Lloyds TSB admits it broke the Banking Code

A large proportion of the money borrowed was to cover loan insurance to protect the couple if they lost their jobs - when neither was in work.

The group admits the loan, granted by a branch in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, broke the Banking Code.

Banking regulators are now looking at the investigation by The Real Story.

In another case at the same branch, a man claimed he was encouraged to take out a loan with insurance which he "did not really need" as he was unemployed.

'Cowboy' behaviour

Lloyds TSB later repaid �6,000 racked up in payment protection insurance and interest by the man.

The programme claims to have identified similar cases at other Lloyds TSB branches around the country.

You would expect this sort of behaviour from a cowboy, from a back street broker or a loan shark Iain Macqueen-Sims Loans expert

"You would expect this sort of behaviour from a cowboy, from a back street broker or a loan shark.

"One would not expect this from a major high street bank," independent consumer loans expert Iain Macqueen-Sims told the programme.

The documentary says the banking authorities are now considering what action to take.

A Lloyds TSB spokeswoman said the bank admitted it had not done everything it could under the code in the case of the couple.

But she said the bank was committed to being a responsible lender and that both cases concerned loans issued more than two years ago.

"In both cases we have interacted with the Citizens Advice Bureau to review the circumstances and agreements to repay the customers were made long before any involvement from the BBC," she added.