MSE News: Lloyds completes MBNA takeover - but 'no changes whatsoever' for customers

StopIt

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

We will see - there is no way Lloyds have agreed to pay £1.9 Billion for it to not make more money out of it - either higher interest rates or cuts in promotional rates.
On the other hand MBNA balance transfer rates always seemed higher than a lot of other lenders.
I also expect a tightening of the credit scoring for new applicants (and the managing away of unsatisfactorily accounts) once they get their feet under the table.

You may want to look up synergies.


Lloyds can run MBNA at arms lengths, but bring IT systems, support and back office functions in house. That way, they can run MBNA cheaper than MBNA did and still offer the same offers as before.


People always say this sort of things with M&A despite little evidence that this actually happens. See PlusNet and GiffGaff for examples of companies who got taken over and still operate as independent entities.

adindas wrote: »

Is it right to say that it is very likely that the LLoyds share will fall ??

That would have happened at announcement of the deal IF the investment community felt that Lloyds were overpaying. As it did not really happen, they clearly do not.

adindas wrote: »

I have read many times that in Merger and Acquisition case the acquiring firm share is likely to fall because they usually required to pay a premium. High probability to recover in medium/long term as they are normally good in that business.

The premium is an incentive for the seller to accept the offer.

The premium is not just an incentive. it is recognition that if the company was not bought out, that they likely would have risen over a certain period anyway. Also, companies get sold "At a premium" all the time, despite their share prices being below that of previous times. The premium is based on a fixed point of time, yet someone can be a long term shareholder and lose out at acquisition time if they actually bought at a higher point.


From a business POV this move from Lloyds makes sense. After years of building their balance sheet and dealing with the legacy of the financial crisis, they wanted to go a bit more "Risk on" so went for this for a relatively cheap deal. The risk is of course that CC debt is rising and they may end up with a higher level of delinquencies than expected but that's the risk of course.


So yes, from a customer POV, you likely wont notice any difference, just like HBOS customers still probably haven't noticed that Lloyds own them. As a banking customer, unlike other services, your money doesn't change supplier, or become lower quality (See the crying when Carte Noire got bought out for a good recent example) all of a sudden!

PeacefulWaters

just like HBOS customers still probably haven't noticed that Lloyds own them.

It was quite painful as a customer.

StopIt

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

It was quite painful as a customer.

What happened? (Honest question as HBOS happily pretend that they've got nothing to do with Lloyds when it comes to their High Street presence).

System

StopIt wrote: »

What happened? (Honest question as HBOS happily pretend that they've got nothing to do with Lloyds when it comes to their High Street presence).

What are you on about?

HBOS doesn't exist on the 'High Street'

If you go into a BOS branch, it's usually got Lloyds logos around and the branch designs are basically a blue version of a Lloyds branch.

geoffduke

Performance downgrade probably due to the migration said the MBNA rep when I complained about performance. Several weeks down the line since the migration, this story has been debunked as total horsefeathers. Why do I say that? Because the performance under the Lloyds system is abysmal. Transaction on a Thursday still does not show in the account by Tuesday. Never had to access the account so many times due to lack of confidence. Can only do an over-payment using fast-pay now as the Lloyds rules do not allow over-payments to be done via the debit card. I used to do this if going away and when I knew some Amazon Kindle Books were going to be charged and needed to keep on top of it. Lloyds takeover has been noticed - by retrograde abysmal performance. I told the rep that if they had let everyone know about the migration they would have been tolerant. However, the issue were nothing to do with the migration - the Lloyds system just performs very badly.

Speenth

I'm a UK citizen, permanently resident abroad and I travel extensively on business. I've used MBNA for many years precisely for that reason.

Prior to the Lloyds takeover, MBNA fully accepted my international status and were a model of good customer relations when inevitably, I had the occasional card issues in dubious locations.

Then, a few months ago my card was due for replacement....

No card appeared at my long-standing overseas address. I called MBNA and was told that Lloyds policy was to deliver only by UK post in UK - so no card.

I agreed to pay for a courier service to deliver a card. It never arrived (Lloyds only use the UK Post Office, you understand). More calls, and finally, agreement to deliver by DHL. So at last the card comes (with a UKP8.88 bill for delivery).

I try to pay the UKP 8.88 debt on my new MBNA card via my overseas bank account (as I've done routinely for many years), but no, I can now only use a UK bank account to pay!!

So I try to use my UK HSBC account. Can't do that - I have to use a UK debit card. I do not have one - I LIVE abroad!

So I can't pay off my replacement MBNA credit card debt (all of which was generated by MBNA).

Clearly no noticeable changes since Lloyds took over .... except that I'm now cancelling the card just as soon as I can find a way to pay for the cost of its delivery.

Ridiculous

Penelopa.Pitstop

Can you setup direct debit to pay it in full for next payment period, from your UK account? If delivery fee isn't yet on a statement, you should be able to setup direct debit before next statement and it will be paid off.

System

Speenth wrote: »

I'm a UK citizen, permanently resident abroad and I travel extensively on business. I've used MBNA for many years precisely for that reason.

Ridiculous

Hardly ridiculous - their products are aimed at UK residents and many providers simply close the account of non-UK residents.

Use a local provider in your location of permanent residence.