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

Annabee

Well they are about to introduce the 10 pound fee. So where are the new better interest rates on savings etc, they promised. No .. that's right ... still carp.

CopperPlate_2

Good grief give them a chance. I take it you're about to be one of the people who will pay the fee, or who would've paid the fee had they not taken out another product?

Annabee

Will not be charged because I have some (mostly unused) savings accounts and a seldom used credit card. DH will not be charged as he has a reasonable salary going in.

But I am only now sticking with them because we will be applying for a new mortgage this year, and I think it looks better on the credit record to have had the same account for 9 years. Otherwise we'd be off - probably to Smile and we will do this eventually.

I have always been impressed with FDs customer service, but the 10 pound charge thing is just WRONG.

Since I discovered MSE I have saved for things, eg holidays, Xmas, clothes in savings 'pots' which works really well, but FD actively discourage people from doing this by having savings accounts which pay as little as 0.10 % on amounts lower than 500. Because of this I have to keep all the 'pots' elsewhere and transfer them back and forth. This is irritating, and it is more annoying to see they seem to have no plans to change this! What exactly will they be giving back to the customer for their 10 pounds?

CopperPlate_2

Perhaps the intention of theirs is to ensure you have as much savings with them as possible to push you up into the next savings rate tier? I'm now with their offset mortgage and am happy with getting no interest on my savings if it reduces the amount I pay on my mortgage.

With reference to smile - I just moved lock, stock and barrel from them having been with them for a good few years now. Not the same as they used to be I found, so the grass isn't always greener on the other side. If you're not being charged the tenner, I find it surprising that you are complaining about it. They are doing it for what appears to be purely financial reasons - i.e. remove those account holders who never/extremely seldomly use their accounts and concentrate on those customers who are, for want of a better word, better off or are loyal and have more products with them. It boils down to commercial practice and sense.

Annabee

Well I just think if they want people to have more products with them then they should achieve that by making those products good value - rather than by almost blackmailing people with the threat of the 10 pound charge.

Although we will not be charged the fee I am angry on behalf of others who simply don't have enough income to satisfy FDs greed. Anyone's income could suddenly drop - who knows what the future holds?

Will other banks follow FDs lead - is this the thin end of the wedge?

CopperPlate_2

Perhaps. But the bottom line is that fd want people to take out other products. Yes, some of their products aren't as competitive as say, A&L's. But then there are threads full of complaints here about A&L and the other banks and their appalling customer service, etc. fd didn't say that there would be some miraculous turn-around in the type of product they offered - but they have said that there will be changes. Why not just wait and see. I'd say 6 months is more than long enough after they start the charge to see some results or changes. And yes, they are probably blackmailing some people into taking out other products. They are a bank after all and they exist to make money like any other commercial enterprise. It's the same with solicitors or estate agents for example. You can get the same service from each of them essentially, but you can pay wildly varying sums for the same thing. There's never any talk about boycotting them is there when it comes to selling or buying a house? The cheapest of them all might not be necessarily the best though. It's the same with fd - might not be the best interest rate payer but I'd like to think that if things went wrong they'd be a heck of a lot easier to talk to on the phone than someone employed by some of the other banks be that as an outsourced/offshore customer service centre or someone who really couldn't care less whether they can help you or not that day.

Just my opinion.

CopperPlate_2

And as I've said before, no-one complains about A&L charging a fiver a month if you don't pay in £500 a month to the Premier Direct Account. Albeit fd want £1500 a month and will charge a tenner, but they are obviously targetting certain types of consumers. No-one complains about Coutt & Co setting minimum earning levels or pay in levels to their accounts?

Sorry, I'm getting involved again and I said I wouldn't!

Mercenary

CopperPlate wrote:

....... It's the same with fd - might not be the best interest rate payer but I'd like to think that if things went wrong they'd be a heck of a lot easier to talk to on the phone than someone employed by some of the other banks be that as an outsourced/offshore customer service centre or someone who really couldn't care less whether they can help you or not that day.

Just my opinion.

HEAR HEAR! :T

Having experienced said 'service' from other banks, I'm staying where there is friendly, intelligible and helpful co-operation at the end of the phoneline.

*Sigh* I do wish people who are not having to pay the FD charge would stop whining on about it supposedly to support the 'underdog'. How is that going to improve matters?

If they really want to carry on waving that particular flag then they should close their account(s), move them somewhere else and be done with it, for God's sake!

scaldyflash

Mercenary wrote:

HEAR HEAR! :T

Having experienced said 'service' from other banks, I'm staying where there is friendly, intelligible and helpful co-operation at the end of the phoneline.

*Sigh* I do wish people who are not having to pay the FD charge would stop whining on about it supposedly to support the 'underdog'. How is that going to improve matters?

If they really want to carry on waving that particular flag then they should close their account(s), move them somewhere else and be done with it, for God's sake!

Sorry matey I didn't realise it was only people who agreed with the charge who were allowed to comment. I consider myself told off and I promise not to re-offend :eek: :eek: :eek:

CopperPlate_2

No-one is saying that all opinions aren't allowed and that those who disagree with the charge shouldn't have a say. It's just that it's moved on from the 'are they right to introduce a charge?' as it's here and it appears to be here to stay. The point I think Mercenary was making was that those people who don't agree with the charge and yet wouldn't have to pay the charge (for whatever reason, i.e. excess of £1500 a month pay in, holding another account, balance of £1500+ maintained, etc) should either put their money where their mouth is, close their account in protest, tell fd why they are closing their account, and move to a bank that doesn't have such a charge at all. End of. The point has been made that it penalises the poor. Well, I have every sympathy for those who don't pay in the required sums each month, or simply don't have those kind of funds, but there are ways around it as have been amply discussed here. Secondly, the bank has every right to discriminate who it's customers are. It might not be very nice to do so, but it's not a charity after all. It doesn't who any duty of care to anyone with regard to providing a bank account and can pick and choose who it takes on. It's not nice, I know, but that is a fact and we can't get away from it. If some people who are exempt want to take the moral high ground then by all means, crack on. It just gets a bit tiresome to hear the moral bleating about it, that's all.