Lloyds TSB announces package for flood victims

Bancassurer Lloyds TSB has announced an emergency package of measures for its insured households hit by floods.

It will:

• Make emergency payments directly into customers’ accounts to help them secure emergency accommodation and to buy immediate essentials

• proactively contact customers in the worst affected areas to provide assistance and advice on how to minimise damage to their properties and possessions

• launch a new consumer advice website, www.helpimflooded.co.uk, to help homeowners secure their property and personal safety

• launch a dedicated floods claims helpline

For customers with a mortgage or loan, Lloyds TSB will:

• offer a repayment break of up to three months

• offer mortgage advances free, to help with the cost of essential repairs

• extend mortgages or switch them to interest only to reduce repayments

• offer repayment breaks of up to three months for loans

For bank customers, it will:

• offer emergency overdrafts

• increase credit card limits

• refund travel money orders and buy back uncollected travel money without incurring any fees or cancellation costs, for those who have cancelled holidays.

Ian Larkin, managing director of consumer banking, said: “Listening to our customers, it’s become clear to us that they are suffering from the floods in all sorts of ways. We are now offering practical help to our customers in the affected areas, around their insurance and other finances, so that they can get on with rebuilding their lives as quickly as possible.”