First Direct Customers - Staying or going?

mrcow

Changed to another bank

moneymode wrote:

Because as i said in my post in reply to OP any credit balances in any dormant accounts that are closed down are put into a unclaimed balance closure suspense a/c . The dormant a/c's are now closed so the bank doesnt have to maintain them and so its not costing them anything so thats why they would'nt be charged.

I wasn't talking about already ringfenced dormant a/cs, but those a/c that are sitting with FD where there is inactivity that should by rights be ringfenced in the future where perhaps the a/c owner has for example died or moved on and FD have not been updated.

FD will now be taking money out of these a/cs as they are not asking for buy in from customers for these new charges, they are going ahead with the charges anyway and leaving it up to their customers to opt out.

mrcow

Changed to another bank

chairman_miaow wrote:

The point I'm making is , for example , there must be loads of people who opened FD accounts to get whatever deal was on offer at the time , but who haven't used it since or have moved house or simply forgotten they had a small balance in the account.....FD can now legitimately charge £10 pm to get the money and then close the account.At least that's what I understood the OP meant by dormant accounts...

Cross posted....but yes.....what they just said! :rotfl:

MoneyGirl_2

I will be able to miss the fee, but I will also be closing my account. I think it's very disloyal to set such a high cut off point. Shame as they were one of the better ones.

moneymode

Staying with FD

FD actually wrote to their dormant account holders in Aug/Sept asking them to contact FD and to confirm if they were going to use their accounts(by transferring salary/direct debits etc) or if they wanted to close their account. If anyone instructed them to close the account or didnt get in touch at all then 30days later the accounts were closed.

If someone has called at the time and said they were going to start using the account and hav'nt then yes they will be charged but come on everyone must know about the charge by now either by getting the letter or via the media and that should prompt them to call FD and if they dont well can only blame themselves.

Just another thing i do think a small portion of the blame for these charges
being brought in is down to these money hungry people who open an account just to get whatever incentives is on and then dont use account. Hope they are happy with the £25 they got and didnt spend it all in one go

ckerrd

I will not be leaving FD.
I like dealing with them.
I will be surprised if they are the only bank that does this, but you never know.
If my circumstances change I may move but at the moment I am more than happy with FD.
They are after all a business not a charity and they exist to make money.

chairman_miaow

Changed to another bank

moneymode wrote:

Just another thing i do think a small portion of the blame for these charges
being brought in is down to these money hungry people who open an account just to get whatever incentives is on and then dont use account. Hope they are happy with the £25 they got and didnt spend it all in one go

Yeah...how silly of people to take advantage of some free money !

moneymode

Staying with FD

mrcow wrote:

I wasn't talking about already ringfenced dormant a/cs, but those a/c that are sitting with FD where there is inactivity that should by rights be ringfenced in the future where perhaps the a/c owner has for example died or moved on and FD have not been updated.

FD will now be taking money out of these a/cs as they are not asking for buy in from customers for these new charges, they are going ahead with the charges anyway and leaving it up to their customers to opt out.

In the scenario above...in most cases the bank will be informed of an account holders death by a relative etc. And yes maybe it will be a few months down the line and the account has been getting charged but i would expect most bank to be sympathetic to the circumstances and waive any charges

Yeah...how silly of people to take advantage of some free money !

Yeah.....it is bloody silly when it now has some part to play on charges being brought in

going2die_rich

Save&Spend wrote:

I will be switching to Halifax current account ASAP. Act and register your dislike with FD, otherwise other banks will follow FD route soon!

Thats whom my current account is with. Just make sure you ring up and ask to ensure you are on the Higher Interest Rate Account if you pay in more than £1000 a month into the account as you'll get the higher interest rate they advertise.

I agree with your stance, if you just sit around and do the loopholes to avoid payment it'll just give other banks ideas that customers aren't leaving as much as they thought and if anything are taking on more products with that bank, so maybe they should do the same. Much better to vote with your feet, especially since First Direct ISN'T EVEN THE BEST PAYING BANK!

chairman_miaow

Changed to another bank

moneymode wrote:

Yeah.....it is bloody silly when it now has some part to play on charges being brought in

So when FD offered £25.00 incentive to open an account with them , everyone should have said no ?

going2die_rich

ckerrd wrote:

I will not be leaving FD.
I like dealing with them.
I will be surprised if they are the only bank that does this, but you never know.
If my circumstances change I may move but at the moment I am more than happy with FD.
They are after all a business not a charity and they exist to make money.

You've become laxed in your attitude to getting the best deal. They aren't even the best paying bank yet you stay with them, what does that make you, loyal or stupid?

Do you also stick with a higher priced energy company for your gas and electric because "you like dealing with them"??? or do you switch to the cheaper better for your pocket company?

Some people are just beyond help.