First Direct?

mrmajika

cuedini wrote: »

My wages aren't £1500, does the re-deposit thing work with all banks? Where I can take £300 out say then put it back in? Also, is it laundering if I open more than one bank account and transfer funds through them to take advantage of offers?

The re-depositing thing does not work for First Direct; it has to be a mandated salary into the account.

The offer is only available to new customers, therefore it's one account per individual.

RedBern

been with first direct for a couple of years - can't fault them so far. Call centre staff always friendly and helpful - answer the phone after a couple of rings and very professional. I have an account for bills to go out from, and a savings account, that you can arrange a 'sweep' into from the current account if there's anything left (not that there ever is) - good idea though.

greenmantle

well i changed over with them over three months ago and they still havent paid me the £100 yet

I got the £100 within 28 days of the first mandated salary payment - I did query when it would arrive with them, but it arrived when they said it should...

cuedini

Thanks MrMajika, what about if you keep your balance consistently over the £1500? Is that enough to qualify on it's own?

greenmantle

I think you can open another account - savings for eg - and that gets you out of the charge...

poddle911

I've been with them about 6 years and I can't fault them at all - I know it's wrong to like your bank, but I'm always telling people how good they are! The customer service is great, as people have said you can go to HSBC to pay cheques in etc and the online banking is very straightforward. I took out a personal loan with them a while ago (competitive rate and £50 cashback) and this has run smoothly too with fast incentive payment.

So yes, would definitely recommend! Also, they have a little-publicised recommend a friend scheme which has changed over the past few years, from £50 to £25 but it's worth checking if this is still available, so you can can get your friends to switch once you're a convert!

mrmajika

cuedini wrote: »

Thanks MrMajika, what about if you keep your balance consistently over the £1500? Is that enough to qualify on it's own?

Not to the best of my knowledge, but i'm not 100% sure on this.

greenmantle wrote: »

I think you can open another account - savings for eg - and that gets you out of the charge...

This was true, but they changed it a couple of months ago. It now has to be £1500+ salary per month or hold an FD mortgage.

LongTermLurker

cuedini wrote: »

Also, is it laundering if I open more than one bank account and transfer funds through them to take advantage of offers?

Only if the money's "dirty" to start with - there is another term I've come across on these boards called "cross-firing" where you try to make it appear that you have a healthy cash flow.

mrmajika: This was true, but they changed it a couple of months ago. It now has to be £1500+ salary per month or hold an FD mortgage.

Actually, I don't think the mortgage counts for the offer

http://www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/overview.shtml - *Open a 1st Account and transfer your salary/income of at least £1500 within 3 months and we will add £100 to your account. This offer is only available for people who haven't previously experienced the delights of banking with first direct.

edit - comments about the mortgage/savings account are actually to do with the waiving of the monthly fee. As mrmajika says, opening a new savings account no longer waives the fee, but keeping an average balance of £1500pm does - see my post further up for the link

basiaking

We changed our current account to First Direct about a year ago when they were also offering £100 to switch to them. I can honestly say that they have been the best bank we have ever been with (and we have been with quite a few as I normally change banks once any special offer, like a higher interest rate for a year, expires.) As a lot of previous posts have stated, their customer services are vastly superior to any other bank - very friendly, helpful and seem to know what they're talking about! Any email queries I send them are always dealt with very quickly and efficiently. We also have an offset mortgage with them so the fact they don't pay interest on their current account isn't an issue for us at the moment anyway. I am so happy with them that even once we have paid off the mortgage I will stay with them and won't be tempted to change to another bank (well maybe a little by the new Tesco Current Account which is due to be launched within the next year or two if they give you clubcard points!)

withnell

mrmajika wrote: »

The re-depositing thing does not work for First Direct; it has to be a mandated salary into the account.

The offer is only available to new customers, therefore it's one account per individual.

Not true - I paid various accounts from different accounts to make the £1500, and that was eligible for a bonus

To the OP - you can apply for a new Abbey account quite quickly in branch, and get the fixed 6%