Lloyds TSB Internet Banking

Lloyds TSB Internet Banking could be greatly improved.

Lloyds TSB internet banking - overview

Lloyds TSB internet banking provides the usual features found with internet banking. These include:

• Internet access to bank statements.
• Internet payment of bills.
• Internet management of direct debits and standing orders.

Lloyds TSB internet banking also offers:

• An online banking guarantee. Lloyds TSB guarantees to refund money lost through Lloyd TSB internet banking fraud if you have been careful.
• Overseas transaction alerts - a useful check for fraudulent use of your Lloyds TSB bank account.
• Balance alerts - a weekly text with details of your balance and recent transactions.
• Online savings accounts, credit cards, overdraft, or personal loan.
• No commission on money for travel.
• Curtailment of paper statements to help save trees.

The easiest way to register for free Lloyds TSB Internet banking is online.

Lloyds TSB internet banking - problems

The Lloyds TSB internet banking system is very straightforward to use, but it has some problems, including:

• You cannot easily delete old accounts that you no longer use. You have to go into a Lloyds TSB branch and sign a piece of paper, thereby defeating the main advantage of an internet account - convenience. Convenience is the main selling point of an internet account, and until Lloyds TSB internet banking becomes more convenient to use, Lloyds TSB may lose customers.
• You are not explicitly shown the date at which an account was opened, when the account will mature, or when bonus rates will no longer apply. That is, the Lloyds TSB internet account details are not geared towards keeping you informed about the best interest rates available. Are Lloyds TSB hoping that you will not notice when your Lloyds TSB internet account loses its good interest rates?
• The interest rates are not shown with your account details & statements. You can find out the current interest rates applying to Lloyds TSB internet accounts, after a few disorienting clicks & searches, but you cannot see the rates that actually apply to the Lloyds TSB internet account that you already have - rates change and the rates currently on offer may be different. So, unless you have a photographic memory, you should jot down (i) the date you opened the account, (ii) interest rates that apply, and (iii) anything else pertinent to the existence of the account. Of course, this is all very onerous, and few people will do it. Again: Are Lloyds TSB trying to hide details so that you allow your account to slip into a low interest regime?  
• Transferring ISAs is very difficult, even if your old and new ISA accounts are both with Lloyds TSB! Recently I had an old ISA running and decided to open a new ISA, hoping to transfer the old ISA into the new one at a later date. Transferring money from a Lloyds current account to a new ISA account is transparent and instantaneous, and so I thought transferring from an old to a new ISA account would be equally easy. It wasn't! I ended up, after several phone calls, having to write a letter(!) to the Lloyds TSB ISA accounts department asking for the transfer to be made. Even then it took several weeks, and more phone calls, before anything happened. I was, rather bluntly, told that I shouldn't have opened a new ISA in that (obvious!) way, but I should have initially talked to the advisors at my branch, and everything would have gone more smoothly. Lloyds TSB did not admit they were at fault because of their clutzy internet system, and something as simple as this should go smoothly whatever approach the customer takes, barring putting a shoe through the screen...

So Lloyds TSB internet banking has a long way to go before all the problems are ironed out. 

• Internet banking should make every possible transaction, automatic, transparent and convenient.
• Internet accounts should reveal all pertinent information to the account holder with the minimum of fuss, and it should be up to date!