Lloyds Bank has issued an update after customers reported getting an unexpected charge applied on their statement.
The issue first came to light in October, when a customer contacted the bank over X to ask: “What is visa provisioning service as they tried to take money that I don’t recognise?”
Another customer reported the same issue recently, on December 28, asking on the same thread: “I’ve had the same as well. Was anything done about this? I also bank with Lloyds.”
Lloyds responded to explain what the charge relates to: “Visa provisions are assessments that are “charged” against your card to confirm that the card details provided are valid.”
The bank went on to explain the the charge would in fact be for £0, and this process is often used by “large online merchants like Apple and Netflix“.
Explaining in what cases the charge would be raised, Lloyds said: “The notification will be sent if you’ve had a new card in the last 12 months and a merchant that you had set up on your old card for payments is trying to take a payment.
“You will likely receive communication from the merchant who is trying to debit your account to advise they could not collect the funds and that you need to give new card information.”
The bank went on to state that these checks are regular occurrences, saying: “These checks are always happening in the background, and if the card details were up to date with the merchant, you wouldn’t normally notice it.”
Another Lloyds customer was recently left puzzled after they visited their local branch to update their details.
Branch staff told them they would need to have their debit card with them to confirm their ID and change their details, but the Lloyds website seemed to suggest otherwise.
An advice page on the website states that “in most cases” it is sufficient to produce either a current UK photo driving licence or a UK passport in branch, to confirm who you are.
The online guidance also sets out that existing customers can verify their identity using their “existing bank card with Chip & Pin”.
In response, Lloyds said that the customer “would need to take proof of ID and address” when visiting the branch.
Lloyds also told the customer: “Branch prefer to use Chip and PIN to verify for most activity. However, they should be able to review other forms of ID to try and identify and verify you.
“Some ID may not be able to be used if it does not match our customer records, such as a different address or name.”