Club Lloyds Current Account Product Review - Hobbit Money

Club Lloyds Current Account Review

RequirementsPay in £1500 per month or a £3 charge applies
Pay out 2 different direct debits to earn interest
Interest rate0.6% on credit between £1 and £3,999.99
1.49% on credit between £4,000 and £5,000
No interest on credit above £5000
Benefit 1:FREE £100 when you switch your current account to Club Lloyds
Benefit 2:Choose one of these rewards:
– 12 digital movie rentals
– Gourmet Society Membership
– Annual Magazine Subscription
– 6 Cinema Tickets
* renews annually
Benefit 3: Eligibility to open a Club Lloyds Monthly Saver Account, which pays interest at 1.5%
Benefit 4:Cashback from Everyday Offers
How to open:– Online: https://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/all-accounts/club-lloyds.html
– In branch
– Via telephone
Overview of Club Lloyds Current Account

I use my Club Lloyds Current Account for my personal banking. I had a Lloyds Classic account (that paid little to no interest) for a long time and never really looked at Lloyds Club because I believed it to be an account where you pay a fee to get benefits that I wouldn’t use.

It was only because I was planning on opening a Lloyds Monthly Saver that I looked more deeply into Club Lloyds. I discovered that I could earn extra interest (1.5% rather than 1%) and make larger deposits each month (£400 max rather than £250 max) if I had a Club Lloyds account rather than a Lloyds Classic. When I looked at this account in more detail, I found out that as long as I was depositing £1500 per month and had two direct debits coming out, I would earn interest and there would be no charge.

I quickly upgraded my Classic Lloyds to Club Lloyds and also opened a Lloyds Monthly Saver.

Overview

Lloyds were the very first institution I banked with and I have been happy with the service they have provided me over 25 years. I also think that their banking app is the simplest to use – and I have tried the banking apps of all the big names when I was bagging their introductory incentives.

Club Lloyds is, in my opinion, the best Lloyds current account.

Benefit 1: £100 Incentive

To claim the £100 incentive, you must use Lloyds Current Account Switch Service and not have previously claimed a switching incentive from Lloyds since April 2018. The £100 will credited to your account within 10 working days of the switch starting.

Benefit 2: Annual Reward

You can choose from one of the following four rewards each year:

  • 12 digital movie rentals
  • Gourmet Society Membership
  • Annual Magazine Subscription
  • 6 Cinema Tickets

I’ll be honest here, these didn’t really appeal to me. With COVID-19 limiting social get-togethers, membership to the gourmet society and cinema tickets are not particularly useful. None of the magazines available via the annual subscription looked interesting to me. And I already have plenty of choice for movies with my Netflix and Amazon Prime, so the digital movie rentals are moot.

So, personally, I can do without this bonus. For those that are interested, I went with the Gourmet Society Membership to get a small discount on the infrequent times I do go out to eat. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to use this yet so I can’t provide a full Gourmet Society annual membership review. For those that are interested, at the time of writing, the magazines subscription list is as follows:

Benefit 3: Eligibility for Monthly Saver

When I opened my Club Lloyds account in April 2020, the linked Monthly Saver offered an interest rate of 2.5%, however it now only yields 1.5%. It’s not great but it is better than any instant access savings account currently available. Therefore, this feature of the Club Lloyds account is not as desirable as it was earlier in the year but it’s not the worst rate out there. Fortunately, I will continue to get my 2.5% until the end of my term in April 2021.

Benefit 4: Everyday Offers

I find the Everyday Offers to be a bit of a pain and don’t really use it. Everyday offers gives percentage discounts from particular vendors when you pay for them via your Lloyds current account. Sadly, you have to enable each of them individually, which means before you make a purchase, going into Everyday Offers on the banking app and seeing if the vendor has an offer. If they do, you enable it then make the purchase. Nine times out of ten, the vendor isn’t on the list and I get peeved that I wasted my time looking. I don’t really check any more to avoid the disappointment. Why they cannot just enable all the offers by default is a mystery to me!

Verdict

With branches up and down the country, good customer service and excellent online banking, a Lloyds account is a good choice for everyday banking.

The Club Lloyds current account has an okay interest rate (although better rates can be found elsewhere) and the £100 incentive for switching is a nice bonus. It does have deposit requirements that may not be affordable for some people (£1500 per month), however you could bounce £750 twice into and out of the account (or other multiples) to get around this.

The linked Monthly Saver was one of the main benefits when I opened mine, however since it has dropped to just 1.5%, it’s no longer so great.

Good PointsNot-so-good Points
Okay interest rateRequires £1500 deposit per month to avoid £3 charge
Great customer serviceRequires two Direct Debits per month to earn interest
Great online banking appEveryday offers is a bit of a pain
Eligibility for Monthly Saver *drop in interest rate, so no longer a great benefit
Choice of ‘reward’