Lloyds makes major new banking change affecting millions of customers | Personal Finance | Finance
Lloyds Bank has announced it will no longer allow customers to deposit cheques at the Post Office, in a major blow to a millions of its customers. Lloyds Banking Group – which also includes Halifax and Bank of Scotland – said its 28million customers will still be able to withdraw and deposit cash at Post Office branches and banking hubs.
Customers will also still be able to use Lloyds’ mobile app to scan cheques and pay money into their accounts. However, the change will mean that elderly or vulnerable customers who rely on in-person services will be forced to travel further to a bank branch or banking hub to pay in cheques. It also means that businesses will not be able to pay in their takings, and owners could be forced to travel to deposit them.
The bank renewed its commitment to the Banking Framework in December, which was introduced to safeguard customers’ access to cash.
A spokesperson said the decision was made in part because “very few people choose to deposit cheques at the Post Office”.
Banking hubs, run by the Post Office and funded by high-street banks, were designed to act as a safety net for isolated customers to access cash.
*** Ensure our latest news headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings. ***
The decision comes despite the bank announcing 95 more bank branch closures, in addition to 49 already earmarked to shut this year. Lloyds Banking Group has closed 1,470 sites in the past decade, according to consumer group Which? Under the latest round of closures, 53 Lloyds, 31 Halifax and 11 Bank of Scotland sites will shut between May this year and March 2027.
Currently, 40 of the UK’s 650 constituencies don’t have any branches, while 88 have only one left, according to data from Which?
Meanwhile, Nationwide Building Society has issued a statement about changes to its online services for its millions of customers. The group recently committed to keeping open all its high street outlets until at least 2030. However, a customer recently contacted Nationwide over social media as they were unable to activate transaction notifications. The building society responded that this was “a feature that our team are actively working on at the moment, and once it’s available, we’ll let you know via the app”.
