Is it possible to have a Lloyds Cash Account + Club Lloyds account?

nowan

Hi all!

Some time ago, I opened a "Cash" account with Lloyds. It has been discontinued now, and there is something similar called "Basic" account.

Now I would be interested in the Club Lloyds account. But I would like to keep my current "Cash" account as my current account, and use the Club Lloyds account as a savings account.

I just prefer to have the money I want to save, and the money I have/need to use, in 2 different accounts.

1 - Is it possible to open a Club Lloyds account, keeping my Cash account? (without "upgrading" the latter to the first)

2 - Would I qualify not to get charged the monthly fee for the Club Lloyds account, if I move £1500 from my Lloyds Cash account, to the Club Lloyds account?
Or the money has to come/be from a different entity (bank, person, company)?
(basically, if I keep the Cash account, my salary will keep going there and I will move it to the Club Lloyds one, to not pay the monthly fees)

3 - to qualify to get the interest rate for the Club Lloyds account, I need to set up 2 direct debits. Would it be ok, if I set up one to my Paypal account, and the second one to another savings account with Lloyds itself, or it has to be, again, a different bank/company to qualify?

Anyone doing it?

Thanks for all your help!

YorkshireBoy

1. Yes, if you pass their credit scoring requirements.

2. The Club Lloyds T&Cs will clearly say if the funding has to come from outside LBG. Do they say that?

3. Paypal is OK, but Lloyds don't have any savings accounts that will accept deposits by DD...do they?

nowan

Thanks a lot for your reply, YorkshireBoy.

1) some time ago, while i was in a branch, they asked me if I wanted to upgrade my Cash account to a Classic account.
I was not interested in that, so I declined. I would say the credit scoring requirements should be similar, but probably the only way to know for sure is to try to apply.
I would not request, and I do not want, any overdraft. Do not know if this makes any difference, though.

2) time for some reading
(I could just ask my employer to pay my salary into the Club Lloyds account, but if this step is not strictly necessary, I prefer to avoid it, and move the money myself)

3) I am still learning my way into budgeting and savings. I apologise if some of my questions sounds awkward, or silly.
Tesco Savings accounts should be fine then?

nowan

2) The Club Lloyds T&Cs says:
"If you pay £1,500 or more into the account in
any calendar month the Club Lloyds fee for
that monthly billing period will be waived."

here:
lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/personal_banking_terms_and_conditions.pdf

page 1, bottom of the page, "Monthly Account Fee"
and again on page 3, the table on the bottom on the left hand side.

They do not specify anything else.
So I would say, that it is ok, if the money comes from another Lloyds account, even though the person is exactly the same. But I would like a second opinion. Just because it sounds a bit easy/silly to me, from a logical point of view, that it is ok to just move money from one account to another (same person, and same bank) and still qualify.

Pardon me if I am being thick, or overthinking about this.

YorkshireBoy

nowan wrote: »

So I would say, that it is ok, if the money comes from another Lloyds account, even though the person is exactly the same.

So would I.

nowan

Thanks, over and over again, YorkshireBoy.

It is extremely helpful, to have a second opinion (not trying to be lazy, but I have to admit I am very new to all this).

Summarising:

1) up to them and their credit check. But should be possible to keep the Cash account, and open a Club Lloyds one, per se.
2) should be ok.
3) a Tesco saving account (Tesco Internet Saving, or Tesco Instant Saving) + Paypal, should qualify as 2 direct debit, then.

EarthBoy

If you've still got the Cash account, you may be OK, but if your Cash account has been changed to the Basic current account, Lloyds will probably close it if you try to open a Club account. This is because the Basic account is intended for those who don't qualify for an ordinary current account.

The eligibility criteria for the Basic account state:

You may be able to get a Basic Account if you don’t meet the conditions for one of our other current accounts such as a Classic Account.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/all-accounts/basic-account.asp#tab-row-3

If you can get a Club account, then you clearly do meet the conditions for their other current accounts.

The special conditions for the Basic bank account state:

We may decide to close your account if we become aware
that you have:
• opened another payment account in the United Kingdom;

https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/images/current_accounts/basicaccount_welcomepack.pdf

A Club account, in fact any current account, is a payment account, so Lloyds may invoke this clause and close the Basic account.

There's nothing to stop you having an ordinary current account (Classic) as well as the Club account, so you could still have your spending and your saving in two separate accounts, but one of them can't be a Basic account.

nowan

Thanks a lot, to both YorkshireBoy, and EarthBoy.

As usual, you do not know what you do not know

Looking to my Internet Banking, my account looks like a Cash Account, not the Basic one.

Looking at the Lloyds website, it says that the Cash Account is no longer available, but they will keep that page for existing customers. It does not say anywhere that existing Cash Account customers will be "moved" to a Basic account, automatically.
lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/all-accounts/cash-account.asp#tab-row-3

I suspect they will try to close my Cash account, though, if I ask for a Club Lloyds one, but than I could just try to open Classic + ClubLloyds, as EarthBoy already said.

jonesMUFCforever

OP for your plan to work you MUST be able to pass their credit score criteria offering you a full current account.
If they were only offering you a cash account before this might be a problem.....but if you don't try you won't know.

nowan

Sure jones.

Actually, I am thinking about this, because I have been asked by one of their employee, if I wanted to upgrade my Cash Account, to a Classic Account. I refused, because I did not see, and still do not see, any advantage, for me and my circumstances, to have a Classic Account, compared to "just" a Cash Account.

The Club Lloyds account, on the other hand, with some tweaks, could give me something.
Literally, the interests

Now, I have no idea if their credit score criteria for the Club Lloyds account are the same of the Classic Account. But, if I go to a bank branch they should know, or be able to find it out if I am eligible for that, or not.

TheShape

nowan wrote: »

Thanks, over and over again, YorkshireBoy.

It is extremely helpful, to have a second opinion (not trying to be lazy, but I have to admit I am very new to all this).

Summarising:

1) up to them and their credit check. But should be possible to keep the Cash account, and open a Club Lloyds one, per se.
2) should be ok.
3) a Tesco saving account (Tesco Internet Saving, or Tesco Instant Saving) + Paypal, should qualify as 2 direct debit, then.

Just to flag something up if you've missed it. The interest rates on Club Lloyd's are changing in January. The rate will be a flat 2% on balances up to £5000. You could earn more interest elsewhere (TSB,Tesco,Nationwide,BOS). Club Lloyd's do give you the lifestyle benefits also (Cinema Tickets, Magazine Subs) if this makes a difference.

I had a check of the t&cs and could not see anything that suggested funding of the account had to be from outside Lloyds.