Lloyds Bank warns 'you may incur a fee' if you make payment in this way

Lloyds Bank has clarified the rules around transaction fees after a customer asked if they would face extra charges.

The customer wanted to know if the Travel Smart service was available, claiming they had been able to access the service for two weeks.

Travel Smart is a service that allows you to use your bank card abroad to pay or withdraw cash without paying foreign exchange fees.

You can add it before you go on your trip for £7 a week and use the service for up to six weeks a year, on one trip or across several tips.

You cannot add Travel Smart to a Club, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Premier account, as customers with these accounts are not charged any fees on their debit card when making payments in the UK or abroad.

The customer was planning a trip to Norway, Sweden and Denmark, so they wanted to know if they would face any transaction charges in these countries.

Lloyds responded, confirming that the Travel Smart service is available. The bank explained: "If you have the app, on the homepage select the bank account, select the three dots top right, scroll down to Benefits and Extras and select Travel, select Travel Smart, and follow the instructions."

In response, the customer shared a screengrab of the app indicating that they have a Club Lloyds card. The page had information about Travel Money, but they said they couldn't see the option to select Travel Smart.

They also shared a screengrab of some information that appears when they search for Travel Smart in the app. The search result reads: "Travel Smart is offline for now. Sorry for the inconvenience this may cause you. Please check back again soon."

Lloyds responded again to provide more specifics about the rules: "The Club Lloyds account does not have a fee for using the debit card while overseas.

"So that may explain why this is not showing for your Club Lloyds account." But they warned the customer could still face some extra charges: "You may still incur a fee if you use sterling to make the payment while you are aboard."

The customer went on to ask specifically if they would not have to pay any fees while away in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Lloyds further explained: "Wherever you are we won’t charge you for using your debit card. If you’re abroad, and choose to pay for something in pounds sterling, the provider of the currency conversion may still charge you."