Lloyds Banking Group will discontinue its invoice factoring service for small businesses by the end of the year, 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 taking over the collection process.

According to sources, Lloyds currently buys unpaid invoices from small businesses but will cease this service imminently. Other major banks like NatWest and Barclays have already closed their factoring operations in previous years, while HSBC has recently implemented stricter criteria for similar services.

In other developments, Lloyds has implemented significant changes this year, notably requiring customers to use their debit card and enter their PIN for cheque deposits instead of using pay-in slips. Additionally, the option to deposit cheques at Post Offices has been eliminated, necessitating customers to visit specific branches or resort to mobile banking for such transactions.

Moreover, Lloyds has raised the monthly fee for its Club Lloyds packaged bank account from £3 to £5, although this fee is waived if a minimum monthly deposit of £2,000 is maintained. The Club Lloyds account offers various benefits such as a yearly lifestyle benefit choice, access to the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver, and cashback at select retailers. Different tiers of the Club Lloyds account come with varying additional costs.

On a positive note, Lloyds has removed debit card foreign currency fees for transactions made in local currencies, with fees still applicable for transactions made in pound sterling.