First Direct Regular Saver 8%

slush

The OH and I both sent secure messages via their website. We each got a nice reply saying the incentive would be paid within 14 days. And a nicer surprise when it was there within just 3!
:j
An excellent MSE outcome. We each got a £100 incentive. We are each enjoying 8% on the monthly savers. And an added bonus - FD offered us both a balance transfer credit card which has added to our stooze pot. :T

emp_3

ctdctd wrote: »

If you put the maximum £3600 in the RS over a year, you will get about £125 interest after tax plus whatever interest you get in the account you use for the cash before it goes into the RS.
If you put the whole £3600 in the ISA you will get £90 interest and all the cash is tied up.

So, the RS is better!

HTH

Thanks ctdctd,

myself and OH both applied online for the RS account. Despite me saying we didn't have enough ££ to warrant both an ISA and a RS account we decided after your explanation that we would set a second RS up and use ££ for it that we currently use to overpay our 3% mortgage. So thanks :0)

xx

adindas

Dear all

Just want to check all of you who has got £100 incentive.

I called them today and they said that I have not qualified for £100.00 incentive yet as the £1500.00 that I have credited is not salary and it is a random payment using FP.

I know this is not true as there is not in their T&C has mentioned that this £1500.00 payment has got to be salary.
But What I am not sure yet whether this £1500.00 has to be SO or FP is enough.

What I have done so far is random payment of 2 x £750.00 using FP Iam not using SO>

Those of you who has got £100 incentive could you please share your knowledge ?. my question is:
Is it your salary that you put into a/c ?
If it is not your salary, have you done it using SO or just random FP ?

Thank you for sharing your experience. I need to learn this first before come back to FD and demand my £100.00 to be paid ...

ADINDAS

oldfella

standard FP into First Direct from my usual bank, and then back on the same day

Cash-Strapped.T32

if it had to be salary, it would discriminate against everyone who is self-employed; This is not mentioned in any of the literature, and it's the line Ill be taking if I have to ring them up as well.

"If I have to" as in I have not even credited the account yet; I opened mine in November, and I will be making the credit in Jan and I still expect them to come through (it says *within* 3 months, not *for* 3 months) - and yes, I'll beusing basic FP transfers too.


If not I will be ringing them up to complain - Tip; Record all your calls. :cool:

West_Country_Swing

On another thread it's suggested using the FD Regular Saver to get the best tax-free return for children's savings, but when I contact FD to arrange payments into a new Regular Saver account for my daughter (she doesn't have a FD account. It would be paid from the joint account with my wife) I was told it wasn't possible to set up. I can imagine that might be right but re-reading the FD website it doesn't clarify either way. Anyone been able to open a Regular Saver account for a child and pay into it from their own account? Thanks.

Spiggle

Hi,

I just wanted to say thank you to the knowledgeable people on this thread.

I have been over paying my mortgage on which I have very low interest rates. I was advised when I started the OP that I should save to offset rather than OP directly to the mortgage provider (thank you getmore4less) but at the time the best rate I could find was 4%.

After much confusing and befuddling thinking I have decided today that I will open the FD account and set up a RS for me and one for OH. These will be exclusively for offsetting against the mortgage and will probably form a lump sum OP when they mature in 12 months. (I am also thinking that interest rates are likely to rise over the next 12 months.) I say probably because I have learnt so much from this site and forums that it may be there is a better way then but I don't have a crystal ball!

Just for anyone still considering whether this is the way to go versus for instance an ISA, the tool on the main thread tells me that I would need to find a cash ISA offering 6.4% just to match the return on the FD RS. The tool is here for anyone who wants to use it.

Just for the record, I will be setting up the current account and paying in just my salary. I will transfer only the mortgage and CC SOs and perhaps one DD. (When I spoke with FD a couple of days ago I wasn't told there were any particular requirements regarding what type of payments needed transferring - they will send me the list of what can be transferred and I select which I want to switch.) OH will still pay his salary into the satander account and I'm just off to check the t&c again to make sure we still satisfy all of those as we have account dependant ISAs still within the first year bonus period.

Thank you again everyone and I hope I may have also offered some help to someone.

All the best,
Spigs

downs523

What's their switching service like? Do they transfer all direct debits and payments from old bank account? When is the best time to apply so all my bills get switched to come out the FD acc ?

Spiggle

downs523 wrote: »

What's their switching service like? Do they transfer all direct debits and payments from old bank account? When is the best time to apply so all my bills get switched to come out the FD acc ?

Someone who has gone through the process will need to answer that one!

Frome what they have told me they will transfer all direct debit and Standing orders if that's what you want them to do. As for payments I think the lady I spoke to said that I notify my employer but I could be mistaken. There's some great advice earlier in the thread which is worth taking a read through.

As for best time I'm not sure. If it goes the way it did when I switched to A&L/satander then I kept the old account open for a good few months to ensure everything had been transferred before closing it down. i had no problems with that one as the overdraft facility was available at 0% to cover any misalignment of pay in-pay out dates. Fairly sure FD do the same but ringing them is really easy and they actually answer the 'phone! Real people too!!!!:rotfl:

All the best,
Spigs

uzubairu

We switched our main bill payment account to First Direct last summer (using the switching service) when we re-mortgaged with them.
It was really quick and easy. We just signed some forms and left it to them.
We had the option of switching and closing the old account or just switching.

We kept the old account open until all the direct debits had all gone through the new account, which was about a month and then we closed it.

We had all our bills coming out in the first 7 days of the month (and still do), so we had no problems with the changeover and choosing a date.

Luckily for us we had back-up funds in case there was an error or delay, but we didn't need to use them.