I would like to begin by pointing out that I have had a Lloyds account since 14/11/1996; opened when I was 14 with the princely sum of £5. In all that time, I’ve mostly been very satisfied. What's more, the bank has merged with TSB, offering more cashpoints, introduced internet banking, etc, etc.
When I first opened the account, it was a special account for young people, known as a ‘Headway’ account and paying between 1% and 2.15 % interest (depending on how much was in it). After my 16th birthday, it automatically transferred to another account (simply called ‘bank account’ on my statements) and earned 4% interest if above £250 but only 0.3% for amounts below that! The transition though was smooth and didn’t bother me.
There were the usual minor changes from time to time and in July 2000 my account again changed, to an under 19s account. Again, this was a simple automatic change; that didn’t alter the way I was able to use the bank. The problems for me began that summer though when I had to set up a student account for my impending time at university.
I should say here that I then had two bank accounts, my Lloyds one and another ‘Further Education’ (i.e. sixth form) one at Barclays. Obviously you’re allowed as many bank accounts as you like, but only one student one (as they come with special benefits); although I do know people who’ve managed to open several!
After looking around at what was on offer
(including consulting my dad’s Which?; I wasn’t on Ciao then!) I decided Lloyds was the best choice – I didn’t want another account, so I thought I’d convert one of my existing ones, and Lloyds offered a high free overdraft and competitive services and other facilities.
With this decided, I went in to town after results to pay a visit to my local bank and arrange things. It shouldn’t have been too difficult, and I took with me a huge wad of paper. (Anyone who’s been through UCAS will know just how many bits of paper you collect – prospectuses, offer letters, rejections, course info, results slips, as well as the bank details and student offers; and you don’t like to throw any out until you’ve finished and know you won’t need them again).
Everything seemed to go well in the branch – I was seen relatively quickly (i.e. after a 5 minute wait) by someone who dealt with opening accounts. They sat me down in their office and explained a few things about student accounts, checking that I knew, for example, that I was only able to have one. They were very helpful filling out the form – taking my details off the computer and I only really had to answer a few questions and sign.
Before the account could be opened they just needed a few details – such as copies of my student loan assessment and offer letter (remember this!) Again the lady I saw was very helpful, as I rooted through my folder, she saw the papers and saying ‘they’re the ones’ took them and even photocopied them for me (saving time and money).
The application was sent off and I expected to hear back in a few weeks. In the meantime, I actually had a letter from Barclays; who’d actually made it even easier! The letter explained my account was due to expire and the three options open to me (depending on whether I was going to university, starting work or taking a gap year). There were three reply slips enclosed with my details pre-printed, all I had to do was date and sign the appropriate one and return it. Having already sorted my student account (or so I thought) I was forced to take out a regular current account with Barclays though.
Soon after I declined this offer, however, I had my application back from Lloyds, it had been rejected due to a problem. Looking through the form I couldn’t find what this was, until I checked the photocopies. As requested copies of my loan assessment and offer letter had been sent; but these weren’t actually what they wanted!
Apparently, although they asked for an offer letter (i.e. UCAS AS3 I supposed – the one marked ‘offer letter’ and the one the lady took) it wasn’t good enough. In fact, because this was only conditional, they needed the UCAS AS12 (i.e. ‘confirmation letter’) so I had to copy this and re-submit my application.
Granted this may sound fairly trivial, but it really annoyed me – not only had the paperwork been wrong (in my opinion it clearly asked for the wrong thing at a time when I had enough to sort out) but even the seemingly very helpful lady in the branch hadn’t got my application right! How did they expect so many students to manage this, on top of everything else?
The problem wasn’t just my account, you see, but the delay had knock on effects. Anyone who’s gone to university knows how much there is to organise, and this was just one more hassle I didn’t need – meaning, for example, I couldn’t pay my student loan into that account (and had to arrange it with Barclays).
I’ll admit that generally the account’s been pretty good, and was always fine for years before this. This mistake just made me want to rant about it (and now I can thanks to Ciao :o) )
There have been one or two problems with the student account since:
1. I was automatically signed up for an Asset (credit) card, probably because I didn’t say I didn’t want one on the application (I know I should’ve checked). Knowing this was the way to more student debt, I cancelled it, which wasn’t too hard and was again dealt with by my branch before I left.
2. The local branch is now a bit of a problem. Obviously students tend to move about, so they won’t have one local branch, but I think it’d be best if their home and university branches could fill this role depending on the time of year. Unfortunately all student accounts are centrally administered from somewhere in Wales. Admittedly you can still use any branch for most matters, but it’s just another minor grumble.
3. Contact is also a bit of a problem. They offer a local rate number (0845 300 0134) but this isn’t that useful as the only phone I have at university is a mobile which costs too much. Their website has been revamped and is very useful for running the account, but can’t do everything and I haven’t had much luck emailing them (online@lloydstsb.co.uk) either.
4. The account doesn’t actually seem to pay any interest. Again this may have been hidden somewhere in the paperwork, but I was under the impression that the generous 3% I had previously enjoyed would continue. It was six months later before I had a statement confirming interest rates and found I hadn’t had any interest, even though the balance had been quite high at times (i.e. when I have my loan money at the start of terms!)
5. The most annoying problem though was a change of account number. Not only had I needed a new account number, sort code and cash card when the account was set up; but Lloyds recently changed all their account numbers (in the interests of standardisation). This change (the simple addition of a zero at the start) actually stopped my pay (from an Easter holiday job) arriving (around the end of April/start of May) but I didn’t have a letter about the change until June!
Like I said at the start, the account’s not all bad, which is why I didn’t want to put this in an op on Lloyds generally. Indeed, they’ve never queried the fact they don’t see my loan (it’s their fault; but when I considered moving to Barclays they said they’d need to know where my money was before approving an overdraft). Despite this, Lloyds still approved me a £1500 free overdraft (the largest I know of).
In view of this, I’m keeping my Lloyds TSB student account and would recommend it to a friend as it's no worse than other banks and does have a fairly generous student package (including £50 incentive this year I believe). As they don’t worry about where your money is, or pay you interest, I think I’ll make use of the overdraft and keep what money I have somewhere where it pays (warning though: don’t tie it up, if you’re a student you never know when you might need it and Lloyds can ask you to pay back your overdraft at any time)
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Sep 4th, 2001
(May 28th, 2002)
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