Lloyds Bank joint account switch almost impossible.

Cloudberry55

My husband and I tried to switch to Lloyds so I opened platinum account in my name and in order to change to a joint account, we had to attend an interview in person at the bank.  We went yesterday.  The interview started 20 minutes late and then we were informed the meeting would be over an hour and would include three videos, one of which on insurance would be 30 minutes long.  Banking procedure apparently.  We endured the first video which was patronising and didn’t inform us of anything we didn’t already know about banking.  We decided that life is too short to sit and watch videos telling us information that we could read and sign at home in advance so we left.  There should be information on the website saying that this switch is not easy (nigh impossible) for a joint account. Has anyone been able to open a joint account easily with Lloyds bank?

AmityNeon

It's their procedure. You may not like it, but it doesn't mean opening a joint account with Lloyds is almost impossible. I (we) sat through the appointment, got the account opened, and received the switch bonus and ongoing account benefits accordingly.

Rob5342

What a ridiculous and archaic thing to have to go through just to open a bank account. We've opened joint accounts with Monzo and Santander recently and they each took about 10 minutes on the app and website repectively.

Cloudberry55

Yes archaic. Totally unnecessary to waste 5 hours of our combined lives. I already had an account so why was the meeting and videos necessary ? Life’s too short.

J63320

In a few years’ time they’ll have to stop doing this because there will be no more branches left!

AmityNeon

Cloudberry55 said:

Yes archaic. Totally unnecessary to waste 5 hours of our combined lives. I already had an account so why was the meeting and videos necessary ? Life’s too short.

You already travelled there, waited and travelled back. You were literally in the middle of the appointment but decided to leave. Did you at least manage to open the joint account and complete the switch at the end of it all? If not, then indeed it was a complete waste of your time and efforts.

I do understand complaining about it makes you feel better though.

Middle_of_the_Road

Cloudberry55 said:

Yes archaic. Totally unnecessary to waste 5 hours of our combined lives. I already had an account so why was the meeting and videos necessary ? Life’s too short.

Depends on how one views the event. Some might be impressed with this level of personal service which is now all to rare. 

I understand your frustration though, if it was too time consuming, or the branch was not local due to closures. 

I still have a local branch, which I try to visit occasionally, and if tea and biscuits were involved, I would have happily indulged.

Middle_of_the_Road

Cloudberry55 said:

.. we were informed the meeting would be over an hour and would include three videos, one of which on insurance would be 30 minutes long.  

Could be just an extension of the "Club Lloyds free cinema ticket" package.

Cloudberry55

J63320 said:

In a few years’ time they’ll have to stop doing this because there will be no more branches left!

The branch was quite busy yesterday which was good to see.  But when we left we wondered if it was just a matter of giving one of the staff something to do. But really utter waste of resources. 

Rob5342

Cloudberry55 said:

J63320 said:

In a few years’ time they’ll have to stop doing this because there will be no more branches left!

The branch was quite busy yesterday which was good to see.  But when we left we wondered if it was just a matter of giving one of the staff something to do. But really utter waste of resources. 

It's probably because they are stuck in the dark ages and haven't updated their systems. Monzo, Starling, Santander, Natwest, HSBC and Nationwide all let you open joint accounts online or by phone, we were going to open a joint account with Halifax but went with Santander instead because Halifax needed a branch visit.