Our rating(3.4/5)
Lloyds Cardnet offers complete payment packages, but it’s not all great.
Lloyds Bank Cardnet is a merchant service provider and acquirer for UK businesses who need to accept cards. It offers a decent choice of card terminals and online payment options, but can have a slow service.
  • Pros: Convenient for Lloyds Bank customers. Custom rates. Complete payment product range.

  • Cons: Slow to set up. Costs not transparent. Poor or slow support. Setup fee. Long contract. Termination fee.

  • Choose if: You have a Lloyds business account and want them to handle payment processing too.

What is it?

Lloyds Bank Cardnet – officially Cardnet Merchant Services Limited or Cardnet for short – is officially a British acquiring bank. Behind the scenes, it is a joint venture by Lloyds Banking Group and the global acquirer Fiserv.

Cardnet offers standard payment solutions including card machines, payment processing, over-the-phone transactions and online payment tools. It also provides a merchant account through which a business can accept payments from any of these sales channels.

The partner Fiserv manufactures and supplies the Clover POS terminals offered through Lloyds, but other terminals from Ingenico and Verifone are available too.

Accepted cards

VisaMastercardMaestroDiners ClubDiscoverJCBUnion PayAmerican Express

With the Cardnet merchant account, you can process cards by Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, JCB, Discover and Diners Club, with the possibility of accepting UnionPay and American Express too. Cardnet also supports selling in at least 35 different currencies.

All users get access to an online merchant portal where they can check transactions, fees and reports from a browser.

Mobile Transaction rates card machines – including Lloyds Bank Cardnet’s – in six different areas: product, pricing, transparency and sign-up, value-added features, reviews and support, and contract.

Each criteria gets a score ranging between 1 and 5, resulting in one overall star rating reflecting Lloyds’ value for a small business.

A card machine’s primary function is to take card payments in person, so the device quality and experience of payment acceptance have a higher weighting – this falls under the product criteria.

We have also researched and analysed Lloyds Bank’s card machines and its wider services to establish scores for all the rating categories.

Card machines

Lloyds offers a range of card machines that are either mobile, portable or stationary.

The Clover terminals are all-in-one touchscreen devices that accept cards and come with adaptable POS software. The mPOS reader, Ingenico and Verifone terminals, on the other hand, are more traditional models.

All the card machines can print receipts and come with access to online reporting for tracking transactions and analysing sales. Not all of them can integrate with EPOS systems – for details on that, you’ll need to ask Lloyds directly.

Countertop machines include Ingenico Desk 3500 (Ethernet), Verifone V200C (Ethernet), Clover Mini (WiFi, Ethernet) and Clover Station Pro (WiFi, Ethernet).

They all have colour displays and accept contactless, chip and PIN and magnetic stripe card payments.

The Clover models are more like tablets, since they have a large touchscreen with apps and POS features to complement its built-in chip and swipe card slots and contactless NFC capability.

Lloyds Ingenico

The portable and mobile Ingenico Move 3500 is a popular card machine in the UK.

Portable machines include Ingenico Move 3500 (WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet), Verifone V240M (WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet) and Clover Flex (WiFi, GPRS with 4G SIM).

The Verifone and Clover models have a touchscreen, though Clover Flex acts more like a portable register with its on-screen POS features.

Photo: Clover

Clover Flex is a handheld touchscreen POS terminal that accepts cards and mobile wallets.

For example, you can add a product library on Clover Flex, have open orders, add discounts and monitor staff shifts. These features are included on the monthly rental subscription, but additional functions are available at an extra cost.

Mobile card machines include Ingenico Move 3500 GPRS (with 2G SIM), Verifone V240M GPRS (with 3G SIM) and Clover Flex (GPRS with 4G SIM, WiFi).

These are the same payment machines as the portable range, but with SIM cards included to connect with mobile networks on the go.

Lloyds is also trialling an mPOS card reader that works together with an iOS app (Android is mentioned as an option, but there is no Lloyds mPOS app in Google Play). The app has basic functions like a transactions overview, sales analytics, refunds and sending digital receipts – with no extras.

