Lloyds Banking Group is planning to get rid of 3.1 million passbook accounts in a bid to reduce the number of counter transactions. 2.6 million of those passbook accounts are held by Halifax customers. Lloyds will be writing to customers from 30th October 2023 telling them that their passbook accounts will be phased out. Customers will be given 2 months’ notice of the change.
The Halifax Saving Passbook accounts that are being withdrawn include Monthly Saver, Liquid Gold, Saver Reward, Extra Income Saver, Bonus Gold, 60 Day Gold, Passbook Saver, Save4it and Variable ISA Saver. Those passbook accounts will be replaced by the Instant Saver, Instant ISA Saver and the Kids’ Saver accounts all of which offer mobile banking and ATM cards.
The Lloyds and Bank of Scotland Saving Passbook accounts that are being withdrawn are Instant Gold, Flexible Savings, Service Account, Saver Reward, Liquid Gold, Bonus Gold, 60 Day Gold, Extra Income Save and Monthly Saver. Those accounts will be replaced with Flexible Savings Account, Service Account, Instant Access Savings Account, ISA Save and Children’s Saver.
Closing Branches, Stupid
The Bank will try to justify its actions to staff and customers on the grounds of improving customer service but we know that’s a lie. It’s about stopping pesky customers from going into branches to pay money into or withdraw money from their passbook accounts. And when the customer footfall drops, which it will, Lloyds will use that as an excuse to close hundreds more branches across the network in 2024. It’s all part of the Group’s ‘Banking Made Easy’ strategy of getting rid of customer transactions by forcing customers down the digital/self-serve channels. And the sickening thing in all of this is that branch staff, many of whom will lose their jobs or be forced to work in telephony roles, are being given the task of persuading passbook holders it’s a good thing. The irony will strike many members with the force of a cartoon anvil to quote J.K. Rowling.
Members with any questions on this Newsletter should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868 (choose Option 1).
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