£100 cashback, £50 quidco A&L Banking

kwikbreaks

laticsforlife wrote: »

Yes you have had problems and I don't blame you moving, but why in the world would you go to Abbey.

Most of my bills come out of the account together around the end of the month and I'm too disorganised to transfer the money in to cover them at just the right moment. I like to maintain a fairly fat balance in the account without losing interest - A&L pay reasonable interest on current accounts and I just checked around for another account that did the same.

laticsforlife wrote: »

They are Spanish owned (Santander) and came absolute bottom in a Customer satisfaction survey by BBC's Watchdog programme.

I laughed as I watched the show and knew full well who'd be bottom, and sure enough it was Abbey.

Top was First Direct (and they are always coming top in surveys); you get superb CS from BRITISH callcentres (how good is that thesedays), and you can use HSBC as your 'branch' on the High Street.:T :T

Now I know there will be MSE'rs out there to say how good Abbey is for them; what I'm saying is trust surveys of 1000's of people and don't leave it to chance that you will be the lucky one who has no problems.

Thanks for the warning - I guess I needed to check on more than just the interest rates. Nothing done about transferring yet so maybe I'll look around elesewhere.

laticsforlife

You are welcome, and First D are offering £100 to switch.

BTW it was 13,126 who did the Watchdog survey and 96% would recommend FD

wacko911

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

It doesnt say that one offer CANNOT be used in conjunction with other offers.

Yea, your probably right, but I would rather have a guaranteed £100 than a shot at £150 and only end up with £50.

Actually reading the T&C on the recommend a friend, they will pay out £25 + £100 so looks like im wrong and have missed out on fifty quid!!! (sob sob)

laticsforlife

I cannot see how you would miss out - Quidco simply redirects you to A&L and 2 cookies will sit on your pc.

Then you get £100 for signing up etc, and Quidco tracks the £50.

And if it doesn't track simply put in an enquiry - in 2 years I've only had 1 enquiry that has still to be settled, from HMV and they are obviously never going to pay me the £1 they owe me, lol.

insurgente

Thanks for the info all.

I was wondering what would happen if my account had no standing orders/direct debits myself. I saw another poster mention switching with an account he never uses anyway; which sounds like genius. I have a natwest account I never use so could always transfer the overdraft on that. It only has 1 standing order..that it receives...from me. so i could set up a couple of other small ones

Thing is I currently have a graduate account that I'm one year into.... so it's £1000 interest free this year, down to £500 next year I think. Wherease the A & L is 'only' 12 months...so I suppose I have to decide which I value more

You are welcome, and First D are offering £100 to switch.

First Direct looks good. What I don't understand is.... "Open a 1st Account and transfer your salary/income of at least £1500 within 3 months and we will add £100 to your account"

does that mean £1500 a month or a total of £1500 over 3 months? If it's the former I have no chance. And as the interest free overdraft is only £250 maybe it wouldn't suit me

insurgente

oh one more thing about referring a 'friend'... that referrals thread; is it legal/against forum rules for someone to offer you extra money (i.e. part of their £25 referral bonus) for referring them? and a good idea to hand out your banking details to them so they can pay you?

cheers

nixie1

laticsforlife wrote: »

You are welcome, and First D are offering £100 to switch.

So am I better off applying for a first direct account rather than alliance and leicester? Am currently with smile who i'm v happy with but could do with the £100. May well change back later once I get the money.

eslick

nixie1 wrote: »

So am I better off applying for a first direct account rather than alliance and leicester? Am currently with smile who i'm v happy with but could do with the £100. May well change back later once I get the money.

i would and then they will give you another £100 if you dont like them but then again their customer service is better than anything i have seen out there

nixie1

First Direct site says ...

"We know you'll prefer banking with us - and if for some reason you don't, we'll help you move to another bank and give you an additional £100. Here's how our Service Guarantee works. If you are a new customer we'll pay £100 per customer or joint relationship if you close your 1st Account within 12 months of opening it, as long as a salary or income of £1500 or more has been paid into that account for at least 6 months, and you haven't previously banked with first direct. We'll pay the £100 into your 1st Account prior to its closure. All accounts with first direct have to be closed and your 1st Account transferred to another bank/building society."

Think I'll be going for this one instead and then closing it in 6 months time! :j

nixie1

Thanks eslick. Looks like we posted at the same time!!