TSB 5% -v- FD 8% > application hassle

Nessie23

K_P83 wrote: »

For the elder members of the board, what's the highest rate savings/ISA account you have invested in? I've only recently started paying attention the past year or so.

I'm not necessarily one of the elders, but will try to answer your question!

There is a very good constantly updated list for ISAs on the forum maintained by Kazza https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/401374

Personally, best rates I've had for a 'normal' ISA was around 6.5%, although First Direct two years ago had a regular saver ISA two years ago giving 7% which was very good.

Whichever option you go for, you will have to keep an eye on the rates as most banks have a nasty habit of slashing interest on accounts after 1 year (or less sometimes) and not reminding you the rates have gone down to 0.1% variable :mad:

Rates not too good at present, currently I am placing money on easy access @ 2.8 to 3% so I can move to better ISA once rates rise.

opinions4u

Nessie23 wrote: »

First Direct two years ago had a regular saver ISA two years ago giving 7% which was very good.

They have an 8% non-ISA rate today.

http://www2.firstdirect.com/1/2/savings/regular-saver-account;jsessionid=00001Mw7r26IGxIqPD6YmyTa7pm:11qkqgmtb

steveksullivan

If it's not too late I'd wait before opening account for your GF until your account is open, as I believe First Direct are still doing 'recommendation' incentives- you recommend her to First Direct, she gets £100 you get £50 (at least thats what I was told on the phone by them last week....)

Also everyone on here is saying put £1 into the saver account to avoid monthly charges - again, I was told on the phone as long as the account was OPEN it could remain empty - not even £1 - and avoid charges......

Nessie23

steveksullivan wrote: »

Also everyone on here is saying put £1 into the saver account to avoid monthly charges - again, I was told on the phone as long as the account was OPEN it could remain empty - not even £1 - and avoid charges......

That might be the case, but if you have no money on the account I would expect FD to close the account sooner or later. For what its worth
i have just a few quid on the account and make sure I avoid FD's monthly fee.

LongTermLurker

^^ was going to post similar - a quid's nowt, but it's a very cheap insurance policy against the unknown.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Quick update for what it's worth;

About 5 letters arrived today, intro pack, confirmation letter for savings-acc plus T&Cs, credit-card pack (filed under "B"), internet banking reference, etc..

The only thing which still hasn't arrived is the "main" thing, the confirmation letter for the 1st account and debit card.

Still, no matter, I have the chequebook which has both sort code & acc-no, so I ring up to set up internet banking (you have to set up phone-banking first, after that you can set up internet banking also via the phone.

On the phone the girl wasn't pushy in the slightest although that might have something to do with it being gone 8pm, and politely gave me the option to skip the spiel about the paid-account.

Also confirmed my £500 o/d, still a tad surprised about that.

Gonna call the internet banking line in a few mins to set up the internet-side, and then I'm all done, bar setting up the reg-saver which should just be a case of a single phone call or application on-site. :cool:

LongTermLurker

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

On the phone the girl wasn't pushy in the slightest although that might have something to do with it being gone 8pm, and politely gave me the option to skip the spiel about the paid-account.

Also confirmed my £500 o/d, still a tad surprised about that.

Nope, they're that polite all the time :T

I think a £500 overdraft is standard, and the first £250 is interest free :T:T

I'm sure you'll be as impressed as everyone else - they really are a breath of fresh air in this day and age.

Cash-Strapped.T32

I think you might be right.

Took a while to set up internet banking, although it seemed to be a simple glitch.

One of the security answers I provided was too short, but instead of giving me the error message & chance to re-enter a better value, the browser "tried" to load the next page, and thus the application hung.

I didn't want to take the chance of simply clearing history & cache & trying again, incase their system thought I was up to no good (I had got half-way through setting it up)

So I rung them, the girl confirmed that username was in place - the system had clocked that I had got that far in setting up IB, stayed on the phone while I went through the process again (to make sure that registering with the same username twice didn't bork the system), and offered to stop on while I had a bit of an explore & did the "additional security" bit.

So yeah, I reckon you might be onto something there - I did merely open the acc as a feeder mechanism for the reg-saver but I kinda want to find an excuse to use them more & see how they do.

Thier IB is a bit basic compared to HSBC's but it's faster to refresh & use now that HSBC have AOL'ed their IB pages & black is easier on my eyes..


*EDIT* Tried transferring a fiver in from my "current" current account as a speed-test, and it showed up instantly in the 1st account.

Then transferred a quid over from the 1st account to the Savings Account (the one I will keep in order to remain free from paying the monthly fee) and it also transferred over instantly.

Both of these on a Sunday too, nice to know. :cool:

After I get paid this month I'll set up the reg-saver plus s/order, or I might just do it this week & set the s/order date to after I get paid.
It's good to know I can transfer money into the 1st account to cover that monthly s/order in essentially zero-time if I really need to.
(I don't plan to actually leave so little time of course)

LongTermLurker

Yes, the up to the minute accuracy is great, especially if you also have a Halifax reward account as well... (hint hint, do you have a grand you can send across each month?) Just don't do it in bits and pieces - people are reportedly setting off the Halifax trip wires; no problem transferring 2x £500 back and forth though, in fact that's recommended, as (I can't remember which way) one of them won't sent £1000 by faster payment.

linz

Hello all,

I am seriously thinking of using their switching service and opening the First Direct current account and 8% savings account. Would anyone be able to answer just a couple of questions that i'm not sure about please?

Firstly, am I right in thinking I won't need to open one of their esaver accounts to waive the £10 monthly fee if I have my salary paid into the current account and am meeting the £1500 a month criteria. Or do I need to open an esaver and deposit £1 aswell?

Second, might sound a daft question but i've always had a current account with a high street bank - how would I pay money/cheques into a First Direct account!?

Many thanks in advance.