Lloyds refusing to do BACs payment?

Lesleycc

Hi, I hope I have found the correct forum.

My father wanted to make a payment in my local Lloyds branch to his insurance company (only £34), the letter gave their bank details and said any bank could do it. The nearest Lloyds branch (Street in Somerset) refused to do the BACs payment and said it would cost £30. He has previously done this in another branch in the North East without a problem.

They suggested he wrote a cheque (he has a broken arm), go online (he hasn't set this up) or walk to the nearest Barclays (too far, he is 85) so I went to Barclays and it took 30 seconds to do. I am FURIOUS. Surely this is not acceptable banking practice? Or am I missing something - is this normal?

Many thanks for any feedback.

~Beanie~

Who does your father actually bank with? If he doesn't bank with Lloyds, then I'm not surprised that they wouldn't do it without making a charge.

Most banks charge if you try and pay a bill or similar if you don't bank with them.

agrinnall

Unless organisations have made agreements with a range of banks then it's pretty standard that a bill payment can only be done free either at the bank the payee is with, or perhaps at the bank the organisation uses.

pmduk

He could have paid by card.

HoneyAndLemon

Lesleycc wrote: »

Hi, I hope I have found the correct forum.

My father wanted to make a payment in my local Lloyds branch to his insurance company (only £34), the letter gave their bank details and said any bank could do it. The nearest Lloyds branch (Street in Somerset) refused to do the BACs payment and said it would cost £30. He has previously done this in another branch in the North East without a problem.

They suggested he wrote a cheque (he has a broken arm), go online (he hasn't set this up) or walk to the nearest Barclays (too far, he is 85) so I went to Barclays and it took 30 seconds to do. I am FURIOUS. Surely this is not acceptable banking practice? Or am I missing something - is this normal?

Many thanks for any feedback.

They probably work the same way as Halifax, in that they do not do faster payments (which are free and usually immediate) in branch, only over the phone or online. They will only do a CHAPS (not BACS) payment in branch, and there is usually a fee of between £25-£30 for this. Barclays must do faster payments in branch.

As they said there were other options such as a cheque, using his debit card, going in to the other bank, or getting online and phone banking set up.

opinions4u

Are we talking "Bank Giro" here?

BACS payments don't exist for personal bank accounts. Payment of bills over a bank counter has traditionally been Bank Giro.

I am FURIOUS. Surely this is not acceptable banking practice?

Some banks have never offered bill payment facilities at the counter.

Although Lloyds TSB have as long as I've been aware, I think we may have a terminology issue here which has caused confusion.

Lesleycc

Thank you for your replies, perhaps I should have clarified that my father is a lifelong Lloyds customer and this was a Lloyds bank branch.

As a Barclays customer I have never encountered refusal to pay by this method.

Thanks again.

Thrugelmir

Lesleycc wrote: »

so I went to Barclays and it took 30 seconds to do.

How did you make payment?

ses6jwg

Lloyds and Halifax charge £30 to make an electronic transfer in branch.

Pretty poor if you ask me.

agrinnall

I must admit I'd originally thought this was a bill that had come with a tear-off payment slip (what used to be a Bank Giro Credit, although I haven't actually looked at one for many years so they may no longer be called that), but now I read the OP again it looks more like it's just a letter giving sortcode and account number details for payment. If so, and if Lloyds don't do over the counter FPS, then what they've said is probably right - it may have worked at the OP's father's own branch as they know him and have waived a fee.

I suspect that it was done by Barclay's as the insurance company banks with them, so a cash payment could be processed as an inter-branch payment without needing to use any external processor - if you tell us the sortcode we can check if it is Barclay's.

JuicyJesus

ses6jwg wrote: »

Lloyds and Halifax charge £30 to make an electronic transfer in branch.

Pretty poor if you ask me.

Makes perfect sense. Interactions in a bank branch aren't recorded, whereas telephone instructions are and Internet banking instructions are input solely by the customer. Doing them in branch introduces the scope for human error, and thus complaints from customers if their payment is processed incorrectly (whether it was their fault or the bank's.)

There is a higher risk to the bank. Therefore a higher price.