Lloyds Banking Group is set to discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the end of this year, as reported. Invoice factoring involves a business selling its outstanding invoices to another company at a discounted rate in exchange for immediate cash flow, with the purchasing company taking over the collection of payments.
According to reports, Lloyds has decided to cease purchasing unpaid invoices from small businesses this week. The Mirror reached out to Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, for comments on this decision.
The Financial Times revealed that NatWest and Barclays shut down their factoring services some years ago, and HSBC has recently tightened its eligibility criteria for such services.
In other news, Lloyds has implemented several significant changes this year. Customers can no longer deposit cheques using pay-in slips but must now use their debit card and enter their PIN for deposits. Additionally, the option to deposit cheques at local Post Offices has been eliminated, requiring customers to visit Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branches or use mobile banking for cheque deposits.
Moreover, Lloyds has raised the monthly fee for its Club Lloyds packaged bank account from £3 to £5, although the fee is waived if customers deposit £2,000 or more each month. The Club Lloyds account offers various benefits, including a yearly lifestyle benefit selection such as a Disney+ subscription, cinema tickets, magazine subscription, or discounts on food and drink brands, along with access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver and cashback at selected retailers.
For Silver and Platinum Club Lloyds accounts, customers pay additional monthly fees of £11.50 and £22.50, respectively. On a positive note, Lloyds has eliminated debit card foreign currency fees when transactions are made in the local currency, though charges may still apply when opting to pay in pound sterling.