Credit Card Charges – Aren’t those banks lovely people?

Published on 24 February 2007 in , ,

There’s an article on BBC News Online about the decision by Lloyds TSB to impose a £35 annual charge on credit cards account holders who don’t use their cards.

I was interested in that because, by coincidence, I had a Lloyds TSB card I didn’t use, and on Wednesday night had printed out a letter asking for the account to be closed.

I was rather annoyed to have the card at all. I was previously with Accucard which I used occasionally because of their cashback. However Lloyds TSB closed Accucard down and moved me onto a Platinum card with them, which had no cashback. I would like to have closed the account there and then. Just one problem. I had outstanding cashback, and the only way to get it was to have it transferred on to a new card I had no intention of using, but had to use once just to get what I’d earned.

Hence the cards sat around my house for months on end until I could finally be bothered to sort it out.

For Lloyds TSB this looks like the beginning of a backlash against customers thanks to credit cards and banks being told many of their charges are frankly illegal. Although I find it hard to believe that the cost of them “maintaining” a credit card that isn’t used, is anywhere near £35 per annum which suggests more blatant profiteering from our glorious financial institutions.

And I also wait for the news of what is bound to come next… Charging people for the “benefit” of paying their bill off all in one go… After all such people can’t make much of a profit for our cash strapped banks, can they?