A&L Premier Direct Account - Help

blueberrypie

zudecke wrote: »

Oh right.. I spoke to FD and they said if I take out a savings account I can waive the fee for having the 1st account.

But this way I won't get the 100 bonus for joining lol. So essentially no interest lol.

I'm pretty sure you could open the First Account, make sure you fund it with enough to avoid the fee for the first month or two (remember it doesn't all have to be one deposit, and you can transfer money in and out via FP), and *then* open the savings account in order to have the First Account fee waived from that time onwards.

Also, can anyone explain this:

"a completely interest free £250 overdraft*** to help you manage your money. An arrangement fee may apply if you request an overdraft more than once every six months. Overdrafts above £250 will be charged at 15.9% EAR variable"

Does that mean everytime I go like +£1 into the £250 OD, I may be charged if I do it more than every 6 months!??

No.
There is no charge or interest for using any part of the first £250 of your OD.
Interest is charged at 15.9% EAR if you are overdrawn by more than £250.
If you request that your OD limit is changed, and you do this more than once every six months, you may be charged an arrangement fee.

zudecke

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You possibly (probably?) won't get the £100 because your salary/income doesn't deliver a £1,500 net credit each month.

So get yourself referred for it instead and pocket £25 or so. See the referrals board.No. It means if you request an overdraft over and above that already granted, whether it be 'formal' (ie "can I increase from £250 to £500 please?") or 'informal' (ie a direct debit is presented and you don't have sufficient funds to meet it).

How do I get "referred"? Link?

zudecke

blueberrypie wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you could open the First Account, make sure you fund it with enough to avoid the fee for the first month or two (remember it doesn't all have to be one deposit, and you can transfer money in and out via FP), and *then* open the savings account in order to have the First Account fee waived from that time onwards.

Hi..

So you're saying, if I clear £1350 - to FP £150 to my Halifax account and then back again to my FD? But I still wouldn't have amounted £1500+ into my FD account.. I don't get it...?

blueberrypie

zudecke wrote: »

So you're saying, if I clear £1350 - to FP £150 to my Halifax account and then back again to my FD? But I still wouldn't have amounted £1500+ into my FD account.. I don't get it...?

If you put £1350 in, and then £150 in, you'd have deposited £1500 in total. That's all that's required. There's no requirement to keep a balance about £1500 or for it all to be deposited at once, or for the funds to stay there for any length of time - just to deposit a total of at least £1500 per month.

zudecke

I spoke to FD and confirmed that I would qualify if:

1. FP 1300 from my Halifax to my FD
2. FP 200 back to my Halifax account
3. Immediately FP the 200 right back into my FD account

That would account for 1500 going through my FD account p/m.
I would do this for 3 months and then take out the eSavings account product with FD and fully waive the FD charges and subsequently cancel the FPs.

Make sense? Or have I missed something?

blueberrypie

zudecke wrote: »

I spoke to FD and confirmed that I would qualify if:

1. FP 1300 from my Halifax to my FD
2. FP 200 back to my Halifax account
3. Immediately FP the 200 right back into my FD account

That would account for 1500 going through my FD account p/m.
I would do this for 3 months and then take out the eSavings account product with FD and fully waive the FD charges and subsequently cancel the FPs.

Make sense? Or have I missed something?

Your mention of "cancelling the FPs" suggests you plan to set up the transfers as Standing Orders. I don't think (perhaps someone else can confirm) that FD is sending Standing Orders via the Faster Payments system yet, so it would be necessary to make the transfers yourself (or wait three days for them to go via BACS).

Other than that...no, I don't think you're missing anything.

zudecke

Sweet! Finally got there in the end . So this way I'm getting the £5 from Halifax p/m, the sweet interest free OD and the online banking and customer services of FD.

I may just use BACS standing orders to transfer the monies to and from.. Can't see that being an issue tbh...?

blueberrypie

zudecke wrote: »

I may just use BACS standing orders to transfer the monies to and from.. Can't see that being an issue tbh...?

Not really. I'd just rather spend five minutes a month doing it myself and have it all happen instantly than wait for it to take three working days each way, but ymmv :-)

Just make sure you set up the SOs with adequate time between them to take account of weekends, bank holidays etc too.

zudecke

Gotcha .

Just wanted to thank everyone for their kind advice! I think I've settled on the best solution for my needs thanks to your great advice!

Ta!

MiserlyMartin

A bit confused here. The premier account offers free annual travel insurance but not the 5% interest up to 2.5K for a year. Surely the annual travel insurance worth £60 apparently is the better deal? Rather than the premier DIRECT account?