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

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  • To Eager_Learner and others who are going to open a savings acc or CC and never use them. BEWARE. I've called FD on 3 different occasions to sort out 3 different problems and on every call I was told.

    Call 1: You need to regularly save money in your sav or you'll be liable for charge - but never mentioned use of CC.

    Call 2: You need to use the CC and sav acc every month to not pay the charge.

    Call 3: You need to spend £10 a month on the CC and sav a regular amount every month not to pay the charge.

    It seems like FD are telling people what they want to get them to open accounts and when they realise they have dormant CC, Sav acc's etc they'll surely crack down on those people next.

    Time to find the best bank for you at the moment and leave. I asked FD to close my accounts 4 days ago and when I called up this morning, they advised that their experiencing high volumes of acc closures and the closure could take upto 2 weeks to go through due to the demand of customers leaving FD!!! Says it all doesn't it!!

    Eager_Learner - you save setting up a SO or using your CC once a month isn't a big deal - which is true, BUT why should you HAVE to do those things just to have a bank account, that I think is the thing people are moaning about. I don't mind paying £10 if I get something for it, ATM FD give you nothing for it and are forcing you either to save (but actually loosing interest due to their low rates) or have the temptation of getting into debt (with CC and Sav). MSE is about saving money not loosing it elsewhere.
  • My husband has begun the process of leaving - last week he contacted the Halifax and asked them to initiate the transfer of his sole cheque account from FD. I also have a sole cheque account for the child benefit which I am also transferring, plus we both have a joint account used for paying bills (no regular salary as my husband is self employed), a dormant savings account each and we each have a credit card which we rarely use. Over time we are getting rid of all of these.

    My husband has two savings accounts and sent a secure message last week asking FD to close one of them. Instead of closing it they sent a message back telling him we won't pay the charge. They still haven't closed it.

    How many times do you have to ask them to close an account? We don't give a fig whether or not we will pay the charges or not, it's the principal of the thing. Plus we will struggle to pay in £1,500 each month because our income varies so enormously.
  • fallen121 wrote:
    My husband has begun the process of leaving - last week he contacted the Halifax and asked them to initiate the transfer of his sole cheque account from FD. I also have a sole cheque account for the child benefit which I am also transferring, plus we both have a joint account used for paying bills (no regular salary as my husband is self employed), a dormant savings account each and we each have a credit card which we rarely use. Over time we are getting rid of all of these.

    My husband has two savings accounts and sent a secure message last week asking FD to close one of them. Instead of closing it they sent a message back telling him we won't pay the charge. They still haven't closed it.

    How many times do you have to ask them to close an account? We don't give a fig whether or not we will pay the charges or not, it's the principal of the thing. Plus we will struggle to pay in £1,500 each month because our income varies so enormously.

    I am so glad they are having such big problems shutting down peoples accounts because there are so many people doing it. A lesson needs to be given to these idiots that they can suck only so much of our cash away from us. :mad: :mad: :mad:
    Education is compulsory, school is not.
    Education Otherwise
  • eslick
    eslick Posts: 2,062 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    we file away all of our letters from banks and shred them every couple of months, had a shredding session yesterday and it really supprised me how much complete rubbish FD send us on a monthly basis trying to get us to buy products etc. At the end of the session had a bin bag full of FD and MBNA shredded paper. What a complete waste, it must be costing them a fortune to send all of this out.
  • I wonder how many people of the people who are "disgusted" by FD charging £10, are the same people who took Martins advice to open an account to receive the £25?
    Personally I think FD got caught out by this and are using this as a way to get rid of the accounts that were opened for the freebie and then not used.

    Also, I presume that the people who are moving their accounts are getting written confirmation that their new bank isn't going to be introducing a similar charge?

    I've been a FD customer almost since the beginning and (although I meet their criteria and don't have to pay) I wouldn't object to paying £10 to keep enjoying their level of service.
  • MORPH3US
    MORPH3US Posts: 4,906 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Anyone able to help....

    If I close my FD account over the phone will they send me a cheque with the account ballance or how can I clear the account out without having to write a cheque to myself and go to the bank to pay it in?!?!

    M
  • mrcow
    mrcow Posts: 15,170 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    MORPH3US wrote:
    Anyone able to help....

    If I close my FD account over the phone will they send me a cheque with the account ballance or how can I clear the account out without having to write a cheque to myself and go to the bank to pay it in?!?!

    M

    I just electronically cleared my a/c out online to an alternative a/c.

    The FD a/c was closed the next day.
    "One day I realised that when you are lying in your grave, it's no good saying, "I was too shy, too frightened."
    Because by then you've blown your chances. That's it."
  • A big thank you to the Office of Fair Trading, life is getting very complicated!

    If you read the reports in the news, all these bank charges are due to them putting the thumb screws on the banks over stealth charges.

    I'd like to know if average Joe was worse off with stealth charges, because presumably rich people forget to pay their bills on time too, but if you are on a low wage you are really going to be up the creek when all the banks are charging us for everything if our incomes don't meet their targets.

    As New Model Army said, it's no fun be young, gifted and skint!
    Cheap is good but free is best!
  • If you read the reports in the news, all these bank charges are due to them putting the thumb screws on the banks over stealth charges.

    Well, if the banks hadn't been charing an extra 50% :rolleyes: to what they should have been (charge of £24 instead of just £12), wouldn't be such an issue now... so Joe Public got fleeced then by paying 50% more than they should have.

    ...and seeing as the banks then went and spent that extra 50% on other things, they are now having to invent new ways of making money from Joe Public, so they can pay Joe public back the money from reclaimed charges :cool:

    And now... Joe public is being fleeced again with £10 a month charges - exhausting, the Office Of Fair Trading is not to blame - they are protecting the customer. We're the only ones who loose out, not the banks :confused:
    MFW #185
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  • Good answer mate, god bless the banks.

    I guess I'll just have to think of a way of getting rich, then I won't have to pay the charges when my bank decides to charge me.
    Cheap is good but free is best!
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