First Direct £10 monthly banking fee (merged)

Cypher

open a savings account ajbrynoffa and pay a few quid into it each month.

If your current account is in joint names make sure the savings is also in the same names, that should stop you having to pay the £10 fee.

Hanxx

benood wrote:

This is a pain as we have a FD joint account set up for monthly spending only paying in £1000 pcm and use their daily text message banking to stay in control - any other good text message providing accounts out there?

I'm not sure if they are particularly good, but I've just opened a Lloyds TSB Current Account (purely so I can have their 8% regular saver account too), and they have offered me a text message service. It's not the best Current account out there for interest, but 4% isn't too bad. As I have only just joined I can't really comment on the customer service.

nickbearman

I just noticed an article on BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6146348.stm) about the possible introduction of charges of current accounts. I am spending a gap year in Canada, and while setting up a bank account here, discovered they charge for current accounts, which was a bit of a shock for me!

I was just wondering what people thought about this, and whether anyone knows what the banks may be intending to do?
It would be interesting to hear your comments!

Fitzy29

YES, it is true!

£10 a month if you have less than £1,500 in your account, robbing **stards!:mad:

David8844

Close First Direct and move to another provider. E.g. Nationwide have a superior website and they have branches everywhere. I moved from FD to Nationwide years ago.

FD have been caught out like other banks with having to refund excessive charges on overdrafts. This charge is a way of recouping lost profits to ensure that shareholder dividends are kept up.

Close First Direct and move...

:T

kismetkaz

I have been told by FD this morning that the loophole around this is to open another product with them, which means that me and my husband, having an account each and a joint account will need to take out a joint savings account and a savings account or credit card each with them. Apparantly you don't even have to use the accounts which is ridiculous as FD will just end up with a load of dormant accounts! If we don't do this though it will cost us £30 per month for three accounts!

chrisnorden

Just received a letter, saying that provided I deposit £1500 per month, they will continue to allow me to bank there free, otherwise it's a £10 per month fee.

I joined them following an MSE article, where they gave you £25 to open an account.

As I am in the middle of taking Barclay's to court (unlawful bank charges etc) I was planning to use First Direct as my back up in case Barclay's "fired" me.

£1500 net equates to about £24k gross per annum.

Any one else seen this letter?

lipidicman

Right, I am torn......

do I
(1) Ditch them
(2) Get a savings account and put the minimum allowed in there

I am thinking (2) since mine is a dormant account* and this is what they want. I don't want to feel like I am encouraging them (increasing their profitability by leaving, thus rewarding this practice) as this fee will adversely affect many genuine low-income customers.

*my back-up if I have my card stolen. I chose a low cost easy to run internet account

crankup

All banks stink. They screw their costs right down by not having any true counter services at weekends (hardly any in the week either!), crap automated phone services, poorly administered web sites and then have the audacity to say they are struggling to make ends meet and impose arbitrary charges.


Simply open a savings acct. Fees avoided for the time being.
Or move to a bank where you have to speak to some awful Indian call centre?


Being a long standing FD customer, I will stick around - although I have a lazy eye on Nationwide atm too......!

dchurch24

I mean you wouldnt take out a telephone service and think you shouldnt have to pay for it

I would if I lent them money every month for no return.

Everyone says that the CS is good at FD. It's ok. It's not brilliant. It's just brilliant in comparison to the cr*p service we, as Britons, expect and receive from everyone else.

Compare the CS at FD with say, Credit Agricol in France and you'll be astonished at the difference.