What If?

Enfield_Chace

Just recently my wife and I discussed about changing banks. We have been with Lloyds for 18years. Just recently they have become a pain in the a**e. They have been blocking payments and causing no end of trouble. :huh: My wife and I are disabled and we do most of our shopping on line. Lloyds are proving unreasonable.:huh: This is what caused our discussion about changing banks.
When banks put a minimum amount on their switch rules it makes changing very difficult. HSBC want a minimum of £1750 per month. My wife and I besides being disabled are also retired and we do not even approach half of what HSBC require.
I would appreciate some guidance from you experts out there in relation to this.:cool:

Shakin_Steve

There's nothing stopping you from switching to another bank without gaining the incentives. Or, you could just try opening another account without closing Lloyds account and, once opened, switch your pension payments into that.
Have you complained to Lloyds about the problems that you are having?

colsten

The £1,750 minimum monthly deposit you mention is a specific eligibility criterion for the HSBC Advance account. There are several dozen other accounts which have no minimum monthly deposit requirement, starting with the basic accounts that all banks, including HSBC, are now offering.

You are not giving reasons for why Lloyds are blocking payments. Thus it might be that other banks would be making similar blocks, and switching might not provide you with benefits. Can you elaborate which situations they occur in?

eDicky

To meet minimum monthly deposit requirements you can cycle money in, out and back in again from another account, to make up the necessary amount; there is no need to actually have that much income coming in.

Of course, you need a separate account somewhere else to be able to do that - but these days it's advisable in general not to rely on only one account anyway, because of possible IT failure for example, or the sort of account blockage that you already experience.

So instead of switching completely right now, perhaps just open an additional account elsewhere. See how you get on with it, then when a good switching opportunity arises you can switch the one you like least. Consider one of the new app-only banks such as Starling if you use a smartphone, easy and cost-free:

https://www.starlingbank.com/

colsten

eDicky wrote: »

To meet minimum monthly deposit requirements you can cycle money in, out and back in again from another account, to make up the necessary amount; there is no need to actually have that much income coming in.

Whilst this works on many other accounts, this is very unlikely to work for the HSBC Advance. HSBC are very picky regarding the people they accept for an Advance account. It is not unheard of that they want to see payslips as proof of income as part of the application process.

soulsaver

colsten wrote: »

Whilst this works on many other accounts, this is very unlikely to work for the HSBC Advance. HSBC are very picky regarding the people they accept for an Advance account. It is not unheard of that they want to see payslips as proof of income as part of the application process.

Just to clarify - the cycling ££s works for HSBC Advance. They require monthly credits of £1750, or £10500 total in a 6(?) month period - and recycling is fine.

Income is a separate question in the application - that is where you can fail.. I'm not aware of what the qualifying amount is but I'd guess its above 1750 pm.

PRAISETHESUN

colsten wrote: »

The £1,750 minimum monthly deposit you mention is a specific eligibility criterion for the HSBC Advance account. There are several dozen other accounts which have no minimum monthly deposit requirement, starting with the basic accounts that all banks, including HSBC, are now offering.

Cycling the monthly pay in does work for HSBC, but they often reject applications if your stated income is less than £1750/month (£21k post-tax) as under normal circumstances you then wouldn't be able to meet the minimum pay in.

As for OP - as has been suggested, open an account with another bank and test them out for a bit - you might find you have similar problems if the transactions that are getting your Lloyds account blocked are also suspicious to your new bank. There is no need to actually switch (you can transfer payments, etc yourself manually) but a few accounts offer incentives to do so which might be worth your while.

Personally I'd recommend Nationwide as their FlexDirect pays 5% interest on up to £2500 for the first 12 months, and their 5% regular saver is great too. They don't seem to be as picky as HSBC or Barclays in terms of who they offer an account to, and their customer service in my experience is quite good. Their FlexAccount also doesn't need a minimum monthly pay in. [Text removed by Forum Team]