Lloyds Banking Group is set to discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the year’s end, as per reports. 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 sources, Lloyds will cease purchasing unpaid invoices from small businesses this week. The Mirror reached out to Lloyds Banking Group, encompassing Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, for further insights.
The Financial Times noted that NatWest and Barclays shuttered their factoring services a few years back, while HSBC has tightened its service criteria. Lloyds has undergone significant changes this year, including requiring customers to use their debit card and PIN for cheque deposits instead of pay-in slips. Additionally, the option to deposit cheques at Post Offices has been eliminated, necessitating visits to specific branches or mobile banking for such transactions.
Moreover, Lloyds has 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, such as a yearly lifestyle benefit choice, access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver, and cashback at selected retailers. Different tiers like Club Lloyds Silver and Club Lloyds Platinum entail additional fees of £11.50 and £22.50 per month, respectively.
On a positive note, Lloyds has eliminated debit card foreign currency fees for transactions made in the local currency, with fees possibly applying for sterling transactions.
