Should I Switch to First Direct?

menhim_2

EarthBoy wrote: »

Unemployed people can apply, but anybody in financial difficulties probably won't want or be able to afford to pay the £10 monthly charge, -which is only avoidable by new customers if you pay in £1500 per month, or keep an average monthly balance of that amount, or have a mortgage with First Direct.

I'm unemployed with a very small monthly income and got account and card with no problems whatsoever. I do "circulate" £1500 a month into the account on top of my small income being paid in to avoid the charges.

brookerbabyisababy

so did you write unemployed on the application form? you must be a home owner? did they give you an overdraft or cc?

staffie1

FD are great - I recently joined myself. Only criticism is that when I phone them - albeit they are very helpful and friendly, they seem to try to deal with your banking query as quickly as possible so they can start trying to flog you something else. If you're not interested in this just be firm and say you're not interested. It's the same whenever I go into an HSBC branch - I always get collared about a mortgage or credit card. Again, if you don't want anything just say "not today thanks" - don't hesitate because they'll have you!

But apart from that minor irritation, the service with FD is second to none.

menhim_2

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

so did you write unemployed on the application form? you must be a home owner? did they give you an overdraft or cc?

Yes, did state unemployed. Yes am a home owner. No didnt request or want an overdraft or CC.

Cameron1983

menhim wrote: »

I am trying to make up my mine whether to close my 1st Direct account as I find their online banking very infuriating and confusing. It is nice to be able to speak to someone who you can understand and can understand you, but I am likely to that once a year if that as I much prefer online banking.

If you decide to go ahead and open an account, in addition to £100 sign up fee from 1st Direct, you can also get £75.00 cashback from WePromiseTo cashback site if you sign up by linking through them, unfortunately I missed that incentive when I joined 1st Direct

Easy to register with WePromiseTo if your not a member already and if you join via clicking this link I will earn £1.00 for recommending you ;-)

http://www.wepromiseto.co.uk/r/20083

I actually read this about 10 mins after posting my First Direct application... Never used a cashback site before, but I tried it for the £75. There was no confirmation afterwards that it worked from the cashback site - is there usually? How do you know that the cashback bit will follow through, as the link took me to the First Direct page, then a second link to open the account? NB. Used your link, so if it works thats a pound from me!

Swans1912

lr1277 wrote: »

Apparantly no more cheque guarantee cards for new customers

Signed up a week or two ago... cards came with cheque guarantees only them... only £100 however!

menhim_2

Cameron1983 wrote: »

I actually read this about 10 mins after posting my First Direct application... Never used a cashback site before, but I tried it for the £75. There was no confirmation afterwards that it worked from the cashback site - is there usually? How do you know that the cashback bit will follow through, as the link took me to the First Direct page, then a second link to open the account? NB. Used your link, so if it works thats a pound from me!

Hi Cameron1983

I Have only recently started using cashback sites myself and missed out on my own £75 First Direct signup, which made me feel thoroughly sick LOL. However OH has just signed up with First Direct via cashback so will let you know how he gets on.

However, I have already made a fair bit of money by going via a cashback site (when I remember) for other things I have bought online. There is a whole forum on MSE showing how people have made hundreds of pounds over the year from cashback sites just from daily clicking. That does take a lot of time and dedication though, but just going via a cashback site for something you were going to buy anyway soon builds up to a respectable sum.

Thank you very much for using my link, it is the first time I have made a referal so will be interesting to see what happens )

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=609037 This forum will give more information on earning money via cashback sites and there are many other threads throughout the site dealing with cashback. I am still new on here and still finding difficulty negotiating my way through the all the forums and threads so tend to come across them more by accident ;-))

RichardB1

Sorry, another couple of First Direct questions:

How many transactions do you see onscreen when you view a statement? The online demo only shows a handful so its not clear if you can scroll down the page or if you have to page through several screens (which Cahoot do)

Can you download statements in any format for import into MS Money, Quicken, etc?

Thanks!

EarthBoy

RichardB1 wrote: »

Sorry, another couple of First Direct questions:

How many transactions do you see onscreen when you view a statement? The online demo only shows a handful so its not clear if you can scroll down the page or if you have to page through several screens (which Cahoot do)

Can you download statements in any format for import into MS Money, Quicken, etc?

Thanks!

My account is currently showing 20 transactions. I have never counted before so I can't say if it's always that number, but the screen looks no more or less full than usual. You can also sort them by date -oldest first or most recent first, or by payments in or out, or size of payments or by payee etc. The default setting is most recent at the top.

You can download statements in several formats: Quicken 97,98,2000,2001,2002, Microsoft Money, Works or Excel, or Lotus 123.

DesG

Another question

Can you search for a cheque number? Mrs-DesG asked me if a cheque had been paid, and I had to manually check each statement looking for the cheque number.

Cheers, Des.