Lloyds Bank Cardnet mPOS card reader plus mobile app

Lloyds Bank Cardnet mPOS reader only works when connected to its mobile app.

Although laudable that Lloyds is trying to compete with the likes of SumUp and Zettle, the mPOS reader is an old model with a rarely-updated app at a relatively high upfront cost.

Pricing: not transparent at all

Lloyds Bank Cardnet is notoriously secretive around pricing (despite claiming to have “no hidden fees”), so the only way to get any costs is to contact them. Cardnet will insist on talking to you on the phone, not share pricing over email, which is even tighter than similar merchant services we received fees from by email.

Quotes are based on your answers to these questions:

  • How will you take card payments? Face to face, by telephone or website?
  • What is your total annual business turnover?
  • How much of your turnover will be processed through the card machine?
  • What would be the average transaction value per customer?
  • What is the nature of your business?

We answered “mostly face-to-face” with an annual turnover of £100k where £90k is through a card machine. The average transaction value was also stated as £7 and the business type a café. We received the following pricing based on these details:

Pricing
Contract 36 months
Setup fee £50
Card machine rental Clover Flex: £23 + VAT/mo
Minimum monthly charge £15
Transaction rates Debit cards: 1.06%
Credit cards: 1.4%
Amex: 1.9%
Termination fee After 18 months: £100 + VAT
Before 18 months: £414 + VAT
PCI-DSS compliance £5.50/mo
Refunds 50p
Chargebacks £12
Payouts 3-5 working days: Free
Next day: 21p w/Lloyds bank account, 81p w/non-Lloyds bank account
Pricing
Contract 36 months
Setup fee £50
Card machine rental Clover Flex: £23 + VAT/mo
Minimum monthly charge £15
Transaction rates Debit cards: 1.06%
Credit cards: 1.4%
Amex: 1.9%
Termination fee After 18 months: £100 + VAT
Before 18 months: £414 + VAT
PCI-DSS compliance £5.50/mo
Refunds 50p
Chargebacks £12
Payouts 3-5 working days: Free
Next day: 21p w/Lloyds bank account, 81p w/non-Lloyds bank account

A one-off setup fee of £50 is required to create the account.

We were only offered a 36-month contract – quite a commitment. It has an early termination fee of £100 + VAT if cancelling after 18 months or the monthly terminal rental (£23 + VAT, in our case) x 18 months if cancelling before 18 months.

We were only offered a Clover Flex terminal, but other card machines may have a lower monthly cost because they don’t have the same amount of software features as Clover. The basic software subscription is included in the monthly fee, but you can subscribe to more advanced Clover features if needed.

On top of this, you must pay a monthly PCI-DSS fee of £5.50 to cover Cardnet’s payment security standards.

Whether domestic, foreign, premium or corporate, all debit cards have a transaction rate of 1.06% while all credit card transactions cost 1.4%. That is, unless you’re accepting American Express which has a transaction fee of 1.9% (a special Amex contract may be required).

The minimum you can pay in transaction fees a month is £15 (minimum monthly service charge). For example, if you only received enough payments to owe £10 in transaction charges one month, Cardnet adds a further £5 on top.

Refunds cost 50p each. Chargebacks – where a customer disputes a transaction with their bank – incur a fee of £12 each.

Payouts are free if you can wait 3-5 working days to receive them in your bank account. If you need next-day settlement, a charge of 81p applies if your business bank account is not with Lloyds, or 21p if you signed up with a Lloyds bank account.

The pricing can differ between users. We’ve seen quotes of up to £175 in setup fee, £25 minimum monthly service charge and a fixed rate of 1.25% for Visa and Mastercard transactions. You generally get lower fees if your business account is with Lloyds Bank, as seen above with the next-day payout fees.

The Lloyds Cardnet mPOS reader has a different set of fees:

Lloyds Cardnet mPOS Pricing
Contract 12 months
Setup fee £49
Monthly fee None
Transaction fee 1.75% (all cards)
Amex acceptance Requires extra contract
Refunds 50p
Chargebacks £15
Lloyds Cardnet
mPOS
Pricing
Contract 12 months
Setup fee £49
Monthly fee None
Transaction fee 1.75% (all cards)
Amex acceptance Requires extra contract
Refunds 50p
Chargebacks £15

The £49 setup fee pays for the card reader that can be used for 12 months initially.

