Worth moving from First Direct to Alliance and Leicester

MontBelzoni

currently bank with first direct but am interested in changing to A&L. i get good service from FD but their interest rates are pathetic. I am always in credit. I'm attracted to the £100 switching fee and free european travel insurance with A&L premier direct.

1. first direct have a good on-line web site for my existing account is A&L's as good.

2. i rarely phone FD but when i do phone i get an instant answer and get to talk to a person. is this the same with A and L?

anything else i need to be aware of?

cheers:beer:

apt

Do a search for Alliance and Leicester on these forums and you will find many complaints about the bank's customer service and its switching service. I do run an Alliance and Leicester account for the free travel insurance, but would not operate it as my main account. If you do decide to switch to A&L you can get an extra £50 by using a cashback site like topcashback. As First Direct offer a free £250 overdraft, a 5% Regular saver and a good faster payment system to savings accounts elsewhere it's really more your fault than theirs if you have money in an account earning no money.

Baldur

If you search these forums, you will find many posts from people who have had less than happy experiences with A&L - for the sake of £100 I wouldn't consider moving from a bank which is generally highly-regarded by most of its customers to one which isn't.

Inactive

First Direct to A&L, you have a shock coming if you go ahead.

Sp3no

DONT DO IT, i speak from personal experience with them, their switching service cost me £1050 which i NEVER got back

EarthBoy

You want to leave First Direct for Alliance & Leicester????

Are you totally off your trolley? A+L are one of the most complained about banks on this forum. They constantly compete with Abbey for the title of "Worst Bank".

If you want to change just for the £100, then I would strongly advise you to change straight back again the minute you get the money.

heloid

I now bank with First Direct after A&L - don't go to A&L for your main use account.

You could do what I do (and I assume lots of others too) - use A&L to put my excess money and transfer back when needed (faster payments top out at £250 per day per account but isn't too difficult to live with). To keep the minimum payments up I transfer my rent money to A&L with faster payments then send out via snail mail to my landlord.

MontBelzoni

heloid wrote: »

I now bank with First Direct after A&L - don't go to A&L for your main use account.

You could do what I do (and I assume lots of others too) - use A&L to put my excess money and transfer back when needed (faster payments top out at £250 per day per account but isn't too difficult to live with). To keep the minimum payments up I transfer my rent money to A&L with faster payments then send out via snail mail to my landlord.

thanks for the great advice everyone i will be staying with FD as my main bank account. will look into opening a A&L account with minimum payments for the benfits and the £150

cheers :beer:

YorkshireBoy

MontBelzoni wrote: »

will look into opening a A&L account with minimum payments for the benfits and the £150

£100 of the £150 is dependant on you switching DDs from another current account. I take it you have another current account as well as your FD account?

dan_cup

oh dear im in the process of doing this switch. to get the £100 of FD and £100 of A&L. No problems so far but its early days.................