Lloyds Banking Group plans to discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the end of the 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 assuming responsibility for collecting the full payment.
According to reports, Lloyds is ceasing the practice of purchasing unpaid invoices from small businesses this week, following in the footsteps of NatWest and Barclays, which exited the factoring business years ago. Additionally, HSBC has recently tightened its eligibility criteria for similar services.
In other updates from Lloyds this year, the banking group now requires customers to deposit cheques using their debit card and PIN instead of traditional pay-in slips. Furthermore, Lloyds has eliminated the option for customers to deposit cheques at local Post Offices, necessitating visits to Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branches, or utilizing mobile banking for cheque deposits.
Lloyds has also 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 monthly. Club Lloyds offers various benefits, including one lifestyle perk annually, such as a Disney+ subscription, cinema tickets, a magazine subscription, or discounts on selected food and drink brands. Additionally, account holders have access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver and can earn up to 15% cashback at specific retailers. The increased monthly fee also applies to Club Lloyds Silver and Club Lloyds Platinum accounts, with additional charges for these premium account tiers.
On a positive note, Lloyds has eliminated debit card foreign currency fees for transactions made in the local currency, though fees may still apply if transactions are made in pound sterling.