Millions of Lloyds customers will soon be locked out from using TSB branches or face £5-a-time fee

Millions of loyal Lloyds TSB customers will soon find themselves locked out of the bank branches they have used for years.
Many face having to stump up extra charges or wait days for their money to arrive in their accounts.
Over the coming months, 632 former Lloyds TSB branches, along with five million customers, will be shunted into a new bank called TSB to comply with a European Commission ruling.

Irritating: Lloyds customers will soon have to face waiting days for their cash to arrive in their bank accounts if they deposit in a TSB branch

The shake-up means people who remain Lloyds customers, but whose local branch becomes a TSB, face being forced to travel miles to do their banking.
They will also be hit with a £5-a-time fee if they pay in cash or reduce their credit card balances at the old branch, and will be banned from paying cheques into TSB branches.
Experts fear some Lloyds customers have no idea about the changes. Derek French, of the Campaign for Community Banking, says: ‘Many people probably haven’t realised what’s happening yet, but when it dawns on them it could turn into a very serious problem.

 

‘It is going to be very inconvenient for people — especially for those in areas where there is no other Lloyds TSB branch nearby.’
After the shake-up, Lloyds customers who want to make a deposit in their Lloyds account using a TSB branch will now have to wait days for their cash to arrive — meaning they face losing out on interest. Previously, the money arrived on the same day.
Credit card holders will also face delays, increasing the risk of penalty charges. Lloyds TSB customers who use TSB cash machines will also be barred from checking balances, receiving statements, making bill payments or paying in cash as they could previously.
A spokesman for TSB says Lloyds customers should use internet banking instead and that Lloyds will still have 1,300 branches.
He says: ‘While we are really sorry some customers may be inconvenienced if their local branch is transferred to TSB, Lloyds will still have one of the largest branch networks of any High Street bank. For most customers, there will be a Lloyds in the vicinity.’
More than 1,200 towns and large villages in the UK have been left without a bank, and 900 have just one branch remaining, according to a recent report by the Campaign For Community Banking.
Last year alone 288 bank branches shut as banks continued to push customers online to save cash or to counter services at the likes of the Post Office.
In many areas the closures have sparked protests from disgruntled customers and business account holders who face long journeys to do their banking.