Can you really get something for nothing from a paid bank account? Take a look at this Club Lloyds review to see the benefits of the account, how you can avoid paying the monthly fee and whether it’s worth joining.
Club Lloyds summary
Pros and cons:
✅ Choose from a high-value benefit
✅ Most people can avoid the monthly fee
✅ Access to some good saving accounts
❌ Would be nice to claim a benefit in cash
❌ £2,000 monthly transfer is more compared to other accounts
❌ Platinum upgrade is expensive
Club Lloyds
Club Lloyds benefits at a glance:
- Up to 3.0% interest on balances
- 6.25% interest up to £400 with Monthly Saver account
- A choice of gifts annually
- £50 free overdraft
- Cashback on purchases
Club Lloyds
If you’ve read my blog before, you may be aware that I have quite a few cashback current accounts. Not because I’m trying to hide money from my wife, but because they have some tasty benefits. With just a few minutes of work each month, you can earn some decent rewards or even get paid for your effort.
What is Club Lloyds?
This is a paid current account offered by Lloyds Bank. It comes with enhanced interest rates and you can choose a free reward each year worth up to £75. Plus, the monthly fee can be avoided fairly easily.
Also worth reading
Why not take a look at another rewarding current account – Santander Edge?
How much does Club Lloyds cost?
The fee to maintain your account is £3 per month. However, this is waived if you pay in £2,000 each month. The money doesn’t have to be from an employer and can come from another one of your bank accounts. You can transfer the money in and immediately out again if you like. You don’t have to deposit the money all in one go if you think you’ll struggle to afford it.
Club Lloyds benefits
So what do you get from opening this account?
Lloyds Bank switch bonus
This benefit comes and goes. If you have a current account you no longer want, switch over to Lloyds using the Current Account Switch Service and you’ll receive a bonus of between £100 and £200.
It may seem like a scary process if you’ve never switched before. However, the Switch Service does everything for you, like changing your direct debits and standing orders to your new account and automatically redirecting any payments made to your old account.
Check my page for the latest switch offers to see if it’s available.
Club Lloyds interest rate
This used to be one of the most generous rates from a high street bank, although it doesn’t look so tempting anymore. You will only receive interest if you pay 2 Direct Debits monthly.
The interest you receive is staggered. For example, if you have £4,500 in your account, £3,999.99 will receive 1.50% interest, whilst the remaining £500.01 will receive 3.0%.
Any money over £5,000 will receive nothing in the way of interest.
| Balances between | AER | Gross PA |
| £1 – £3,999.99 | 1.50% | 1.49% |
| £4,000 – £5,000 | 3.0% | 2.96% |
Monthly Saver account
You can open their Monthly Saver account as a Club Lloyds member. This pays you 6.25% interest and you can pay up to £400 per month. This rate is fixed for 12 months and you can withdraw your cash at any time without penalty.
Once the 12 months have ended, the account changes to an Easy Saver (which pays only 0.1% AER). You can then open another Monthly Saver and start the process again.
Club Lloyds Advantage Saver/Club Lloyds Advantage ISA Saver
Open with just £1 and receive 4.00% AER/3.93% gross variable interest. However, if you make four or more withdrawals in 12 months, this drops to 1.00%.
Cashback
Club Lloyds will regularly ‘load’ offers to your debit card. All you need to do is shop as you usually do using your card, and cashback will be paid into your current account.
You can earn up to 15% back from retailers such as Costa, Co-op and Sky.
Although after a year of being with Club Lloyds, the only offer I have received is cashback if I switch to Scottish Power. And as they’re more expensive than my current energy supplier, that’s pointless!
Save the Change
This method is becoming quite popular amongst banks and financial apps to encourage you to save more. If you’re a Plum user, you may have already used it. Every time you make a purchase using your Lloyds’ card, Lloyds will round up the amount you spend to the nearest pound.
For example, spend £4.20 on a cup of coffee and 80 pence will be moved to your Save the Change account.
This is a feature you will need to activate through your account, and although it’s good in theory, you won’t earn any interest from the money saved. That means you need to transfer the money if you want to earn anything, which makes the automated part slightly pointless.
Also worth reading
Overdraft
With a Club Lloyds account, the first £50 you are overdrawn will not cost you anything. Above that, the current interest rate (November 2020) is 29.9% APR. Although it’s more competitive than other accounts, it’s still an expensive way of borrowing.
If you owe £500 over 60 days, it will cost you £17.98 in interest.
Club Lloyds Lifestyle benefits
Each year, you’re entitled to a lifestyle benefit. Lloyds will send you an email and you will have a month to select which benefit you want. You can choose between:
12 months Disney+ membership
Receive a year’s subscription to Disney+, completely free.
