I'm caught in a banking Catch 22

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

I have been a Lloyds TSB customer for many years and have a Classic Plus current account which pays an enhanced interest rate but requires a minimum deposit of £1,000 each month.

credit cards gripped in a vice

Trapped: I'm losing out on interest because of Lloyds TSB's inflexibility on pay dates

Like many thousands of NHS staff I am paid on the 1st of each month or the last previous banking day if the 1st falls on a non-banking day. Four such days occurred in 2008 and five will occur in 2009.

As Lloyds and other banks run their accounts on a calendar month starting on 1st then all customers who work for the NHS like me will be penalised.

For example, instead of being paid £5.50 interest for November I received 17p. Is this a good way to treat loyal customers? B.W., Sutton Coldfield, City of Birmingham

Simon Moon from This is Money replies: What rankles here is not the sums of money involved but the inflexibility of the bank.

I despair at the number of times people like you come up against the 'can't do' attitude displayed by large financial institutions. Despite everything that has happened, their arrogance remains undimmed.

As you say in your email: 'The banks are struggling at this time and they are fighting for all the customers and deposits they can get but the old practices which undermine customer satisfaction and fairness still apparently remain.'

Here, for what it's worth, is Lloyds' explanation for short-changing you and many others like you: 'To receive the enhanced rate of interest on our Classic Plus account customers are required to pay in £1,000 per calendar month. As the vast majority of people are paid at the end of the month, it is rare for a customer paying in a monthly salary over of £1,000 not to meet this condition.

'Unfortunately as this is an automated system we are not able to modify the way we calculate the interest to take into account individual customers' pay cycles.'

In other words, it's not their fault – it's the computer. That laughable excuse is so old they must have had to sweep the cobwebs off it.

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