Trouble with Lloyds Credit Card, massive fines incured

meadt86

Hi guys,

A friend of mine has been telling me over the weekend of his difficulty paying off his Lloyds credit card after experiencing some financial hardship recently. I was concerned that his treatment by Lloyds was pretty harsh and their conduct may be violating FSA regulations.

Basically, as a result of a few expensive unforseen costs he maxed out both his Lloyds credit card (1K limit) and his Lloyds current account (2K overdraft) and subsequently had his current account blocked and began to get hit by hefty fees and fines on his credit card. He's now in a position to pay things off and wants to prioritise the credit card as the failure to pay + interest fees are pretty steep. However Lloyds will only allow him to pay the CC off from his Lloyds current account, which is blocked. Lloyds will only unblock the current account once the overdraft has been cleared completely, which he's doing (still £800 to go) and refuse payment from another account. All the while he's amounting more fines and interest on his CC.

Lloyds conduct seems pretty evil to me and have my friend firmly trapped. I wouldn't be surprised if this also breaks FSA rules, but I was interested in your opinions/advice on the issue? Does it break FSA rules? Does it warrent a formal complaint? Has he got grounds to ask for the CC fines back?

Thanks in advance,

Gromitt

I don't think I've ever seen a credit card that can only be paid using a current account at that same bank.

If you go down the bank with the CC statement and cash, and they refuse the payment, then yes, I would complain.

InsideInsurance

Credit cards are regulated by the OFT not the FSA as they are a credit product and the FSA don't cover credit.

Personally would instruct his bank to transfer the cash to his credit card and to some degree "see what happens". They certainly cannot just ignore it. I forget the proper name for it but many accounts do allow the bank to redistribute funds between accounts held by the same person, if both his credit card and current account had such a clause then Lloyds would be in their right to put it towards the current account rather than the credit card

dresdendave

meadt86 wrote: »

Hi guys,


However Lloyds will only allow him to pay the CC off from his Lloyds current account, which is blocked. Lloyds will only unblock the current account once the overdraft has been cleared completely, which he's doing (still £800 to go) and refuse payment from another account. All the while he's amounting more fines and interest on his CC.

Thanks in advance,

This does not ring true. His card statement should include a paying in slip. Take that to branch with a handful of cash and pay it in over the counter.

Were they to refuse to accept the payment, which is extremely unlikely, then he may have grounds for a complaint.

As the communications with Lloyds have been by your "friend" and not yourself, he has probably just misunderstood the situation and/or explained it to you in a confusing way.

As for calling Lloyds evil, were they evil when they allowed your "friend" to spend £3000 of their money to tide him over during his period of financial hardship?

Gromitt

dresdendave wrote: »

As for calling Lloyds evil, were they evil when they allowed your "friend" to spend £3000 of their money to tide him over during his period of financial hardship?

If they will not allow him to pay it back (and then add charges), then yes, but like you say, I find it hard to believe that is the case.

Wheres_My_Cashback

meadt86 wrote: »

hi guys,

a friend of mine has been telling me over the weekend of his difficulty paying off his lloyds credit card after experiencing some financial hardship recently. I was concerned that his treatment by lloyds was pretty harsh and their conduct may be violating fsa regulations.

Basically, as a result of a few expensive unforseen costs he maxed out both his lloyds credit card (1k limit) and his lloyds current account (2k overdraft) and subsequently had his current account blocked and began to get hit by hefty fees and fines on his credit card. He's now in a position to pay things off and wants to prioritise the credit card as the failure to pay + interest fees are pretty steep. However lloyds will only allow him to pay the cc off from his lloyds current account, which is blocked. Lloyds will only unblock the current account once the overdraft has been cleared completely, which he's doing (still £800 to go) and refuse payment from another account. All the while he's amounting more fines and interest on his cc.

Lloyds conduct seems pretty evil to me and have my friend firmly trapped. I wouldn't be surprised if this also breaks fsa rules, but i was interested in your opinions/advice on the issue? Does it break fsa rules? Does it warrent a formal complaint? Has he got grounds to ask for the cc fines back?

Thanks in advance,

utter nonsense