And finally…Lloyds cuts loyal pensioners some slack

Pam and Tony Burke, 69 and 71, were hit by the financial sanction despite the cash never leaving Lloyds’ coffers.

The couple from the Midlands had stashed away more than £24,000 for five years in two Isas with Cheltenham & Gloucester, part of Lloyds Banking Group.

In July they received letters telling them that their Isas were due to mature and they assumed this meant it was OK to transfer over to another facility.

They chose the Halifax, which is also part of Lloyds Banking Group.

The next thing they knew they had been charged £968 because the money had been transferred four days before their previous deal ended.

They complained to C&G, but the bank refused to refund the money.

Mrs Burke told the Daily Mail newspaper: “There is no way I’d have done it if I knew of the charge.

“We can’t afford to lose that kind of money.

“To find out that Halifax and C&G are part of the same group, and so weren’t even losing our custom, makes it even worse.”

However, after the newspaper intervened on behalf of the Burke’s, Lloyds refunded the penalties as a gesture of goodwill.