Lloyds Banking Group will discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the end of the year, as reported. Invoice factoring involves a business selling its outstanding invoices to another company at a discounted value in exchange for immediate cash flow. The purchasing company then assumes responsibility for collecting the full payment.
According to reports, Lloyds has been buying unpaid invoices from small businesses, but this service will cease this week. The Mirror reached out to Lloyds Banking Group, which encompasses Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, for a statement. The Financial Times (FT) highlighted that NatWest and Barclays closed their factoring services some years ago, and HSBC has recently tightened its eligibility criteria for the service.
In other developments, Lloyds has implemented significant changes this year. They have discontinued the option for customers to deposit cheques using pay-in slips, now requiring the use of a debit card and PIN for deposits. Additionally, customers can no longer deposit cheques at local Post Offices, necessitating visits to Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branches, or utilizing mobile banking for cheque deposits.
Lloyds has also raised the monthly fee for its Club Lloyds packaged bank account from £3 to £5, although this fee is waived for customers depositing £2,000 or more monthly. The Club Lloyds account offers various lifestyle benefits, including a choice of perks like a Disney+ subscription, cinema tickets, or discounts on food and drinks. The account also provides access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver and up to 15% cashback at select retailers.
Customers opting for the Club Lloyds Silver or Club Lloyds Platinum accounts will incur additional charges of £11.50 and £22.50 per month, respectively. On a positive note, Lloyds has eliminated debit card foreign currency fees, provided the transaction is made in the local currency.
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