Lloyds Banking Group will discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the year’s end. Invoice factoring involves a business selling its outstanding invoices to another company at a discounted rate in exchange for immediate funds, with the purchasing company taking charge of collecting the full payment.
According to reports, Lloyds currently buys unpaid invoices from small businesses, but this service will cease this week. Other banks like NatWest and Barclays ended their factoring services a few years ago, while HSBC has recently tightened its service criteria.
In addition to this change, Lloyds has implemented several other significant adjustments this year. Customers can no longer deposit cheques using pay-in slips; instead, they must now use their debit card and PIN for deposits. Furthermore, the option to deposit cheques at local post offices has been completely eliminated, requiring customers to visit Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branches or resort to mobile banking for cheque deposits.
Moreover, Lloyds has raised the monthly fee for its Club Lloyds packaged bank account from £3 to £5, albeit waived if customers deposit £2,000 or more monthly. The Club Lloyds account offers various lifestyle benefits, including a choice between a Disney+ subscription, cinema tickets, a magazine subscription, or discounts on selected food and drink brands. Additional perks include access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver and up to 15% cashback at specific retailers. Different fee structures apply for Club Lloyds Silver and Club Lloyds Platinum accounts, with additional charges of £11.50 and £22.50 per month, respectively.
On a positive note, Lloyds has eliminated debit card foreign currency fees when paying in the local currency, although fees may still apply if opting to pay in pound sterling.
