Lloyds, Halifax and MBNA account closure

lopsyfa

colsten wrote: »

What are you trying to prove with this thread? It merely says other people had their accounts closed and have not found out the reason for it. Well, at least they never returned to the thread to tell us that they found out what the reason was. I hope you will do as and if you do find out.

Did you read that thread? That person was able to successfully appeal that closure.

18cc

It must be very annoying - I certainly would be annoyed - but you may not find out the reason for the closures.

It may simply be they don't want your business. It used to be a bank account was where your salary was paid into, it had a few DDs for TVL and Council tax etc, and people paid for their shopping using their debit card or cheques.

Now many people have 'hubs' and send money back and forward to numerous banks to satisfy paying in requirements for switching rewards, regular savers etc and I would bet all banks regularly look at these accounts and wonder if they are worth having as customers. I would!

Good advice above to have accounts with different institutions and I would only add that if you can have a 'clean' account which you use in the old-fashioned way if I can use that terminology, and keep hubs and stuff well away from that account and institution.

18cc

I will briefly describe my setup in the hope it helps others:

1. I have a 'clean' Nationwide account - salary goes into here, all domestic DDS from here (C Tax, TVL, Utilities etc). Nothing else. This will never get closed!

2. Once a month I send the balance to Monzo. This is another 'clean' account - I use it for spending. I quite like the Monzo notifications and again nothing else touches this account.

Separate from these two I have my 'ring' of accounts used for switching bonuses etc. Barclays for Blue rewards, Santander for the Amazon switching deal, ditto HSBC etc etc. none of these are in any way connected to NWide or Monzo. If they get closed I don't care.

lopsyfa

Thanks 18cc, I will use similar setup going forward.

This thread needs a reset. The reason I make the post is not to look for advice actually. It is to help someone else in the future. I have seen numerous post about people going to Lloyds branch and being told nothing can be done and just accepting it and also people here advising you should just leave it alone, nothing can be done. I will just like to explore the procedure and find out why and maybe I can help someone else.

Also, my complaints to Lloyds is not about the closure, it is about information on the appeal procedure. If I had been told on the phone that just accept it, I will leave it alone. But it seems most manager in Lloyds are not aware of this procedure, I only pursue it because of the other thread I linked above was able to successfully appeal.

Whether I am successful or not, I will close all my accounts with Lloyds.

lopsyfa

colsten wrote: »

EDIT: I don't believe the reason for the closures is your use of the Club Lloyds as a hub. You aren't the only one who is shifting money between your accounts - I have been doing this for many years across Lloyds, BOS, Halifax, as well as TSB when they were still part of LBG. I have reduced the number of accounts I am holding with them over the last year or two, but for many years, I had 16 LBG current accounts, all of them used as savings/reward accounts, with the same amount of money going between them each month, plus numerous regular savings accounts, and never once had any problem with them. There are plenty of other people doing similar.

I reckon it's more likely to do with the amount of unsecured credit you have (2 Lloyds credit cards, two MBNA credit cards, 2 current accounts [-overdrafts?], a BMW Finance loan), and the apparent screw-up by BMW Finance. Your mortgage is secured on your house so that's not a big risk for the bank, but they might consider your unsecured loans as risks. You might not want to share how much you owe / what your credit limits are / what your track record for paying your CCs is, but LBG obviously do have that information and they might consider you as an undesirable risk. You are very unlikely to ever find out the real reason.

And I have been doing the same for years. Also, how do you know how much are on the cards. Does having 4 cards means I have high unsecured debt. The BMW issue occurred because I was overpaint the loan. Now I pay £25 a month because of the overpayment and the balloon will be paid in the next two months. Plus the BMW Finance is also secured on the car. I am sorry your contribution to this thread has been a bit unhelpful.

colsten

lopsyfa wrote: »

No I didn't request an upgrade. I had a Vantage Account and when that was withdrawn, the account was automatically upgraded ("renamed") to Club Lloyds.

I had 3 Vantage accounts, none of which was upgraded automatically, and for none of them Lloyds pro-actively offered me to upgrade them. Upgrades were possible upon request.

lopsyfa wrote: »

I retained the same sort code and account number. Not that it matters anyway, the account has been open since 2009 - that is the point I am trying to make.

That entirely different. Of course it is possible that an existing account was upgraded to a Club Lloyds. That doesn't mean you had a Club Lloyds since 2009.

lopsyfa wrote: »

I am sorry I don't want to waste time to argue what year my account was open with you. The year my account was opened has no effect on this particular complaints - just to highlight I was a long term customer. It also doesn't add to your credibility if you don't understand that an account before 2009 can be upgraded to Club Lloyds. If you want to pick at inaccuracies, pick something else.

I don't like your aggressive reaction. I was only trying to help but you can now find someone else as I am done with you.

Thrugelmir

lopsyfa wrote: »

The Lloyds account is the hub and the others only ever pay to the Lloyds and vice versa to meet minimum monthly payment.

To provide some clarity. How many bank accounts do you have?

If you are using the accounts to obtain incentives by moving the same monies around and around. Then understandable why LLoyds Banking Group has called time on your activities. Not illegal, but against the spirit in which they were intended. Why would any bank want a customer that costs them money. A business isn't a charity.

[Deleted User]

When a bank decides to shaft a customer in this manner, there must be some documentation within the bank, linked to the customer, and identifying the reason for the shafting. A SAR should surely flush this out. If it doesn't, then a report to the ICO would be in order, since the bank is obviously not providing all information they have about the customer. I'm glad to see the OP has served the bank with a SAR. I hope he gets back to us with some feedback about the SAR.

lopsyfa

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I think the OP is telling a lot of fibs here.
There is no way a customer who's accounts have been earmarked for closure would be told by the telephone people that branch managers do not know what they are doing and to go into branch to discuss.
The branch did not make the decision and was not party to the reason the accounts have been closed - indeed they gave good advice - telephone the number on the letter!

I am telling Fibs? Then explain to me why a senior manager on phone offered the £70 (which has been paid). The branch may not make the decision but the senior manager called said there is a process where I can provide explanation of whatever caused the issue. And I have read cases of this online. How can you just accuse someone of telling Fibs without any explanation and not knowing the full details?

lopsyfa

colsten wrote: »

I had 3 Vantage accounts, none of which was upgraded automatically, and for none of them Lloyds pro-actively offered me to upgrade them. Upgrades were possible upon request.

That entirely different. Of course it is possible that an existing account was upgraded to a Club Lloyds. That doesn't mean you had a Club Lloyds since 2009.

I don't like your aggressive reaction. I was only trying to help but you can now find someone else as I am done with you.

As I said I really don’t need your advice. I am just documenting my experience, I am not asking for advice. You started the aggressiveness by questioning my integrity because I said “I have had an account that I opened in 2009 since 2009”. You see the logic in that.