According to Lloyds, the mPOS package is “currently part of a trial intended to last for at least 12 months and on a rolling basis with two months’ notice thereafter.” In other words, Lloyds may not continue to offer this card reader service beyond the first year.

There is no monthly rental fee or monthly minimum service charge, only a pay-as-you-go rate of 1.75% for all card transactions, even if an international card is used. American Express can only be accepted with a contract directly from Amex.

There is no requirement to pay for PCI-DSS compliance for the mPOS service – a monthly PCI-DSS fee only applies for the above card machines that are rented.

Remote and online payments

Apart from card machines, Lloyds offers a versatile online payments package linked to your merchant account. The payment tools include:

  • Online payment gateway

  • Payment links

  • Virtual terminal for over-the-phone payments

  • Online store builder

  • QR code payments (QikServe integration)

Those who wish to sell through a website can easily integrate Lloyds’ online payment gateway or build a simple online store from scratch through a specific ecommerce partner (revealed at sign-up).

The all-in-one website solution enables you to add products, manage orders, get notifications and more from an app or browser. You can create a free single-page online store, but anything more advanced will likely cost extra. PayPal can be added as a payment option on the online checkout page.

You can send payment links by text, email or other context. Through the partner QikServe, you also have the option to create a custom ordering flow through QR codes and your own app.

In addition, merchants can process card transactions remotely through a virtual terminal (requires stricter security protocols) while taking an order over the phone.

Different costs apply to these online features compared with the in-person payment products.

Signing up

You can choose to get started through:

  • Lloyds Bank Cardnet
  • PayPoint (reseller)
  • Monek (reseller)

We recommend registering directly with Lloyds Bank to avoid additional fees and middlemen that complicate terms. However, even though Lloyds is a major retail bank, the service can drag its heels when you try to set up a new account.

There’s a long online registration form for Lloyds Bank/Bank of Scotland customers with an estimated annual card turnover of less than £300k, which takes 20-25 minutes to complete. This route can get you set up within 7-10 working days from the day you sign the contract digitally.

Another short contact form is for everyone else who wants to discuss the packages. Lloyds will insist on speaking over the phone, and the form states “it’s worth allowing 10-15 working days from your application for your Lloyds Bank Cardnet account to be set up.”

After we completed the latter form and heard back from the bank, it took several days in between emails just to get a basic quote. In most cases, you’ll get a faster quote on the phone, as Lloyds is eager to get verbal information about your business to provide an accurate list of costs.

During the application, you may be asked to set up a Lloyds business bank account for a better deal if you haven’t already got one, but it is possible to use your own account.

Service and reviews

Cardnet’s customer support is available to phone between 8am and 9pm Monday to Saturday. In other words, there’s no Cardnet support on Sundays or late nights, and urgent terminal replacements are not available on weekends either.

You can email them any time, but response times can be several days in writing and you may have to chase them up for non-urgent queries.

Judging by its limited user reviews, Lloyds Bank Cardnet does not have a large user base. The only three reviews on Trustpilot give 1 star, and Google ratings have an average of 1.8 out of 5 stars across 30+ reviews.

This makes it hard for us to recommend it as a trusted service, but we have likewise not seen enough red flags to discourage you from using it.

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Our verdict

Lloyds Bank Cardnet has everything you need to accept payments, from a decent range of high-end card machines to online payment options for any size business.

The fees are typical in the industry, but a 3-year contract could deter many small businesses. The fixed, low rates for debit and credit cards could benefit merchants with lots of tourist customers, since there’s no cross-border fee added on top.

We did not, however, like the secrecy around pricing and only got more elaborate fees because we knew exactly which fees to ask about. You’ll only know the full picture when you receive your personalised contract with the whole fee schedule, which is a shame for a bank claiming there are no hidden fees.

Although we did not see too many major red flags about the service, it could take up to three weeks to get started with it, so it’s certainly not for those in a hurry. The wait may, however, be worth it for existing Lloyds account holders who prefer to lean on a trusted brand.