Is First Direct a hard bank to get in to?
Comments
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I have an account with FD and a regular saver with them. My first account is active as all my personal spends go through there and you are right it is refreshing to ring up and talk to a real person. I had an issue yesterday setting up a new payment due to the internet security system FD uses so had to ring up for advice. 5 minutes speaking to the customer service and the digital team and problem solved. No queue to speak to them either.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0
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So presumably:
Bank with HSBC -> instant deposits
Bank with FD -> cash appears in your account within 24 hours maybe (or 3pm same day like TSB envelope deposits)Mortgage (Nov 15): £79,950 | Cashback sites: £900 | Current accounts: 11
Mortgage (May 19): £71,754 | £30k in 2016: £30,300 (101%)0 -
Jlawson118 wrote: »I definitely consider it my main bank. I originally opened a savings account too to avoid the fee, but then over the years I opened a Cash ISA with them too and earning 1.30% on that was really good (it's dropped to 0.95% now in the wake of Brexit but I still think it's really good. Well I thought so but I checked their website and it still says 1.30%)
Their telephone banking is great most of the time, though I feel it depends where you're put through to really, I'm from Leeds and being put through to their Leeds call centre is always nice and the staff talk to you like friends. But I just got put through to Scotland this evening and it didn't have the same touch, seemed like they couldn't wait to get me off the phone really. And their mobile banking is pretty much the same style of HSBC's which isn't the best..but it still works most of the time and that's all I could ever want really
The rate doesn't go down until 18 October, so you've a few more days at 1.30%0 -
I got refused the first time, accepted the 2nd time.
How the hell do you deposit cash to First Direct? This is a reason you don't see so many of your peers banking with them, they like to just walk into a local branch and deposit cash
You're a ridiculously positive person. You'd think their CS had cured cancer
You can deposit within HSBC branches anyway. And well my views on their customer services comes after hours of being on hold to HSBC just to get put through to somebody in India, or passed from pillar to post with Halifax today to close my account down, or even tell Lloyds my card was lost, and they don't send me a new one because I didn't ask them to when I reported it as lost.
Hell, First Direct is a god send compared to all these other banks0 -
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enthusiasticsaver wrote: »I have an account with FD and a regular saver with them. My first account is active as all my personal spends go through there and you are right it is refreshing to ring up and talk to a real person. I had an issue yesterday setting up a new payment due to the internet security system FD uses so had to ring up for advice. 5 minutes speaking to the customer service and the digital team and problem solved. No queue to speak to them either.
I've had a few occasions where I've had to wait a little while and had the man at the beginning telling me that all agents are busy, but that doesn't bother me. I had an Aqua credit card and I phoned up to cancel the other day and the option numbers they told me to press weren't even relevant for what I wanted, so I just pressed 0 about 10 times and I was put on hold for an agent then :rotfl:
I phoned FD up last week to initially change my mobile phone number, I was put through to somebody straight away, and then I asked him if I could change my security information, and he did it straight away, I thought he'd pass me on to somebody else but he didn't.
I phoned Halifax up today to close my Ultimate Reward account down, I had to press this number, that number, tell the automated machine to "Close my account" and after 20 minutes holding, I got through to somebody, when I said I wanted to close my account, I got somebody else, and then even they said I need to downgrade my account, and then put me through to somebody else..
And I went to cancel my Lloyds Credit Card today too, and I put the card number in, and then they still had to transfer me to credit card services, and then they passed me again..it's a joke the way some of these other banks work.0 -
I switched to them 9 months ago.
The account opening process, phone respnse times, and customer service was so bad I closed the account 6 weeks laer.
It was so bad I didn't even want to wait the 6 months to get the £100 for not being satisfied.
Can't imagine how they get the reputation they seem to have.0 -
I've tried about 3-4 times over the past 4 years or so to open a First Direct account. But they keep rejecting me. I've had accounts with all the high street banks, including HSBC, but for some reason FD won't entertain me. That's with a good history of credit, no missed payments etc. Guess they don't like me haha.0
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So presumably:
Bank with HSBC -> instant deposits
Bank with FD -> cash appears in your account within 24 hours maybe (or 3pm same day like TSB envelope deposits)
If you bank with FD you're banking with HSBC, because it's a trading brand of the same bank. Time-scales for paying in are the same for FD as for HSBC, i.e. instant deposits. I can guarantee this because I've done it, like others have already said above.0
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