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

madkingsoup

And another thing (I hate it when my mid works this slowly), all banks invest our money when we're in the black and presumably make oodles out of it.

FD also takes a cut every time you call it's 0845 number.

So we are already paying for the priviledge of using them.

However, I have a savings account as well as my bank one, but I rarely put anything into it. I'll wait and see how long and I can get away with no charge.

jmfwilts

Chris Pilling, CE of FD on Radio 5 Live Wake up to Money

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/wakeup.shtml

Sounds very arrogant.

dickybeau

Hi

I have been a customer since 1991 and worked for the bank for a while last year. In the last week, i experienced EXTREME pressure when looking at a loan to take out loan protection insurance. Needless tos ay , I will go with someone else for a loan. After my daughter, who is just starting out with a first direct acc with her fiance, received this letter, I am giving careful consideration to my position. I have a pension and a salary from my current post which are paid into first direct. I was considering their mortgage product along with my bank acc when my current deal ends but I would reconsider that as well. Their products are not the most competetive but, in my experience, the service has been outstanding. I got an inkling of their move when I took part in a customer survey earlier in the year when they indicated a desire to seek a 'quality' brand status. the implication is that they need to get rid of the 'plebs'. Like all banks/businesses, they need to reduce their costs and get rid of dead or under used accounts. perhaps elitism will work for them. ???!!!. I don't think it is going to work for me though.

climbgirl

Sadly, I think bank account fees are inevitable in the UK. In fact, it's one of the only places in the world where they don't charge fees for basic transactions on bank accounts - ATM, withdrawals, hell even deposits in some instances! You can choose either a blanket fee or a per-item fee, it depends on the account you choose. When I moved to the UK 3 years ago and was doing my homework on which bank to choose, I was stunned to realise you didn't get charged fees on these kind of things!

Now that they've been told to lower their default charges to £12 and bad debt defaults are rising, they'll be looking to recoup that money somehow. And this seems a pretty easy option for them.

The first bank that tries it will get hammered but once one does, the floodgates will open and they'll all be in there. My guess is that this is HSBC testing the water with their subsidiary....People might vote with their feet, but sadly most won't. The article says that people are more likely to change their spouse than their bank account. The numbers of MSErs are a pretty small percentage of the country, alas.

I'm sorry to say it, but given the greed of banks this is inevitable. I give it two years, max before they're all doing it and its' become the norm. In fact, the only thing I'm surprised about is that they haven't already.

climbgirl

mrcow wrote:

Has he really gone to the BBC with that statement?!!

But what they seem to be overlooking are the 195000 customers who are prime targets for selling and marketing to who they are now going to push away (perhaps for life?).

The bank my friend works for has customer categories that are assigned to each account and they're highly offensive (I can't remember the actual names now!). Basically, for internal use only!

This is of course a rough breakdown, but that bank worked on the following assumption - 20% of your customers cost you money, 60% you make very little out or nothing from and 20% of your customers is where the bulk of your profit comes from.

Banks are businesses, not charities. They want to make money and obviously some people are more important customers to them. The guy is being blunt, but he's just stating fact. And probably hoping to drive away the 20% who cost them....

MarcMarc

This has been confirmed today by the BBC that First Direct do indeed intend to charge all current account holders £10 per month if they (a) do not take out any other other service with First Direct, such as an insurance plan etc, and (b) do not deposit £1,500 or more (usually a salary) into their account each month. This is, effectively, a tax on those earning under £18,000. If the Government want to encourage everyone to open a bank account then they had better jump on this vulgar ploy by First Direct to increase their profits at the expense of their less well off customers. It would be helpful that those with First Direct accounts threaten to (even if you do not ultimately intend to) withdraw their business unless this idea is dropped, foor the good of those less well off than yourself. One last point, First Direct say that the revenue helps to maintain excellent customer service. This should be a prerequisite for any self-respecting bank!

truth_2

To those of you that phone in to complain, please remember it is not the staffs decision and the rep you get at the end of the line is probably as mad about the charge as you are. Please don't take it out on them.

EagerLearner

Hi all - if this change is 'inevitable' and all the banks are going to follow suit, then why should I move from FD, who have offered me great service overall?
I don't think I will be affected by the charge, but if I am and they're all going to charge, why move - better the devil you know, surely...

honey_bee1384

Is there any substantial proof that other banks will follow suit though?

Paul_Herring

digp wrote:

Paul_Herring wrote:

There appears to be a lot of "big bad bank" comments on this thread, all based on a single unsubstantiated "from a friend" comment by a new poster.

humble pie - eat - words coming to mind?

Erm, no. I stand by what *I* said. There were (and still are actually) 'big bad bank' comments. And the new poster did post a 'from a friend comment' which was unsubstantiated.

Which part of my comment did you disagree with?