Lloyds Banking Group plans to discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the year’s end, as reported. Invoice factoring involves selling unpaid invoices to another entity at a discounted rate in exchange for immediate funds, with the purchasing company assuming responsibility for collecting the full payment.
According to sources, Lloyds currently acquires outstanding invoices from small enterprises, but this operation will cease shortly. The Mirror has reached out to Lloyds Banking Group, comprising Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, for further details.
Recent reports indicate that NatWest and Barclays shut down their factoring services a few years back, while HSBC has tightened its eligibility criteria for such services.
In other updates, Lloyds has implemented significant changes this year. Customers can no longer deposit cheques using pay-in slips; instead, they must utilize their debit cards and input their PIN for deposits. Additionally, the option to deposit cheques at local Post Offices has been eliminated, requiring customers to visit a Lloyds, Halifax, or Bank of Scotland branch or use mobile banking for cheque deposits.
Furthermore, Lloyds has raised the monthly fee for its Club Lloyds packaged bank account from £3 to £5, although this fee is waived if customers deposit £2,000 or more monthly. The Club Lloyds account provides various benefits, including a yearly lifestyle perk such as a Disney+ subscription, cinema tickets, magazine subscriptions, or discounts on select food and beverage brands. Moreover, account holders gain access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver and can earn up to 15% cashback at specific retailers. Additional fees apply for Club Lloyds Silver and Club Lloyds Platinum accounts.
Notably, Lloyds has eliminated foreign currency fees on debit card transactions in local currencies, potentially saving customers money on international transactions.
