First Direct cash ISA - banking fee?

JonBetts2004

Hi all,

I know this is probably a very easy question to answer, so I apologise in advance!
Basically I have just transferred my cash ISA to First Direct, and it has all gone through fine. However I have received a letter from them relating to a £10 monthly banking fee for First Direct customers. In my ISA T&Cs there is no mention of a banking fee at all, so I am hoping this only applies to current account customers. Can anybody confirm this at all?

Thanks alot,
Jon

alastair_h

Yes but you have to have the First (current) account to operate the isa.

</p> The £10 monthly fee for the current account can be avoided purely by transferring in and out £1500 every month.

[FONT=&quot]The First Direct Regular saver ISA, a couple of things to be aware of below. So if you don't have £1,500 going into the account pcm (or leave £1,500 sitting in there) then you have to pay £120 banking charges:-



http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/r...isa-faqs.shtml
anything else I need to know?

For at least the first 12 months, you must hold a first direct 1st Account from which to make your monthly payments.
Within the first 12 months, the monthly Banking Fee of £10 on our 1st Account will not be waived as a result of you having a Regular Saver ISA. Thereafter, for any month in which you hold the account, you will not have to pay the Banking Fee. The fee will, of course, be waived during the first 12 months if you meet any of the other Banking Fee waiver criteria.

http://www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/overview.shtml
Is there a charge to bank with first direct?

Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but it's free when you pay in at least £1,500 to your 1st Account each month, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,500 or hold a first direct mortgage (or a selected additional first direct product if your account was opened before 2 February 2009). See our full Terms and Conditions, and our rates and tariff.[/FONT]

Innys

JonBetts2004 wrote: »

Hi all,

I know this is probably a very easy question to answer, so I apologise in advance!
Basically I have just transferred my cash ISA to First Direct, and it has all gone through fine. However I have received a letter from them relating to a £10 monthly banking fee for First Direct customers. In my ISA T&Cs there is no mention of a banking fee at all, so I am hoping this only applies to current account customers. Can anybody confirm this at all?

Thanks alot,
Jon

Consider yourself lucky - at least you still have an account with them. I transferred my ISA out of them over two months ago and I still got one of those letters.

I rang up to find out what was going on and was told that I would keep receiving them for 6 years unless I told them I wanted them to cancel the automated letters.

Their online banking may be cutting edge, according to some customers, but their customer correspondence processes may need some attention...

JonBetts2004

alastair_h wrote: »

Yes but you have to have the First (current) account to operate the isa.

</p> The £10 monthly fee for the current account can be avoided purely by transferring in and out £1500 every month.

[FONT=&quot]The First Direct Regular saver ISA, a couple of things to be aware of below. So if you don't have £1,500 going into the account pcm (or leave £1,500 sitting in there) then you have to pay £120 banking charges:-



http://www.firstdirect.com/savings/r...isa-faqs.shtml
anything else I need to know?

For at least the first 12 months, you must hold a first direct 1st Account from which to make your monthly payments.
Within the first 12 months, the monthly Banking Fee of £10 on our 1st Account will not be waived as a result of you having a Regular Saver ISA. Thereafter, for any month in which you hold the account, you will not have to pay the Banking Fee. The fee will, of course, be waived during the first 12 months if you meet any of the other Banking Fee waiver criteria.

http://www.firstdirect.com/1st-account/overview.shtml
Is there a charge to bank with first direct?

Banking with first direct usually costs £10 a month, but it's free when you pay in at least £1,500 to your 1st Account each month, or maintain an average monthly 1st Account balance of £1,500 or hold a first direct mortgage (or a selected additional first direct product if your account was opened before 2 February 2009). See our full Terms and Conditions, and our rates and tariff.[/FONT]

Thanks for your response Alastair. However the ISA I hold with them is the First Direct "cash ISA". I know you say that I need their current account to operate this ISA, but I do not have a current account with them, and my ISA seems to be operating fine without it. I managed to find a PDF file on their website relating to the Cash ISA. It states:[FONT=&quot]

"The banking fee on our 1st account will be waived for any month you hold this product".

So by the sounds of it, the banking fee is just for the current account holders, and as long as I only hold an ISA with them, I should be ok. Might have to phone up to check though...[/FONT]

alastair_h

John, yes info does apply for the regular saver isa. I have had a look through the t&c's for the cash e-isa and I can't see any mention of any charges, see link
http://www.firstdirect.com/legals/isa.shtml

Probably banks being their usual "efficient" selves

Sparky47

I opened an eISA with them at the beginning of June and you certainly don't need a current account.

I have also had one of their letters but have not paid any charges on the account so I am sure it is just for current account customers.

The minute they start making a monthly charge for a cash ISA I shall be transferring out as I would imagine would most others.

JonBetts2004

Thanks for that guys. I did think it wouldn't apply to me, but when you receive these letters it puts a doubt in your mind! And when you can't find the information relating to the banking fees you think you've just not read the T&Cs properly!

Sparky you're very right about that - the reason I asked was so that I could transfer to anotther provider if there were fees associated with the account.

Thanks for the reassurance

funkyhitman

I received the same letter even though I hold an isa and not the 1st account.

It's pretty obvious they've messed up and sent isa customers the wrong letter due to the way they worded it:

'We're writing to let you know about some changes relating to your 1st Account...'

'As you will be aware, you have to pay our Banking Fee...'

I emailed informing them of the mistake and wanted them to confirm I'd not get charged by some automated system that thinks I hold a 1st account and that I'd not receive another letter pertaining to my non-existing 1st account.

I was told i'd not get charged but my other request was not mentioned...I expect to receive more letters in the future which I will hastily shred.

radman_2

I was just looking at the charges page on their website, which says:

Banking Fee Waivers

You will not have to pay the Banking Fee:

• for the first six months following account opening;
• for any month in which you:
  • pay into your account* (other than by internal transfer from another first direct account) a minimum of £1,500 or you maintain an average monthly balance on your account* in excess of £1,500 (month means calendar month and we will work out the average monthly balance by adding together the end of day balances for each day during the month and dividing the sum by the number of days in the month) or
  • hold a first direct mortgage, credit card, personal loan, savings account (*excludes Regular Saver Account and a Regular Saver ISA held for less than 12 months), first directory, or first direct car or home insurance policy; or

It looks like they have relaxed the rules somewhat regarding when they will charge you (compared to what I saw a couple of months ago).

I reckon this means that you could open an "Everyday e-saver account" (which pays a very poor rate of interest), pop a tenner into the account then qualify for the free current account for ever more.

Or am I missing something here?

anna42hmr

just read the thread title a minute and panicked myself then as i have just applied and didnt see any mention of a charge! fingers crossed they dont charge for the cash isa, as have opened their fixed rate ecash isa (or applied to any way)

It appears at the moment though that they have just asked for my personal details as i am not an FD (employment, nation insurance number, address etc) so assume the rest of the details will come in the post with the account number so i can fund my account??

does any one know how quick this is for them to send the papers through,also do they give you the account number on the letter so i can fund via online payment elsewhere, or do you have to send them a cheque at a later date, as the website does not state. (ie asked for an account number of bank, but didnt ask how much would want to fund the account with etc)

i called them on the phone this am, but they couldnt seem to give me any answers etc.

also if you dont have a current account with FD do you still get online access to the cash isa?

simpleguy_blr

I am also waiting for the post to come through with the papers to sign and send back, called them on the phone and asked them about the charges being mentioned in this thread. They confirmed it is not applicable to the standalone ISA product...