‘Debt helpful’ debit card launched
Lloyds TSB’s new ‘top up’ savings account will allow customers to save money from each purchase by rounding up transactions to the nearest pound and putting the difference in a separate savings account.
The launch has been welcomed by those who said that it would not encourage credit card debt as it was a debit card, so could only use funds the customer has.
Commenting on the card, Meera Patel, senior analyst at asset managers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This is quite novel. If you had said it was for a credit card then I wouldn’t have liked to encourage that because it could move people into more debt.
“But with a debit card it is a different scenario, your money is there in a bank account and you’re not borrowing it. I would welcome something like this – it will encourage people to start saving.”
As with any good debt management plan, it starts with the basics of saving pennies but “those pennies build up into pounds”, Ms Patel states.
She also believes that the card could lead to a different mentality about saving and encourage more sensible spending.
