Lloyds TSB’s annual credit card charge
February 23, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
People with a Lloyds TSB credit card that they do not use regularly face being charged for the pleasure of owning one.
It is the first sign that banks may be seeking to recoup the money they are likely to lose as a result of pressure to cut penalty charges, as predicted by research firm Defaqto this week.
The bank has announced that people who do not use their credit cards will be hit with an annual charge of £35.
However, Lloyds has failed to reveal what they define as low-usage, meaning many people may find themselves in a state of limbo.
People who have a card but do not use it at all have been told in no uncertain terms that they will be charged and are being advised to cancel the card and destroy it.
“It costs the bank money to issue cards to customers who are not using them. This is intended to get them to start to do so,” a spokesperson from the bank told the Guardian.
In a bid to tempt consumers into using their cards more often, Lloyds is offering zero per cent interest on all purchases until May this year.
Earlier this week Defaqto’s head of banking, David Black, said that he would be “very surprised” if free banking was still available in the UK in two years time.
“The first major provider to introduce charges for all customers is going to take a lot of flak but it is likely that the majority of the main providers will then follow the lead,” he said.
If you have an unused credit card with Lloyds TSB make sure that you cancel it and, for security reasons, cut it up before throwing it away.
