Lloyds credit card with no interest free period??

simonjones1979

I've had a credit card with Lloyds since September (Lloyds Advance, no bells & whistles) and been paying it off in full by DD every month. In February, I saw an interest charge, called them up and they refunded it saying it must have been a mistake.

I've just seen the same thing again this month.

I recall when 0% balance transfer deals started, it meant "transfer a balance to us, pay the minimum each month and pay no interest on the balance". Similarly, 0% purchase deals meant "buy stuff, pay the minimum each month and pay no interest on the balance".

However, regardless of the "deal", I always believed that the rule for credit cards was that if you paid it off in full every month, you got charged nothing (apart from cash advances etc).

I read the paper statement (in detail this time) and it says my promotion ended, I've no interest-free period and all purchases are subject to interest from the date of the transaction.

Is this possible? What did I miss? When did card companies start making the interest-free period disappear??

Has anybody else seen the same thing?

planteria

i have, a few years ago, with Lloyds.
i had called to close an account, been told it was closed, but then, when it remained open on a search, i spoke to them and they offered me a deal on the account and sent a replacement card -the card that arrived was dark green this time (rather than dark grey). when that deal expired it was, as you say, an account that charged interest immediately. they were adamant that that had always been the case with the account, and wouldn't budge. so i closed it.
i have been back with them since, and have had repeats from them, but haven't found service to be very good, and they are the only provider that ive ever known who fail to process a BT (theyve done that twice to me) which someone else mentioned here recently.
i dont currently have a Lloyds Bank credit card.

20aday

simonjones1979 wrote: »

I've had a credit card with Lloyds since September (Lloyds Advance, no bells & whistles) and been paying it off in full by DD every month. In February, I saw an interest charge, called them up and they refunded it saying it must have been a mistake.

I've just seen the same thing again this month.

I recall when 0% balance transfer deals started, it meant "transfer a balance to us, pay the minimum each month and pay no interest on the balance". Similarly, 0% purchase deals meant "buy stuff, pay the minimum each month and pay no interest on the balance".

However, regardless of the "deal", I always believed that the rule for credit cards was that if you paid it off in full every month, you got charged nothing (apart from cash advances etc).

I read the paper statement (in detail this time) and it says my promotion ended, I've no interest-free period and all purchases are subject to interest from the date of the transaction.

Is this possible? What did I miss? When did card companies start making the interest-free period disappear??

Has anybody else seen the same thing?

Hello Simon,

Lloyds Bank no longer offer the Advance MasterCard (certainly on their website, at least) but from what I've had a quick Google and found a (closed) thread from here on MSE:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1960143

From reading it (irrespective of paying the bill in full each month) they'll still charge you interest.

phona

I read about that "feature" of that particular card on here a while ago and it surprised me too. I looked on the Lloyd's site at the time and it was pretty clear: the main page advertising had it with a big tick like it was good news and it was spelled out in the summary box.

I don't know of any others doing the same and hopefully it isn't a trend. If the card doesn't suit your needs, close it and chalk it up to experience.

planteria

it's certainly not new, so i think we can sleep easy knowing it isn't the start of a new trend.
as per my post above, i know that they were sometimes 'downgrading' accounts to this one when it suited them.

EarthBoy

This isn't new, Lloyds have been issuing the Advance card for years. It was quite a good card for people who never paid the balance off in full every month because the APR was lower than that on the standard credit card.

Cards which charged interest immediately used to be relatively common 30 years ago, but they are quite rare now. TSB still offers the Advance card: http://www.tsb.co.uk/credit-cards/purchases/advance-credit-card/

grumbler

20aday wrote: »

Hello Simon,

Lloyds Bank no longer offer the Advance MasterCard

TSB seems to have taken it with them when separated:

http://www.tsb.co.uk/credit-cards/purchases/advance-credit-card/

Interest charged from the date of the transaction.

It is/was a very unique card, not a 'trend' or something new.

guesswho2000

It's certainly unusual, in that the majority of cards charge no interest on purchases if the entire balance is paid, but the LTSB Advance was always one which specifically stated that it had no interest free period - I say specifically stated, it was in the summary box, I'm sure they didn't boast about it.

It was always an example I used when people, incorrectly, stated that all credit cards waived interest on purchases, when paid in full.

YorkshireBoy

I seem to remember one of the Co-op cards (Clear?) operated the same policy, but that was a good few years ago now.

planteria

that rings a bell with me too, YB.
with so many other options on the market, one to Advance to the scissors and plastic/glass recycling bin.
i've found Lloyds Bank service to be very good, but Lloyds TSB cards were very variable. no reason to stick with them.

System

I had a LloydsTSB Advance card too as it had an opening balance transfer offer at 12 months 0% at the time.

They did send me a offer after the 12 months to convert the account to an Amex (with standard interest free period) but with the 11.9% APR - it think it was an early version of choice rewards