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

M_Thomson

MarcMarc wrote:

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. !

It is actually a gross salary of £24000 a year before you take home £1500 a month.

CopperPlate_2

Oh I am so glad that I had a dig about and resurrected this old thread. There are those posters who - as they did previously when Mrs Jangles first leaked this - think that fd are simply testing the water. I can't see how they can be testing their customer base: they are going to lose not only those they want to lose due to poor profitability, but also their loyal, long-standing customers who are appalled at the idea of being forced to take uncompetitive products just to avoid a monthly fee. Their CEO is banging on about new products and competitive rates from February...we'll wait and see.

mikekaren2

mrcow wrote:

That whole article doesn't really make sense from a customer care perspective:




seems to sum it up. 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?).

Sounds like they are going to make the same mistake as Gerald Ratner, I do have 2 FD products but I have informed them that I wish to close my accounts due to there proposed charges.
I couldn't see anywhere on the website that informs you how to close your accounts! I await there phone call with interest.

CopperPlate_2

I did mine via their secure message system and it was done without question.

mikekaren2

Did you ask them to contact you, or did you request that they close your account on line?

CopperPlate_2

I asked for it to be closed via online message. They didn't reply in the affirmative. The first I knew was when I tried to log on to check for a reply and I was prompted to phone customer services as the account was inactive.

LizEstelle

It looks to me like FD are daring their less well-off customers to desert them. My guess is the owners (is it HSBC?) are experimenting here to gauge the reaction... probably before expanding the principle more widely.

If enough people DO leave them, this will send a fairly clear signal to the rest of the industry, which is no doubt watching this one with avid interest. Clearly, someone in the hierarchy has judged that they're just dealing with the usual lazy/can't-be-bothered client base which will just roll over.

karatedragon

My Bank Account is called Coventry First with the Coventry Building Society and I telephoned them today asking if they plan on introducing charges. The lady said no but you dont know whether to believe it or not.

shrooden

I worked in the call centre at FD until June this year, and here's my 2 cents worth from all angles.

Firstly, without a doubt, FD has the best customer service of all UK banks, and the best staff, all based in the UK. The only departments based out of the UK are the security team, who are not FD employees, but are HSBC employees.

Now, getting to the topic, FD firstly are HSBC's little guinnea pigs, and you can bet your bottom $ they have been pressured into this. Secondly, a big part of this I can guarantee you, will be to get rid of certain low value customers. A high value customer has several products with the bank, including loans, mortgages, insurance etc. FD will want to retain these customers. They will also want to retain high savers as this offsets their "bad debt". They will also want to retain customers in debt, as they pay high interest. A low value customer is someone such as myself, I have a balance of about -£40 at the moment, with no savings, and no other products. My account has no salary mandated, and little activity. I without a doubt cost the bank money, and although I am low risk for lending, I am also of low value. Its people like me FD will be happy to loose.

Now my opinion is that charging for accounts is a disgrace. I think it's immoral and wrong. The more people feedback this opinion the more chance there is of them scrapping the idea. FD are one of the rare companies that listens to feedback. For us customers you will know you never have voice recognition when you call. Well they were only a couple of weeks away bringing it all in this year, but, due to feedback they shelved plans after customers and staff made their feelings well known. Please bear in mind when feeding back your opinions- the staff on the phone are the "voice of the company", but they probably sympathize with you, as they will more than likely disagree with it too (even though they can't say it!). Please don't get personal against them because it’s not their decision and they will be getting abuse all day right now!!!



However, at the moment it does look fairly easy to avoid these charges, so do bear this in mind before going overboard. Just by having a savings account with £1 in can avoid it so be clear with the facts before deciding on what you would like to do.

Finally, 2 weeks ago I moved to Canada. Although personally I prefer it here as an overall, sometimes the grass can be greener on the other side. Unless you have a certain balance in your account over here you have to pay a monthly fee. That then gives you a certain amount of debit transactions per month you can have on your account, either through interac (their version of maestro/switch), cash withdrawals from an ATM, and direct debits. For a basic account its only about 10. For any more than that you pay per transaction. Now I think this system is crackers, so although I think the English system could be about to go downhill, it’s still not as bad as over here! (On a random note they also charge you for answering on a PAYG mobile too which is appauling!!!)

By the way the number someone mentioned before if you have a talk plan is 0113 2345678, this is the international line, but goes straight through to the call centre reps, and you bump the queue if there is one. Feel free to use this line as much as you like, it’s the same reps dealing with your calls!

Anyway, good luck on whatever decisions you make!
Simon

fallen121

My personal view is that there is going to be a lot of jiggery pokery involved in staying clear of these charges and it is not going to be as simple as people make out.

On the BBC news yesterday evening they suggested taking out a credit card and then cutting it up and never using it. This is clearly at odds with what people are being told by First Direct, i.e. that savings accounts and credit cards are going to have to be used regularly to avoid the charges. And I can think of no sane way to 'use' a credit card without it costing money and involving lots of hassle.

Secondly, we have people who are transferring 1p a month or whatever into a savings account. They will be ok for a while, until First Direct wise up that all these Standing Orders are costing money and introduce a threshold - like £10.

We also have the issue of 'relationships'. Having had dealings with Citybank in the past I can tell you this is a minefield. First Direct has lots of customers who have a joint account and then at least one personal account each. The personal accounts can probably be offset by opening a savings account in each sole name and transferring 1p a month - until they raise the threshold. This then leaves the joint account which is an entirely different relationship and so will involve the couple having to take out ANOTHER product in joint names to cover for those months where income may drop below £1,500.

Add to this all the nonsense about average balances and so on and you are going to be in a situation where constant vigilance is going to be required to avoid these charges and I don't know about you guys but I just don't have the time to do this.

First Direct don't want people to open savings accounts for the sake of it and then feed them with low value amounts of money. They want to force people into opening lots of 'joint' products like mortgages and loans which they don't want and don't need.

Already we have a government who want us all to drive the same small economical car and who enforce this through taxation. Now we have a system where everyone is gradually being forced to keep all their money with the same institution. Not only is choice being eroded but forcing people to do this makes it easier for things like 'money laundering' and tax evasion to be spotted and clamped down upon. If you have only one Bank then it is easier for Big Brother to keep an eye on your finances and make sure you are spending enough/saving enough/paying enough taxes.

Don't laugh. The average adult is already caught on CCTV dozens of times a day and the Government now want to introduce ID cards without even a referendum. This will capture even more of our personal and biological details into a little plastic card and a database somewhere.

Don't fear 1984. It is already here. It crept in the back door whilst you were busy worrying about whether or not you had paid £1,500 into your Bank account this month.