Lloyds Trustcard customers only have weeks to spend their points ahead of reward shake-up - MSE News

jonesMUFCforever

Just found this old closed thread about the Trustcard thread from 2006 - seems to me the points system is the same ie a discount.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/235618/tsb-trustcard-points

Ben8282

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Just found this old closed thread about the Trustcard thread from 2006 - seems to me the points system is the same ie a discount.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/235618/tsb-trustcard-points

Yes it is and the basis for complaint appears to be that those who have hoarded points for decades now have to spend money in order to receive the discount. They cannot understand that 10% discount on 0 spend = 0. They appear to fail to comprehend this obvious fact and accuse Lloyds of forcing them to spend the money and for unfathomable reasons seem to believe that Lloyds will in some way profit from this because they refer to having to pay this money to Lloyds when obviouslty it will be paid to the retailer.

delboyo

Ben8282

" ……. they refer to having to pay this money to Lloyds when obviously it will be paid to the retailer."

How many more times before it penetrates.

If you are correct then why are Lloyds are asking people to PAY 90% of any transaction TO THEM and NOT the retailers??

Ben8282

It would therefore appear that Lloyds are offering you the opportunity to buy vouchers at a 10% discount rather than providing a voucher which offers a 10% discount. Same thing really. Either way, you would still have to pay the additional 90% at some point.

delboyo

!!!!!!.

What planet are you on ? I would happily pay the retailer directly if I had my 10% discount from Lloyds as well.

That's the problem - the money HAS to be paid to Lloyds first who will then take up to two weeks to send any vouchers. Multiply that by several thousand people and it mounts up to a lot of money earning interest IN LLOYDS own coffers, put on overnight deposit on the FX no doubt.

Puffer

delboyo wrote: »

!!!!!!.

What planet are you on ? I would happily pay the retailer directly if I had my 10% discount from Lloyds as well.

That's the problem - the money HAS to be paid to Lloyds first who will then take up to two weeks to send any vouchers. Multiply that by several thousand people and it mounts up to a lot of money earning interest IN LLOYDS own coffers, put on overnight deposit on the FX no doubt.

Lloyds has bought the vouchers from the retailers in bulk at a discounted price, most (or maybe all) of which is passed on to its grateful cardholders. In practice, a phone order for the vouchers produces them in the post within 3 - 4 days - as I know from many purchases over the years.

Whatever price or credit Lloyds gets when buying the vouchers, it quite likely holds most of them as paid-for stock until re-sold to its cardholders, at which point it charges their credit cards. So, cardholders get the benefit of whatever credit period is on their account (up to almost 2 months) before having to part with cash. And, if bought and used sensibly, the vouchers are likely to have been spent in buying goods before any cash goes out.

I can't see what is objectionable about the scheme, and I don't grudge Lloyds a small profit on the vouchers if it buys them in for less than the 90% of face value I pay.

happyandcontented

Ben8282 wrote: »

Well not lies exactly. But first you calimed to have been a Lloyds credit card customer for over 40 years then when it was pointed out that you would not have opened the account as a Trustcard account you said you had been a TSB customer prior to 1999 so it must have been a Trustcard then you advised that it had been swapped to a different type of card without your knowledge or consent meaning that when one day you received a Platinum Mastercard or whatever product you now have instead of the Visa Trustcard you didn;t notice and didn't read any correspondence and never noticed that your statements never made any reference to your points any more and never once in all that time wondered what had happened to your points or thought even once about redeeming them....

So if you had say a BA Amex to collect Avious and at renewal you received an Amex Nectar card to collect Nectar points without notice or consulatation, you would consider that acceptable, not even notice it and just carry on using it then several yars later complain about it and ask where your Avios were?

Yes, because I don't use points full stop. I have a Nectar card with probably loads of points on it but I have never used them.

