First Direct - what happens if my salary's under £1500

IronWolf

I dont think you'll get your free £100 though if you dont put in £1500.

You dont have to pay in a salary, just transfer in money and you can transfer it straight back out again. As someone above said, you can just do it with the same little sum over and over.

I usually set up a standing order for these types of accounts so my money gets recycled through them all without me having to worry about it.

Brodiebobs

it does say in the terms for the £100 you have to deposit £1500 a month. I'll only be a couple of hundred short from my wage so i'll just run it through a couple of times i think, using my halifax account will ensure i still get my fiver there too

samwsmith1

For the £100 you need to deposit the £1500 once, then it's paid into your account a few days later.
I would just open an esaver or credit card with them to not worry about the £10 fee.

Matthew-989

I've been meaning to get set up with First Direct for a while, for the regular savings account, and thanks to you lot for inspiring me to get my finger out! Just opened a 1st Account with them which I've been given the account number and sort code for so just need to open a e-Saver account next and stick £1 in it (to avoid the £10/month charge), then it's onto the regular savings account!

Chickabee

Has anyone opened one of these new direct accounts without actually putting a salary in? I don't want the hassle of changing my salary destination but it would be easy enough to send a payment of £1500 into the account each month. I'm interested for the purpose of the 8% reg saver but i guess it would be worthwhile trying to get the most i can from the bank a/c as well. Does anyone know if you have to switch a direct debit to qualify?

pqrdef

Apart from the rules for the switching bonus and the rules for avoiding the £10 monthly fee, there's also the question of whether they might at some point have a weeding-out of accounts that don't appear to be meeting their profile. HSBC have been doing this in the last few months, though nobody's mentioned it happening to a First Direct account.

Matthew-989

Chickabee wrote: »

Has anyone opened one of these new direct accounts without actually putting a salary in? I don't want the hassle of changing my salary destination but it would be easy enough to send a payment of £1500 into the account each month. I'm interested for the purpose of the 8% reg saver but i guess it would be worthwhile trying to get the most i can from the bank a/c as well. Does anyone know if you have to switch a direct debit to qualify?

You don't have to alter where your salary goes into, just make one transfer from outside First Direct of £1,500 into it every month. You can move it back out straightaway if you want, they only need to see that £1,500 has gone into the account from the outside within that month.

Honestly though it'd be easier to just open an e-Saver as well and stick £1 into it, that gets you around the £10/month charge and makes your life easier by not having to think about moving money into it every month. I'm doing it this way.

Matthew-989

pqrdef wrote: »

Apart from the rules for the switching bonus and the rules for avoiding the £10 monthly fee, there's also the question of whether they might at some point have a weeding-out of accounts that don't appear to be meeting their profile. HSBC have been doing this in the last few months, though nobody's mentioned it happening to a First Direct account.

Let's just hope they don't start vetting accounts anytime soon, I'm sure we'll be alerted by the others if they do though.

Chickabee

Ok new a/c all opened along with the esaver. Just received my welcome pack in the post pronto.
Does anyone know if you have to use their switching service to qualify for the £125 ? Personally i don't want to switch across anything, just fund it with the necessary and to qualify for the 8% reg saver.