Coffee Club and Gourmet Society membership
This membership comes with two bonuses. The Coffee Club gives you 25% off barista-made drinks at Caffe Nero. And the Gourmet Society gives you the following discounts:
- 25% off food and drinks
- Cinema ticket discounts
- Discounted days out at UK attractions
- 50% off pizza delivery
- Save on popular retail brands
- Up to 33% off movie rentals
Cinema tickets
You can choose between 6 cinema tickets for Vue or Odeon cinemas. Valid for 2D and 3D screenings and Premier seating at over 80 Vue or 100 ODEON cinemas nationwide. Each ticket is valid for 12 months.
How to use Club Lloyds cinema tickets
Vue tickets can be redeemed online at www.myvue.com by entering the 16-digit code at the point of booking under ‘Enter Code’. If you are booking more than one ticket, you will need to enter a separate voucher code for each one. You can also redeem your cinema ticket vouchers at the box office.
You can also redeem them at the cinema by taking your printed tickets or showing a copy of the pdf you were sent by email from your phone.
For Odeon tickets, the process is almost the same, except that the codes are 9-digits long and can be redeemed at www.odeon.co.uk
Again, you can book your seats by visiting the cinema in person.
Magazine subscription
Or, you can select a subscription to a magazine for one year. You can either have a physical copy delivered or the digital version sent to your Apple or Android device.
What are the Club Lloyds magazines?
- Bike
- Car
- Cosmopolitan
- Country Living
- Country Walking
- ELLE Decoration
- ELLE
- Empire
- Esquire
- Garden Answers
- Good Housekeeping
- Harper’s Bazaar
- House Beautiful
- Improve Your Coarse Fishing
- Landscape
- Men’s Health
- Mojo
- Prima
- Red
- Runner’s World
- Steam Railway
- Today’s Golfer
- Women’s Health
Which is the best Lifestyle benefit?
This partly depends on your interests and if you’re looking for the best value. A Disney+ subscription costs almost £80 and is the most generous gift on the list.
The magazine subscriptions, Gourmet Society membership and cinema tickets are worth between £30 and £40.
Other Lloyds account benefits
As well as the benefits you receive from Club Lloyds, some other features are helpful that come with all Lloyds accounts.
Cheque scanning
Another bonus with Lloyds is scanning cheques through your mobile phone. It’s a case of taking a photo of the front and back through the app and waiting for the cheque to clear. No more trips to the bank!
However, as the years go by, I’m finding that I use this feature less and less.
Freezing your card
If you’ve ever lost your card, you’ll know the panic that sets in. And then 10 minutes later, you find it where it’s typically kept. But to save you from worry, you can freeze or unfreeze your card with a touch of a button. You can
- Freeze abroad – stop ATM withdrawals and transactions outside of the UK
- Freeze online and remote – stops online, in-app and mail-order payments
- Freeze at tills and terminals – Stop transactions when your card is needed at the place of payment
Notifications
You can create your own text notifications from your Lloyds account. When your account falls under a certain level, it will send you a message to let you know.
Club Lloyds Platinum account
You can upgrade to the Platinum account for a fee of £21 per month. And this fee doesn’t include the £3 per month for all Club Lloyds account holders. The Platinum includes
- Worldwide travel insurance provided and underwritten by AXA Insurance UK plc
- Breakdown cover provided by Automobile Association
- Mobile phone insurance administered by Lifestyle Services
But £252 per year for these benefits isn’t cheap. Shop around and you can find some more competitive deals.
Is the Club Lloyds account worth it?
I do like Club Lloyds. It isn’t my main current account, but it gives a little extra back with very little effort. Six free cinema tickets are a decent return for the 2 minutes it takes each month to transfer money in and out again.
The interest rate is also competitive without having to tie your money up for any length of time.
Regarding the Club Lloyds Platinum account, I think it provides very little value and would avoid it.
If you’re interested in banks with perks, look at my Barclays Blue Rewards review.
FAQs
When does Club Lloyds pay interest?
Interest is worked out daily and paid into your account at the end of the first working day of each month.
Is Club Lloyds monthly saver an ISA?
No. That means you must pay tax if your income from interest passes the required government threshold.
When is Club Lloyds cashback paid?
The cashback you earn will automatically be credited to your Lloyds current account at the end of the following month.
Do you lose your Lifestyle Benefit if you close your Club Lloyds account?
It’s not clear from the T&Cs what will happen to your reward once you close your Lloyds account. Although your benefit is unlikely to be cancelled, it’s not impossible.