Avoid First Direct - They are gonna charge all customers £10!

Heinz

mrcow wrote:

lol, but I bet it won't stop them from still sending out their four lots of junk mail per month to each of these ex customers :rolleyes:

Got this week's today - buy something in the next 5 days and get 2 for 1 Vue Cinema tickets!

The nearest to me is 50 miles away - yeah, sure I'm going to do a 100 mile round trip to get a free cinema ticket!

bumpybecky

They called me this evening for an annual review type thing to see if they could sell us a mortgage etc. At the end he asked if I had any questions - well you can guess what I asked can't you?! The bloke said they couldn't tell me if they would be charging or not and he said they'd not been told of any new charges being brought in.

Not sure I entirely believed him, but made sure he knew that we'd be moving our account if they started charging.

munki_3

I spoke to FD today and was told they are NOT looking to charge customers for having a bank account with them.:T

I've heard about the A+L new acc due in Sept where can I find some info on this, can anybody help???:eek:

say_what

And relax, everyone. FD have now told their staff that they've dropped plans to charge - given the response on here, no doubt. I presume they'll be looking at other charging structures though, or cutting costs substantially: hsbc is determined to make fd a niche bank rather than broadening its appeal.

Divo_2

What a relief !! This thing about charging though. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Some banks (A&L I think) have a 'Monthly Account Maintenance Charge' buried deep in their T&Cs which comes into use if your account doesn't meet certain criteria ie.current account balance, which seems sneaky to me. Has anyone incurred these charges ??

poorbutgettingricher

M_Thomson wrote:

It isn't daft. Do you think that a bank makes more money from someone who is £2000 in credit or £2000 overdrawn? Current accounts are used as loss leaders to draw customers in so they will purchase more products from a bank. People who stay in credit cost banks money due to admin costs, processing fees on debit cards, cheques etc. People who borrow, pay interest at a higher rate making banks more money.

id say they probably make just as much money!

when you have £2000 in credit, the bank is paying you maybe 1% unless you get a really good deal, when in fact they are probably earning 10% by investing it eslewhere!

there are reports of banks making millions of pounds, but it isnt just in the interest charges and fees, its from the £2000 in credit here and there they are making the real money.

say your £2000 overdrawn, and being charged 15% interest, if the bank can earn 10% on that money its 5% they are loosing out on (rough figures) but if your £2000 in credit and earning 1%, they are making 9%. if you dont pay your debt off in full (just make small payments) they stand to loose even more.

simple calculation -

i put 1000 in my bank, earn 1% interest on it a month, after 1 month ill have 1001, after 2 ill have 1002, and so on, but if i give that money to a friend and they repay me 5% after 1 month ill be -995, the 2nd month -990 and so on until it repaid. costing me money!! it works the same for the banks, somehow!!!

and at the end of the day, the cost of processing a cheque, sending a statement, or using your debit/credit card are the same, wether your account is in credit or overdrawn!!!

MPH80

there are reports of banks making millions of pounds, but it isnt just in the interest charges and fees, its from the £2000 in credit here and there they are making the real money.

Actually - it's not. HSBC produced a figure, that on average, per week they make £1.05 from each of their personal banking customers in the UK. That's across all product ranges.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4781924.stm

HSBC really make their money from their overseas arms and their other interests.

M.

trets77

Fantastic news if its true.

maybe it was us MSE posters? maybe not? but feels like a WIN for this site to me.

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

mrcow

trets77 wrote:

Fantastic news if its true.

Do I sense some doubt still? (me too!)

Not that I'm that bothered as if any such letter does come through my door in September, I'll be on the phone rearranging my banking facilities that very same day.

FD aren't the only bank on the high street!


As for customer apathy, I can also assure everyone here than no one I know who has a FD a/c would be apathetic to these charges, as I wouldn't let it rest until they'd got the full facts too! (along with a link to Quidco for bonus' for opening new accounts with competitors!).

nbbradshaw

Call me a cynic but when 1st time posters tell me that all is ok, I get even more suspicious!

Bottom line is I'm moving to A&L, FD cost me over £100 a year in lost interest due to their pathetic interest rate on my current account. My bank account is the only thing I've not changed or reviewed in years, shame on me!

As for making only £1.05 from each of their personal banking customers in the UK, I simply DON'T believe it. Remember the old saying, there's lies, damn lies and then there's statistics!