Lloydstsb and American express join forces

Afahmaep

Existing LTSB card holders looking to swap/upgrade read the small print very carefully.
'....purchase rates applicable on your existing LlloydsTSB credit card will apply.'

CTT_2

I was approached by LLoyds as already a customer and have asked them to close my exisitng LLoyds Plat and Advance cards with them and transfer my credit limit over to the new card.
Also have said I can keep my apr of 14.9 percent but more importantly can do bt for 15k for 6 months.

eagle

I saw this deal in a branch a few weeks ago now. They had just got some leaflets in and I had a look at one. The offer didn't seem too good to me IMHO. I think the traditional AmEx credit cards (BA, Platinum and even Blue) are a better deal than what Lloyds are offering.

Rafter

The reason all the banks are looking at tie ups with Amex is that the European Union is forcing Visa and Mastercard to reduce the 'interchange' fee they charge to retailers when you use your card.

This fee is designed to cover the cost of fraud, processing the transaction and also to fund the interest free period before you have to pay (if you pay in full).

Because Amex is currently much smaller and is primarily a 'charge card' they charge retailers a much higher fee using the arguement that their customers are high spenders. Because they have a small market share, the regulators aren't that interested in them.....yet.

Because processing costs and interest rates have fallen, the interchange fee (about 1% of the transaction value on average) is now higher than the banks costs. Rather than pass this back to the retailers the banks have been using the money to fund cashback and rewards programs as well as make profits.

Australia have already done this and there you will find there are very few reward programs and many cards with annual fees.

I'm not sure what the public would prefer though?

On the one hand do you like cashback and reward programs and think the 1% average charge on retailers is low considering they get more sales and lower transaction costs than if people pay by cash (security issues) or cheques (higher fraud risk)

Or......

You trust the retailers more than the banks and would sacrifice your cashback in return for lower prices in store from lower charges to the retailers from the bank.


A difficult balance.

My personal view is that if a debit (eg switch) card is cheaper for the retailer and the bank. There should be an incentive to use it in terms of lower price.

It is crazy that debit card users are currently subsidise credit card users.

Using the same arguement though, it is also perhaps unfair that people who pay their credit card in full should subsidise those who don't.

R.

omega27

I'd much rather use my Amex card because of the extra protection it offers eg: break something within 90 days, they'll sort it out etc. Plus 2% cashback is nice - just passed £150 so far this year! Now I've never used the 90 day insurance, but the Lloyds card doesn't have this & the 'cashback' is 1/4 so they've got to be making a few £££s on the deal!

gazroe

just recived my lloyds amex card and got a low £250 limit because I have a mastercard with 10k on it!. i can transfer the balance across the cards but whats the point in that.

also not a good card to use abroad, any transactions not in sterling are first converted into us dollars then uk sterling a doulble wammy

i have now phoned up and cancelled the card the only postive was there was no credit check

lipidicman

Ok, so you dont recommend this as a 9month 0% card to those with existing lloydstsb platinum cards? This card seems to have the same BT terms as the platinum (ie 6 week window and no BT fee(?)) but the credit limit will be low if you have an existing lloydstsb debt?

pardal51

lipidicman wrote:

Ok, so you dont recommend this as a 9month 0% card to those with existing lloydstsb platinum cards? This card seems to have the same BT terms as the platinum (ie 6 week window and no BT fee(?)) but the credit limit will be low if you have an existing lloydstsb debt?

Got an increased CL after cancelling my platinum and getting amex...so don't think this applies

yes 0% BT 1st 6 weeks, although when BT'ing (twice) 1st thing CS asked was: "which rate have you been quoted?"

cheers!!!

lipidicman

pardal51 wrote:

Got an increased CL after cancelling my platinum and getting amex...so don't think this applies

yes 0% BT 1st 6 weeks, although when BT'ing (twice) 1st thing CS asked was: "which rate have you been quoted?"

cheers!!!

OK, but I dont want to cancel my platinum, I wanted this to increase my stooze pot

pardal51

lipidicman wrote:

OK, but I dont want to cancel my platinum, I wanted this to increase my stooze pot

Fair enough... I just cancelled cos rang CS and said that have been with them for quite a while and competition was offering good deals, all that blablabla... and CS only offered me a 5.something%, which wasn't any good for me. Therefore asked for my account to be cancelled...

Hope you can have more luck and get amex card to increase your stooze pot...

BTW which SA do you use as your stooze pot?

regards