First Direct Savings

brookerbabyisababy

Does anyone why the Bonus Saver has a lower rate than the E-Savings Account?

RichyRich

Same reason a "Liquid Gold" account has a different rate to a "WebSaver" at Halifax: it's a different account, and the bank likes to profit from customer inertia.

brookerbabyisababy

But First Direct is generally an excellent bank and I am really surprised they haven't sorted this out.

Jonbvn

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

But First Direct is generally an excellent bank and I am really surprised they haven't sorted this out.

Remember as per the whole raison d'etre for this site, no bank is your friend. They are businesses who must make money.

BTW, generally FD offer quite uncompetitive savings rates.

RichyRich

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

But First Direct is generally an excellent bank and I am really surprised they haven't sorted this out.

Trust me, it's deliberate. It's up to you to sort out where you put your money for the best return, not up to the bank to give you an identical return no matter where you put it.

nicko33

Jonbvn wrote: »

BTW, generally FD offer quite uncompetitive savings rates.

I was about to say that their 8% Regular Saver is quite competitive, but it appears to have been withdrawn.

7% fixed Regular Saver ISA is still good though if it meets your needs.

Milarky

nicko33 wrote: »

I was about to say that their 8% Regular Saver is quite competitive, but it appears to have been withdrawn.

It may be withdrawn in reality, but the page for applying still exists on their site:

http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/regular-saver-apply.shtml

It exists on its own page, still, but the page is no longer linked from the associated 'directory':

http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/

So it may simply be 'hidden' - or genuinely no longer available?

brookerbabyisababy

The weird thing about First Direct is that they tend not to update their savings products that often, even though they talk about them that highly. I think the 8% Regular Saver was a good idea but the Bonus Saver really needs to be replaced or the rate increased to make people save for longer with them. I have a lot of savings which I would depoist at First Direct but don't because of their products. Oh well.

RichyRich

Instead of worrying why your bank doesn't offer the best rates, why not simply put your money where the best rates are?

I couldn't give a flying fcuk if my account is with Barclays or HSBC or Abbey or A&L or ICICI or Kaputhing or RBS or Halifax or whoever else for that matter. What matters isn't who its with but that I'm getting the best return.

Jonbvn

RichyRich wrote: »

I couldn't give a flying fcuk if my account is with Barclays or HSBC or Abbey or A&L or ICICI or Kaputhing or RBS or Halifax or whoever else for that matter. What matters isn't who its with but that I'm getting the best return.

Generally correct, but you have to make sure that the bank/BS you choose is not another Northern CRock;)

RichyRich

Jonbvn wrote: »

Generally correct, but you have to make sure that the bank/BS you choose is not another Northern CRock;)

Why? All money in NR is 100% guaranteed by HM Treasury, whereas money anywhere else (discounting NS&I) is subject to the FSCS £35,000 limit