My credit card from Lloyds changed its name but I never gave it a second thought. Banks changed names and cards changed accordingly. I can only say that I had a Trustcard for years, and years and I never asked for the change to my current Platinum card or formally agreed to it, except by the default of not querying it.

You are an argumentative little soul aren't you?:rotfl:

delboyo

I have just been informed by one of Lloyds (lack of) Customer Service team that they are now offering a 12% discount instead of 10%. Also they should have given people 6 months notice of the change to the scheme! Nothing else mind you. Not even to convert my points to the new scheme at half the previous value. Oh and I have lost all the points accumulated to September 2015.
Again, no explanation as to why I would have to hand over to Lloyds, in cash, 90% (or now 88%) of the value of any purchase I may have wished to make. "That's how the scheme works". Still tantamount to theft in my book.

PriceyUK

After reading an article on MSE suggesting that it might be worth making a complaint about this points issue if unhappy, I did just that, by clicking through to an online form on the Lloyds website. The reason I complained as it felt very unfair to make such a big change with so little notice. This was in the first week of December.

I've had two letters since, one saying my complaint is being investigated, then another this week, apologising for the amount of time it's taking to get back to me.

Today I had a call from the bank about the complaint. After the security check, I was asked to summarise my concerns, which I did (unfair...seems short notice... loyal customer since the 80s, card since 1991, etc). The man sympathised, said he understood my frustrations, confirmed that others had complained too, started explaining that the scheme cannot be extended due to agreements with retailers coming to an end and so on, also mentioning that the scheme has terms and conditions, once of which is that Lloyds reserve the right to cancel the scheme.

Starting to think I was about to be told "tough!", I got ready for the call to come to an end. However, what happened next surprised me...

"There are terms and conditions, you see. And one of the terms is that if we wish to end the scheme, we need to give you six months' notice. Which we haven't done." A series of grovelling apologies started, with the man saying I had been "let down" and that it "isn't good enough" and that "we really need to do better"..."the letters only went out in October, which was too late".

I was listening again. He went on to stress that nothing can be done about the scheme ending... as "the wheels have been set in motion". He confirmed that I'd alread lost thousands of points and that the few hundred I had remaining would go too on Jan 25th if they're not used before then. But...

...he said that any purchases made between 25/1 and 25/4 would earn 12.5% cashback.

Me? I shall be putting everything I spend... everything...on the Trustcard for those three months. And I've got an expensive few months. Result.

You? Tell them you're not happy!

Good luck.

Aurora12

Many thanks for your update, PriceyUK!
It's really poor that Lloyds customers, who happen to subscribe to this site, find out such information here - I've certainly heard NOTHING more from Lloyds themselves.
When I chasd them up (on 18/12/19) after NOT receiving an update around 9/12/19 (as they advised we would!), they insisted their latest update letter was dated 10/12/19 but they couldn't say when it went out! NOT received by me either way! They admitted the content was just another brief letter saying "they were still looking at the issue".
So, in summary, you'v now received VERBAL statements saying:-
a) Changes to their T&C's require them to give customers SIX months notice - I'd still question this
since their written terms clearly state TWO months.
b) That, instead of halving the value of the new "cashback scheme" points w.e.f. 25/1/20 [from 1% to
0.5%], INSTEAD, they are STILL offering a FURTHER 3 months worth of discounts - but at 12.5%
instead of 10%.
Somehow, that doesn't sound correct - when they've confirmed to you "that nothing can be done
about the scheme ending... as "the wheels have been set in motion".
It's unacceptable that they've ignored their customers and NOT notified the rest of us what their proposals are!
IF they are actually offering 12.5% CASHBACK [instead of 0.5%] w.e.f. 25/1/20 - BUT only for 3 mths. of FUTURE purchases, that simply DOESN'T address the status quo re: our already earned points for the last 4 yrs. which will ALL be lost in 18 days!
My apologies if I've misinterpreted your comments - I'm now confused and continue to be ignored by Lloyds. Will they even talk to us BEFORE 24/1/20???