Can the bank do this?

BugsyBrowne

TFD wrote: »

Hardly elitist to target customers earning around the average wage upwards. They don't want low paid customers, and are honest about it... seems fair to me.

At the end of the day £10 a month to use a bank is a waste of money,just to answer your call quickly and to speak to someone english,
There are far better advanced bank accounts out there than first direct....

Fiddlestick

star-fire wrote: »

At the end of the day £10 a month to use a bank is a waste of money,just to answer your call quickly and to speak to someone english,

I don't know about that - I'd gladly pay if I could be sure of a quick answer on the phone and someone who was based in a UK call centre.

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

They have today basically told me 'thanks but no thanks' and that now leaves me with no bank account at all. First Direct have basically ruined my financial situation (which was already hanging by a thread) and now I have nothing!

My old bank now want me to go through the application process again and that will only end one way.

What a complete joke

Thanks for all your replies, all of them are much appreciated

TFD_2

star-fire wrote: »

At the end of the day £10 a month to use a bank is a waste of money,just to answer your call quickly and to speak to someone english,
There are far better advanced bank accounts out there than first direct....

FD's service was unique many years ago - I started banking with them in about 1998, and the telephone banking system was great for bill payments. Ring up, identify yourself and pay your bills in minutes. They also had online banking (pre internet banking) before anybody else.

Since nearly all banks offer a similar internet banking service now, I don't see FD offered the benefits they did many years ago.

I think the point of the £10 charge was more to get rid of customers who weren't profitable, rather than to get a new income stream.

ilovebanksMCMLXXXI

The Financial Ombudsman Service believes they have a case to answer. While they are within their rights to make a commercial decision and revoke my facilities they ultimately made a mistake in accepting me and their decision to now cancel everything and leave me in a difficult postion means they have a case to answer - apparantly.

I'll post the outcome when it happens.

benoit

noh wrote: »

Or just keep £1 in a First Direct savings account to avoid the fee.

Can i ask how that would work please? So you can set up a savings accout to avoid paying a monthly fee, but is there a minimum balance you need to pay into the current account? Which savings account do you need to open?