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First Direct Current Account Switch Blagged Deal

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  • The MSE link still takes you to the £125 offer page.
  • Just to let you know if you do switch to First Direct to get the £100/£125 bonus you do have to put £1000 in the account but you do not have to keep the £1000 or pay £1000 into the account every month after that. If you open a Bonus Savings account online and put £1 in it almost as soon as your current account is opened this qualifies as your qualifying account and saves you the £10 a month fee.
  • Hey everyone, looking to switch to the FD account via this link. I have a current account with Halifax but also a student account with a filled overdraft of £1000. Probably obvious but wanted to double check to be sure, will it just be my current account with Halifax that is closed?
  • badger09
    badger09 Posts: 11,127
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    mao.mao wrote: »
    Hey everyone, looking to switch to the FD account via this link. I have a current account with Halifax but also a student account with a filled overdraft of £1000. Probably obvious but wanted to double check to be sure, will it just be my current account with Halifax that is closed?

    Yes, the CASS switches only the current account you nominate.
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,375
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    mao.mao wrote: »
    Hey everyone, looking to switch to the FD account via this link. I have a current account with Halifax but also a student account with a filled overdraft of £1000. Probably obvious but wanted to double check to be sure, will it just be my current account with Halifax that is closed?
    Although badger09 is correct about the actual mechanics of the switching system, you may find that Halifax respond to you moving your 'main' current account by calling in the overdraft on the other one if there's no sign of money being paid in, so you ought to consider how you'd handle them demanding immediate repayment of the £1,000....
  • badger09 wrote: »
    Yes, the CASS switches only the current account you nominate.
    eskbanker wrote: »
    Although badger09 is correct about the actual mechanics of the switching system, you may find that Halifax respond to you moving your 'main' current account by calling in the overdraft on the other one if there's no sign of money being paid in, so you ought to consider how you'd handle them demanding immediate repayment of the £1,000....

    Thanks guys, may just hold off then in that case. Although i could do with the cash to help me pay off the overdraft, not sure where i'll find the rest so quickly!
  • badger09
    badger09 Posts: 11,127
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    eskbanker wrote: »
    Although badger09 is correct about the actual mechanics of the switching system, you may find that Halifax respond to you moving your 'main' current account by calling in the overdraft on the other one if there's no sign of money being paid in, so you ought to consider how you'd handle them demanding immediate repayment of the £1,000....

    I did wonder about that, but never having had an overdraft, I didn't want to speculate.

    OP, if you are determined to bag a switch incentive, you could open a new current account with a totally different bank, make sure it fulfills the switch incentive T&Cs in terms of DDs etc, then switch that.
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,375
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    badger09 wrote: »
    I did wonder about that, but never having had an overdraft, I didn't want to speculate.
    Likewise I can't speak from direct experience but http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/overdrafts/ does say "To get a planned overdraft, you must pay your salary or other regular amount into your account" and their Ts & Cs contain the usual caveats about overdrafts being repayable on demand.

    I don't think anyone can say that a planned overdraft facility would definitely be withdrawn in these circumstances but it seems inevitable to me that the risk would be higher so it should be a factor if/when considering stopping funding....
  • Hi all

    I am interested in opening a FD account, and - needless to say - I'd prefer to get the extra £25 incentive by going through MSE.

    There seems to be no mention on MSE though about the £100 leaving bonus.

    Please could anyone confirm whether the leaving bonus is still offered when going through MSE? Or is it only available when applying direct through the FD website?

    Cheers

    Max
  • I switched a few weeks ago from Halifax to FD and I have to say, massive mistake. I'm 30 years old and do 99.99% of my banking online, mostly through a mobile app, and FD's is absolutely dreadful. Feels like it was made in the 90s, its a huge step backwards from what I'm used to with Halifax.
    I now realise that MSE's high rating must presumably be based on their telephone service, but how often do people use that? Do people really use telephone banking? I don't, none of my friends do, my pensioner parents don't, I really can't believe there's that big a market for it.

    I will definitely be looking to switching back
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