Santander or First Direct?

izools

TBH as soon as I saw the thread title I immediately thought "Hmm, Cyphillis, or eternal youth".

The difference really is that stark. FD hands down.

Jennifer_Jane

melf67 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I think I will go for the First Direct account and probably get a savings account with them as well (8%) to try to 'squirrel' any spare money into.

p.s. Before creating this thread, I had tried to apply online for the Santander account, but got stuck at step 4 where you have to state whether you have any other bank accounts. The choice is Yes/No, and I selected No because I don't have another account. It would not let me go any further because it wouldn't accept no as an answer. I rang the support line and they said that it should work, try again, or try a different browser. I did both but it made no difference, and I gave up.

melf67 - re Santander and/or First Direct, do you still qualify for the £100 if you are opening up a new account, rather than switching? As the switching incentive requires two direct debits?

Just asking, I don't know, and, as mentioned I have a number of bank accounts, and one that I only use for 'switching' purposes so that my main account is not upset in any way.

Don't forget that switching the First Direct account has to be done via moneysupermarket.com in order to get the £125 rather than plain £100.

PS - in your first post you said "I am looking to switch bank accounts". But if you have no other bank account, you can't really be switching. So perhaps that's where the Santander problem came from?

red_devil

i joined santander and have never had any trouble so far with customer service. I didnt get the amazon voucher though how did you get that?

Also how long do you wait for the free hundred pounds to come through.

Jennifer_Jane

red_devil wrote: »

i joined santander and have never had any trouble so far with customer service. I didnt get the amazon voucher though how did you get that?

Also how long do you wait for the free hundred pounds to come through.

It's supposed to be 3 months, but I applied on 18th June and got the £100 on 18th August, so 2 months. I also received a letter from them to say I wasn't qualifying (one of the direct debits wasn't going through properly, which I don't think was Santander's fault necessarily). So was absolutely fine with everything. I got the £45 Quidco cashback in my bank on 2nd August, and just wish my other cashbacks came through so quickly.

I had also previously done a switch with Alliance & Leicester and that went through fine as well (also not known for their good customer service, but Santander were better and certainly far quicker with the incentives.).

I don't know about the Amazon voucher, but was happy with the Quidco cashback (and didn't think to look at TopCashback for the slightly higher amount, which was silly of me).

dtsazza

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

melf67 - re Santander and/or First Direct, do you still qualify for the £100 if you are opening up a new account, rather than switching? As the switching incentive requires two direct debits?

I switched to FD a bit less than a year or so ago, so things may have changed since then. But at that point you definitely did have to go through the account switching process to get the £100 incentive.

red_devil

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

It's supposed to be 3 months, but I applied on 18th June and got the £100 on 18th August, so 2 months. I also received a letter from them to say I wasn't qualifying (one of the direct debits wasn't going through properly, which I don't think was Santander's fault necessarily). So was absolutely fine with everything. I got the £45 Quidco cashback in my bank on 2nd August, and just wish my other cashbacks came through so quickly.

I had also previously done a switch with Alliance & Leicester and that went through fine as well (also not known for their good customer service, but Santander were better and certainly far quicker with the incentives.).

I don't know about the Amazon voucher, but was happy with the Quidco cashback (and didn't think to look at TopCashback for the slightly higher amount, which was silly of me).

i did the switch without registering with a cashback site i suppose its too late now to get the cashback that you did?

alanq

dtsazza wrote: »

I switched to FD a bit less than a year or so ago, so things may have changed since then. But at that point you definitely did have to go through the account switching process to get the £100 incentive.

I have just got the £125 FD joining incentive. I didn't use the switching service. Dissatisfied customers must have use switching service in order to claim £100 on leaving.

Jennifer_Jane

red_devil wrote: »

i did the switch without registering with a cashback site i suppose its too late now to get the cashback that you did?

Oh yes too late for the Quidco or TCB cashback as you have to go through the site (ensuring cookies are cleared too), but you might get your £100 and close the account and try again in 3 months???

I did the A&L £100 + cashback, then closed after a year or so, then opened 3 months later with Santander. A&L were part of Santander when I closed the account.

In fact, I like the Santander 5% on the £2500 for 12 months, so when that's up, I may close and re-open after 3 months in a year (if it's all still available, of course).

I can afford (Ha Ha) to do both the Santander and First Direct deposit requirements by rotating money through both accounts over the month. (If FD will accept me, of course).

red_devil

i see so you make money by switching bank accounts dont you find it a hassle informing the people that pay you etc?

Jennifer_Jane

No, I keep a 'spare' old bank account to do this with and just put a couple of direct debits on to it for the purpose of switching. I did a switch a while back to the Co-op (for £100) and kept the old bank account open. So my income gets paid to Co-op and I don't want to change or risk that!

I switch, but don't close the old account.

So I just change a couple of small direct debits to the old bank account to 'qualify' for the new account. My direct debits for the Santander account were my BT bill of £1 or £2 a month (line rental had been paid for the year), and my broadband - both of which are easy to change at any time online.

I don't think of it as making money as I often keep the accounts for a year or so (Co-op has been some years and A&L was well over a year, and I only cancelled it as there was free travel insurance but only available up to age 65), and I will be keeping the Santander one for the year, and also the FD one too. So not just taken out for the cash incentive.