Lloyds TSB and their obscure rules to stop you getting your credit card bonus

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• vindaloo says:

  3 Jul3 July 08:46

  Interested that the ombudsman has ruled in favour of Lloyds TSB. Raffles: was that someone you know or was it in the media? I have just taken a dispute with MBNA (over the bmi credit cards) to the ombudsman and am awaiting their verdict, but I’m less optimistic having read this.

  • Rob says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:49

    It was someone who emailed me directly

• Simon says:

  3 Jul3 July 09:16

  It took me 4 phone calls to Lloyds until I finally spoke to someone who could tell me what my dates were for the £500 spend a month, the person I spoke to told me it was the calculated based on my statement dates, he even checked with a colleague who said the same thing!

  Anyone getting this card allow plenty of time for Lloyd’s to post the transaction to your account, £50 worth of 3V cards I bought on Thursday last week at Tesco only appeared when I logged into my account on Tuesday morning.

• Sarah says:

  3 Jul3 July 09:27

  Just applying for the card was a nightmare. I had to visit a branch to confirm my identity. The paperwork was then lost in their internal mail system (apparently a frequent occurrence) so I had to go through the whole rigmarole again. Trying to access on-line banking has been a complete pain – they had better give me my bonus avios or I will be completely ticked off with them. The whole process has certainly put me off ever wanting to bank with them.

• Ian says:

  3 Jul3 July 09:31

  I had exactly the same problem a few months back (caught the tail end of the 18,000 avios voucher incentive).

  Took me ages to speak to someone who could clarify my start dates and the rules. Eventually got told the 6th of the month was my deadline – and this was the day before.

  They also told me it’s not when the transaction was made that counts, it’s when it shows up on your statement. So even if I had gone out on the 5th and spent the remainder of my £500 for that month, it wouldn’t have shown up for a few days, so wouldn’t have counted.

  HOWEVER……

  What I did was complain to Lloyds TSB on twitter about the rules being unclear and how it was unfair. Someone replied asking me to DM my phone number and postcode and someone from customer relations would be in touch.

  I was then called, and explained my complaint in more detail. They apologised, said they would look at making the conditions for the bonus more clear, and offered me £50 credit onto my card.

  Definitely helped soften the blow. Definitely worth trying if you’re in a similar situation.

  PS. Love the site. Keep up the good work!

• Kathy says:

  3 Jul3 July 09:38

  I’ve had the basic Lloyds Duo card for years, and so naturally missed out on the promo that earnt Raffles over a million Avios. I am wondering, though, about cancelling the basic cards I have after I apply for the Starwood PG this month and then applying for the fee Lloyds card at some point in the future when a good sign-up bonus comes around. Does anyone know if that will be possible? I understand that Lloyds TSB cards only generally allow you to claim one bonus offer, so you can’t churn them, but does that apply if you’ve had any Lloyds card, not just the type you’re applying for?

  • Wozza2404 says:

    3 Jul3 July 09:47

    Some people slipped through the net on the last promo, but a lot of people were told they weren’t eligible as they’d previously held a LTSB credit card. Even if it was over 5 years ago some people were being refused.

    • Kathy says:

      3 Jul3 July 13:23

      Hmm, thanks, I’ll bear that in mind then.

• The Lady says:

  3 Jul3 July 10:46

  If others have had problems getting the bonus because LTSB could not tell you the date on which you were approved, it’s worth others making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman:

  http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

  Although the original complaint was apparently upheld, we do not know the precise circumstances of that scenario, nor the reasons for denying the complaint. The more people who complain, the more they will have to make transparent what the T&Cs actually are.

• Zoe says:

  3 Jul3 July 11:36

  I’m pretty sure any complaint that exhausts Lloyds complaints procedure and goes to the ombudsman means Lloyds incur a charge of several hundred pounds from the ombudsman, so eventually they might get the message.

  • Louie says:

    3 Jul3 July 13:32

    Hubby took Lloyds to the Ombudsman over the dates for their offer last year (the one Raffles earned 1m+ Avios from), having asked Avios twice in writing for the relevant dates and been told they couldn’t tell him, despite them having told me the relevant dates when I applied a couple of months earlier. He thus relied on what I was told but Lloyds refused to award Avios for a fairly large foreign transaction on the last (as we believed it was) day. The interim finding from the Ombudsman was that as long as their T&Cs show the offer runs from the date of acceptance, it doesn’t matter that they wouldn’t tell him what date that was, and that it’s not OK to rely on information provided to someone else in identical circumstances which may have been wrong. He has appealed, but I have to say I am disappointed with the service the Ombudsman has provided so far.
    The daftest thing from Lloyds point of view though is that, as Zoe comments, they get charged £500 each time someone complains to the Ombudsman. That alone, never mind their costs in terms of staff time and the damage to their reputation, means it would have been cheaper just to pay up gracefully. What a way to run a business.
    So I too would encourage those who can to take Lloyds to the Ombudsman. It takes no time to fill in the forms and if nothing else, you can comfort yourself you’ve just cost Lloyds £500!

• gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

  3 Jul3 July 16:37

  This was the only HFP message that has fallen foul of my junk mail filter! I guess Raffles’s anger was too much for Outlook to take.

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