Lloyds Offering Subscription Cancellation Through App

Subscription services have exploded in popularity during the lockdown, and the Lloyds app is simplifying the sometimes tricky subscription cancellation process.

Lloyds Bank will allow customers to cancel monthly subscriptions such as television streaming and food boxes in its app with just three easy clicks, Tech Radar reports. The bank has 11 million Lloyds app users and plans to launch the service in the next few months after a pilot.

The new subscription cancellation service on the Lloyds app will allow millions of customers who signed up for new subscription services during the coronavirus lockdown to be able to cancel them in their banking app. Lloyds said it would ultimately alert people before their free trials run out to help customers prevent being charged for services they didn’t intend to pay for.

Not only can customers cancel subscriptions before free trials run out, they will also have the ability to be notified beforehand when a service’s price is set to increase.

For now, notifications are only sent after subscription payments are taken out, but Lloyds plans to send alerts before customers are billed. The service is planned to initiate in a few months’ time.

The Lloyds app could potentially save consumers money they didn’t plan to or want to spend. 

Most banks already allow their customers to view, maintain and cancel direct debits and pending orders through their mobile apps, according to Lloyds, but until now customers have not been able to perform subscription cancellations on their own.

The spike in the popularity of subscription services has been substantial during the coronavirus lockdown; Lloyds says 1.3 million of its customers joined subscription services in March and 600,000 joined in April.

While people are stuck at home, the most common subscriptions they have signed up for have been television streaming services, with food boxes and other paid services also being popular.

As lockdown eases, nobody can be sure how many will hold onto those services or opt for subscription cancellations, but the Lloyds app will make it easier if people do decide to cancel.

The alerts will be especially helpful for people who have signed up for a subscription and then forgotten about it. 

The Lloyds app announcement of the new subscription cancellation service is in large part an effort to keep up with digital rivals like Monzo and Starling.

Customers used to need to either call up their bank or cancel services through the provider, but digital services have made things easier. Mastercard and Visa offer comparable services in the U.S., but in Britain, customers must go through their bank or the subscription service itself for subscription cancellations. 

The lockdown has shone a light on glaring digital subscription issues.

Broadband customers were stuck with surging prices during the lockdown but were stymied when trying to cancel their contracts. Customers were faced with extra-long wait times when calling providers or were unable to reach them at all, and had no option to cancel their contract online.

Another conundrum brought on by the lockdown was the booming popularity of online courses.

Shaw Academy has been highly criticised by users who say it is nearly impossible to cancel their free trials.

The online course website is accused of charging customers without alerting them beforehand and has been bombarded with negative, one-star reviews. In response to the negativity, the company allegedly has made an effort to ask customers for biased reviews to tilt the scale back in their favour.

Last year, Lloyds, Britain’s largest bank, launched automatic spending notifications and alerts when customers received refunds, paid bills and transferred money to others. 

“Customers have been able to manage direct debits and standing orders online for some time,” Lloyds Bank Digital Service Director Nick Edwards said. “With the growing popularity of subscription services, we’ve launched this market-leading service to respond to our customers’ desire for more control and flexibility in the ways they manage their money.

“With over 16 million customers online and 12 million using our mobile app, this is one in a series of new and exciting features we are launching this year to continually improve customers’ online experience.” 

Do you use the Lloyds app? Do you plan to use the new subscription cancellation feature? Let us know in the comments.

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