote: »

Sadly they have been told that they can't keep you as a customer.

So the powers that be start with the idea that customers are tied to branches, and end up telling people the one thing they can't do is carry on doing their banking at the branch where they habitually do their banking.

What a farce.

pmduk

pqrdef wrote: »

So the powers that be start with the idea that customers are tied to branches, and end up telling people the one thing they can't do is carry on doing their banking at the branch where they habitually do their banking.

Customers haven't been tied to branches for years. Customers can contine to bank at their usual premises, it will just be operated by another company. I donlt like what the EU has ordered, but the alternative would have been a massive banking crisis a few years back.

Jaycee_Dove

pmduk wrote: »

Customers haven't been tied to branches for years. Customers can contine to bank at their usual premises, it will just be operated by another company. I donlt like what the EU has ordered, but the alternative would have been a massive banking crisis a few years back.

But that is the problem. I cannot through no fault of my own.

Unless you are suggesting I should be travelling 100 miles every week on 4 trains to bank in England at the branch that is moving to the Coop? Which is patently absurd.

I AM being disallowed from banking at my 'usual premises' - as in the one 5 miles from where I live and which I have used all of this century.

It is not my fault they left my acount registered at the old branch. They declined to move it when we moved in 2001 saying it was no longer necessary or policy. Had they moved me to my local branch 11 years ago as I asked them to do then there would be no problem.

But their actions all those years ago HAVE denied me the opportunity to bank at my 'usual premises'. That is my argument here.

stclair

Just open a new account online at a branch that is not being sold.

Then request for everything to be transferred over like your overdraft and direct debits etc.

emuzeg

I just got the letter from Lloyds saying that from 2013 it will all begin and my branch and account are part of the move. The letter does not mention anything about Coop just that they will 'choose a new owner'. I am curious though about how I will be affected as I will be living abroad from Jan 1st. I will change my address with Lloyds to my overseas address but will it mean anything different? Will they send out the new cards there with no issues and should I elect to stay with the new TSB plc or allow myself to be moved to the 'new owner'. Does anyone suspect which will be the better of the two? What are the pros and cons of either staying or moving?

Jaycee_Dove

stclair wrote: »

Just open a new account online at a branch that is not being sold.

Then request for everything to be transferred over like your overdraft and direct debits etc.

They told me NOT. They claim to have been instructed to look out for people trying to circumvent the system by closing and opening new accounts.

The EEC and government have supposedly required Lloyds to pass on the customers and not just the branches and because they expect lots of existing customers to want to stay with LLoyds that is why they have been asked not to 'facilitate' (as they put it) such things.

This is why I am so annoyed. Thirty Five years loyalty to this bank and because a branch 100 miles away from where I live and not the one where I have banked for 11 years is being sold then I appear to be like a Guantanamo Bay inmate ring fenced from staying a Lloyds customer.

Hence my disgust at what is going on here. I suspect when others who are in my position discover the truth (as I did by phoning the number in the literature sent out and then my local branch) the tide of anger will grow.

So much for loyalty.

anna42hmr

stclair wrote: »

Just open a new account online at a branch that is not being sold.

Then request for everything to be transferred over like your overdraft and direct debits etc.

doubt that would work, as if you open an account with lloyds usually opens under the same sort code as any existing one, no matter where you open it. for instance over the years i have opened at several different branches current accounts and savings accounts etc (as i have several vantage current accounts for the interest) and all have the same sort code. its these sort codes that are tied to a specific branch, so if thats the one thats going with the new bank then would go even if thats the case.

to be honest people who wanna stay with lloyds are probably just better to wait till after the change, and once the branches etc are split, then open a lloyds account.

stclair

Jaycee_Dove wrote: »

They told me NOT. They claim to have been instructed to look out for people trying to circumvent the system by closing and opening new accounts.

The EEC and government have supposedly required Lloyds to pass on the customers and not just the branches and because they expect lots of existing customers to want to stay with LLoyds that is why they have been asked not to 'facilitate' (as they put it) such things.

This is why I am so annoyed. Thirty Five years loyalty to this bank and because a branch 100 miles away from where I live and not the one where I have banked for 11 years is being sold then I appear to be like a Guantanamo Bay inmate ring fenced from staying a Lloyds customer.

Hence my disgust at what is going on here. I suspect when others who are in my position discover the truth (as I did by phoning the number in the literature sent out and then my local branch) the tide of anger will grow.

So much for loyalty.

I do not think loyalty exists in the banking world now a days your just an account number and sort code to them.

Well I am sorry to hear of your frustration. I am confused why account transfers are not an option. When the rbs/natwest sale was in place with Santander customers had the choice to transfer to another branch however the bank could not promote it due to competition rules.

stclair

anna42hmr wrote: »

doubt that would work, as if you open an account with lloyds usually opens under the same sort code as any existing one, no matter where you open it. for instance over the years i have opened at several different branches current accounts and savings accounts etc (as i have several vantage current accounts for the interest) and all have the same sort code. its these sort codes that are tied to a specific branch, so if thats the one thats going with the new bank then would go even if thats the case.

to be honest people who wanna stay with lloyds are probably just better to wait till after the change, and once the branches etc are split, then open a lloyds account.

I have two classic accounts with Lloyds and they are both on different sort codes. One for a Birmingham branch and the other for a Manchester branch :=)

anna42hmr

stclair wrote: »

Well I am sorry to hear of your frustration. I am confused why account transfers are not an option. .

its problably because as the eu has stated they have to sell a certain percentage of the bank, its to ensure they have the right amount, for example if they if they have to have to transfer 25% of the business but 10% of that say they dont want to and then stay then Lloyds would have to then go and choose another selection of customers to go.