First Direct £10 monthly banking fee (merged)

Hanxx

I got my letter from FD this morning. They have a real cheek asking for £10 per month. I was planning to close my account anyway, as I don't use it. However, my understanding (which is the same as many others) is that you simply need an additional FD product to avoid the charge. This could be a savings account with just a few quid in it, or an ISA. Having mentioned the ISA, I should point out that their current interest rate is very poor.

karatedragon

Id never even heard of First Direct until now!

SparciaM

I joinged First Direct from recommendation of friends and people of this board. I know there was rumour that they weren't going to charge £10 for the bank account, well it's official and they will be charging from 1st February 2007.

Now I'm really annoyed as I was gonna switch to them, I currently use my account as a bills account, but as you can see the T&Cs are very specific about who will pay and who wont:

To find this information click on "Bank Account" from the front page and then you'll see next to the 'fee free banking' two stars, underneath all the writing is "**Changes to banking from 1st Feb 2007" link, and it brings you to this.



Day-To-Day Running Of Account Charges

Banking Fee

You must pay our banking fee for each month or part of a month that you hold a Bank Account or a Cheque Account unless we agree to waive the fee.

Banking Fee £10

Banking Fee Waivers

You will not have to pay the Banking Fee:

for any month in which you:
pay into your account* (otherwise than by internal transfer from another first direct account) a minimum of £1,500 or you maintain an average monthly balance on your account* in excess of £1,500 (month means calendar month and we will work out the average monthly balance by adding together the end of day balances for each day during the month and dividing that sum by the number of days in the month); or
hold a first direct Mortgage, Credit Card, Personal Loan, Savings Account, firstdirectory or a first direct car or home insurance policy; or
in relation to any second or subsequent Bank Accounts or Cheque Accounts in the same name. (If you hold a sole and a joint account, your joint account will not be considered to be in the same name as your sole account. If you hold two or more joint accounts, those accounts will not be considered to be in the same name unless all joint account holders are the same.); or
for the first six months following account opening; or
if your account is inactive for more than 90 days and the balance on your account is less than £10.
* Where multiple current accounts are held, account balances will be considered individually and will not be aggregated when assessing whether a fee is payable.


I can't pay £1500 into this acc as it wont be my main bank and even if it was my main bank, I only earn £1200 max after tax on a good month, usual take home is £1100. I thought people said FD weren't going to charge, now looks like, they've hidden it in new T&Cs and not told anyone. So in essence you need to have a take home of £18,000 after tax if yoou only have a bank account with FD. I think they'll loose alot of custom, as the interest rate on their loans and mortgage aren't the best out there.

SparciaM

I called to confirm all this, as just opened a bills account with them. The lady advised that with a savings account I'm ok, but if I only put a nominal amount in it and that was it, the account would be reveiwed every 6-12 months and if so the charge would apply.

I asked how I could go about not paying and she said, become a regular saver each month or take out a credit card or loan. She advised with the CC I would need to spend on it every month not to be charged.

She also confirmed that it is £1500 into the account every month, which is £18,000 a year after tax - I think a lot of people don't earn that much money before tax let alone after tax. She said they were bringing it to get rid of people who open accounts for incentives and nothing more and also to encourage customers to take more products with FD. I told her that the interest rates on the other products aren't as good as others and how would they better this.

She said in Feb 2007 (when the charge comes in), there will be a major shakeup within FD to see how they can be more competitive in terms of Loans, CCs and Savings to get people to stay.

CARLSB1892

Yep, I'ts all true as outlined in the thread, you need to maintain a balance of £1500 each and every month to secure 'free' banking. Vote with your feet and move account if you have one . I closed mine today and sent the Head of Marketing a terse letter. How do they think they can get away with it. so come on guys give the Hsbc (First Direct) a good kick up the backside.......

ckerrd

CARLSB1892 wrote:

Yep, I'ts all true as outlined in the thread, you need to maintain a balance of £1500 each and every month to secure 'free' banking. Vote with your feet and move account if you have one . I closed mine today and sent the Head of Marketing a terse letter. How do they think they can get away with it. so come on guys give the Hsbc (First Direct) a good kick up the backside.......

I thought you had to pay in a minimum of £1500 or have a balance of £1500 - big difference.
I do one but not the other.

A_Nice_Englishman

You must have had a different letter to me and SparciaM then, CARLSB1892.

Anyone else had the 'maintain a balance of £1500' letter rather than the 'pay in at least £1500, have an average balance over £1500 or have another FD product' one?

Are there any other variations?

Vickicb

I've had nothing from them yet. It's a bit annoying for us because we have 3 accounts with them, one each for me and hubby which have £1800 each wages paid in, but a 3rd joint account for bills which only has the £115 child benefit paid in. We transfer over half our wages each into the account, but I don't think that'll count.

Want to move anyway so I can get ready to reclaim by bank charges...

CARLSB1892

As the letter states, I have to pay in £1500 , AND maintain a balace of £1500 throughout the month in order to avoid any charges. Or I have to buy another product. This is nothing more than a protection racket. banking ombudsman should be informed if they can apply these t&c's. Too many people dont come close to putting in £1500 every month into their bank account i.e Pensioners, low income families , students etc

Lazy_Runner

Have just spoken to FD and they stated if you have more than one (of certain types of) account, this charge does not apply. So a savings accounts will gain you exemption from the charge, is my understanding.