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

Cypher

FD are a very good bank, their customer service is second to none, but I'm a scrouge and will try my hardest not to pay

I had the exact same problems with NTL, they messed my billing up two months running, had a nightmare getting through to them on the phone etc and that was how I managed to get my line rental free for 12 months, and my broadband at £9.99 when it should have been £25.

karatedragon

Ahh Cypher I took a different tact. NTL reported that I had "defaulted" on a phantom bill (an account error apparently) for £2 I receievd last year. They cleared the "default" but put it back on following month. It was right at the time I wanted to change banks and it wrecked my application and it was only the bank declining me that brought this false "default" to my attention. I left them and claimed compensation.

NTL TV is at our Karate Dojo and the installer trod dog crap all in the place and thought it was funny. Bad, bad move on his part! He was given a mop and bucket!

Cypher

NTL TV is at our Karate Dojo and the installer trod dog crap all in the place and thought it was funny.

Thats not the sort of place I would have thought you would want to go upsetting people :rotfl:

karatedragon

Seems to me people are going off to Alliance and Leicester which means they will be over populated. That will mean hefty phone queues and queues in the branch and once they have people they will most probably charge. To me I see this will be like dentists. You get an NHS dentist trap patients into NHS treatment and then they write to everyone saying they are now private. I suspect banks will lure people with "free" service and then "bang" its charge time.

M_Thomson

CopperPlate wrote:

I thought that this thread might make refreshing reading again given the recent announcement by First Direct to some of their customers. An early Christmas present we could call it...

I think some of the comment here should be taken with a very large helping of humble pie. No?

I agree with you. Everyone said it couldn't happen but this is just the start. I await with baited breath the start of annual fees for credit cards too!

joughtib

I didn't know about this until I heard Chris Pilling, Chief Executive from First Direct speaking on "Wake Up To Money". He was saying that 85% of people will avoid this charge, and they are only targetting people who dont have a good relationship with the bank, i.e. people that dont put enough into their current account, or take other services. 85% sounds a lot, but the flipside is that the other 15% (200,000 people)

I take the First Directory service with them, so will avoid this 10 quid charge, but I have to say, I will be looking at alternative services, because I dont agree with marginalising some customers.

AuntyJean

I have a current account to which less than £1,500 pm will be paid in and maintained. However, I also have a savings account with them with a few hundred pounds in that is my rainy day account. It would appear there is no minimum required for their savings account so surely the answer would be to whack a fiver into a savings account and just leave it there?

There has to be a loophole somewhere?

I would close all my accounts with them if I thought I was going to be charged but hate the hassle of having to re-set up 15 direct debits!

eslick

Looks like FD are already taking a hit on this, just spent 15 minutes on hold and CS told me it was because of the announcement. Service might be good and I am one of the lucky ones who wont be hit but this will be the first of many banks to do this, sure A&L and others will do the same eventually. Their excuse is to be able to offer better rates to their customers, well the Co-op Bank raised their Standard variable interest rates when the Bank of England hadnt and used the same excuse, four months later no improvements to their product range. This is a excuse to make money and if you are one of the messenger who say that this is ok then you should be ashamed of yourself (sorry if anyone thinks this is to harsh) it will be the beginning of the end of free banking and I for one wont just sit back and allow this to happen. Closed all other accounts and products I had with FD and will be moving our joint account shortly. Well done to all those that have closed accounts.

Tim_L

This is an HSBC kite flying exercise. Frankly HSBC don't like First Direct anyway because of the cost of the customer service, so they won't be too bothered if it loses market share as a result. On the other hand if the charges are met with apathy or work in terms of people taking other FD products out they can roll similar things into other accounts.

It isn't at all difficult to avoid the charges if you're inclined to stay with First Direct - simply rotating an amount of money in and out would do it - but personally I wouldn't. In fact I left FD for Cahoot years ago when it was clear that although the customer services were truly wonderful on the odd time you need them, the actual product was a poorly performing current account. It's probably more effective to up stumps and leave than to try to work the system and stay.

There will always be the Nationwides and Halifaxes of this world who are desperate to compete with the traditional banks for market share and who won't charge. The current account market in the UK is extremely competitive, and will remain so.

mattius_2

Disgusted to hear this on GMTV this morning. Not even a letter or e-mail from First Direct. Lets face it, First Direct are committing professional Suicide. Thousands of customers will vote with their feet.What a crass stupid decision this is.
I have banked with FD for 15+years & was really angry about this decision! I was told that If I took out or used another service then I would not incur the £10 charge. I already had a savings A/C & was told that if I used it regularly then there would be no £10 charge. I use ING for my savings as they still pay me interest if I make a withdrawal. I then asked what the minimum amount I had to save would be. The lady went away to check & then returned to advise me that there was no minimum - all I had to do was to use the savings A/C on a regular basis. Then much to the Customer service agents obvious growing annoyance with my questioning, I set up a standing order from my current to my savings A/C for £0.01p per month! This has stopped the £10 charge & will cost FD money on the interest. :beer: If this had not been possible then I would have closed all A/C's with First Direct!:mad:

I also asked for a Director or manager to phone me back so I could discuss this crazy new policy & to see if I could try & understand why they would do this to there loyal customers but was told there was no way I would receive a call back. Good old British Customer Service again. Still I suppose I should be grateful that at least she spoke English!