Leaving First Direct & Joining A&L

wombler

I'm about to make the switch from First Direct to Alliance and Leicester, hopefully bagging myself £250 in the process - £100 for leaving First Direct and £100 plus £50 Quidco cashback for joining A&L.

Now I've read previous threads about the difficulties of leaving FD and that you need to call them up and cite specific service related reasons for doing so. I've also read the A&L T&Cs which say you need to use their switching service to qualify for their bonus. So my question is what order to do it in - do I set up the A&L account first and then call FD, and if so at what point in the process? Or do I need to call FD first and tell them I want to leave before doing anything else?

Any help gratefully received - I've previously gone from A&L to Halifax to FD for the sign-up bonuses all without any issues at all, but I'm concerned that this might be a trickier one, albeit with the biggest potential bonus if I can get it!

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

milfordmadness

wombler wrote: »

I'm about to make the switch from First Direct to Alliance and Leicester, hopefully bagging myself £250 in the process - £100 for leaving First Direct and £100 plus £50 Quidco cashback for joining A&L.

Now I've read previous threads about the difficulties of leaving FD and that you need to call them up and cite specific service related reasons for doing so. I've also read the A&L T&Cs which say you need to use their switching service to qualify for their bonus. So my question is what order to do it in - do I set up the A&L account first and then call FD, and if so at what point in the process? Or do I need to call FD first and tell them I want to leave before doing anything else?

Any help gratefully received - I've previously gone from A&L to Halifax to FD for the sign-up bonuses all without any issues at all, but I'm concerned that this might be a trickier one, albeit with the biggest potential bonus if I can get it!

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Fair play to you! Just proves that bank loyalty has gone and is now a thing of the past! Goes to show you us Brits are more interested in a free bob than being loyal..... maybe now the banks will start to offer things for existing customers and not always new ones!

I salute you wombler - go get the free dosh mate!

wombler

milfordmadness wrote: »

Fair play to you! Just proves that bank loyalty has gone and is now a thing of the past! Goes to show you us Brits are more interested in a free bob than being loyal..... maybe now the banks will start to offer things for existing customers and not always new ones!

Well exactly - I hear so many stories from friends who've been screwed over by their banks that I reckon it's about time customers started playing them at their own game.

As it happens I also have a "backup" Nationwide Flexaccount, which apart from anything else is very useful when I go on holiday because of its fee free card withdrawals. But 30 to 60 minutes work filling in forms once or twice a year if I can make £100+ is worth the effort in my eyes.

97trophy

I have banked with both and there is no way I would leave FD. IMO, A&L are OK but they are not as good as FD.

Good luck.

masonic

You'll probably not want to approach FD until your A&L switch is well advanced. They send you a letter once they've obtained details of your direct debits and informed the relevant companies of your new bank details. That would be a good time to call FD.

TheEffect

They'd need to pay me more then £250 to go near A&L. :rotfl:

slummymummyof3

I switched to A&L from Lloyds and bagged the £150 in Sept. Had no problems at all. Husband in the process of doing it as well now.

Soubrette

We were thinking of doing the same (switching from FD to claim the £100) as I considered all banks to be equally inept.

However, they've been great, fantastic call handlers, always helpful and friendly. Easy to use internet banking - no mistakes as yet and we've been with them 4 years having been turned down from adding my husband to my co-op bank a/c making it a joint one.

I'll not be switching unless their customer service takes a radical dive and I think they've become as useless as the other banks.

Although I was tempted when they brought in their £10 per month charge to certain (it seems less lucrative customers) but we already had a savings account and it is easy to get around the charge.

Sou

EarthBoy

Soubrette wrote: »

... and it is easy to get around the charge....

It was easy to get round the charge, but not now. They changed the conditions on Monday and new customers can only avoid the charge by funding the account with £1500 monthly, or leaving an average balance in it of £1500, or by having a First Direct mortgage. The new rules don't affect existing customers though.

This is something to bear in mind for anyboy thinking of leaving First Direct. If you later decide you want to come back then you will be bound by the new rules.

wombler

Thanks for all the responses so far.

I know that a lot of people really love First Direct, but I don't see what's so great to be honest - I do all my banking online and they don't really provide anything online that A&L, Halifax and Nationwide haven't either (plus there's the bizarre messaging system where you can only read each message once - what's that all about?!)

I'm not too bothered about going back to A&L either - they were fine last time round and luckily I'm in a position where I never incur bank charges from going overdrawn etc Plus it'll only be for six months to a year, then hopefully there will be another deal to switch to - though I'm running out of banks now!

Anyway, could anyone who has left First Direct and got the £100 advise on how they dealt with switching away from First Direct to another current account - as I say, I've read the threads about them trying to wriggle out of paying out, I'm just interested to know about whether you have to let them know in advance or if you can wait until the switch is already in progress and still get the money.

Thanks again for all the useful comments - I can heartily recommend anyone with the confidence playing the banks switch bonuses, it's about the only way to make any money out of the banks with interest rates as they are right now!

EarthBoy

wombler wrote: »

..... I've read the threads about them trying to wriggle out of paying out...

They are not trying to "wiggle out of paying out" at all. They are just trying to make sure that they only pay out for genuine reasons, i.e. customers who are leaving them because they are dissatisfied with the service. If someone had no problems with the service, and just wants a free £100, this isn't a genuine reason and is contrary to the terms of the offer.