First Direct £100 re new current account question

ed123_2

Looking at their site they say the £1500 you have to pay in has to be salary/income. What do they regard as income?.....thanks ed:eek:

Gromitt

Anything to deposit into the account from an external source. Could be SO from another account held at a different bank for example.

SpiritofAfrica

I just contacted them to open the Regular Saver Account...

firstly you need to open a current account. Then inn the first 6 months there is no fee to pay to use the current account...

secondly after 6 months if you dont have a balance of £1,500 then you will be charged £10 to use the account to transfer the funds into the Regular Saver account. ie £60

In my Opinion this account only works for those who actually use First Direct as their main bank or who have a credit/loan etc with them as there is no point of having £1,500 sitting in an account for 6 months not earning interest no matter how small the interest rate is.

so in effect saving the full £3,600 x 8% = £288 - £60 leaves you with an interest of £228 which is 6.33% is this correct? even at this rate it is still much better than other rates that I have seen.

what do you think?

Probi

If you open an online savings account then you don't pay the fee for the account which is the way most people get around this.

Also does anyone know how long it takes after the £1500 has been deposited for you to receive the joining bonus?

Thanks

Genny_2

It was 2 weeks after opening the account before I’d drip fed a total of £1500, the “ £100 incentive “ appeared in my account one week later. So only 3 weeks.

Jennifer_Jane

Mine came in shortly after my DDs had been confirmed.

Your arithmetic for the 8% interest is incorrect - I think? You have said 8% x £3600 which you would get it if were a lump sum deposited for 12 months. As this is a regular saver, you would only get 8% on the first £300 as that is the only amount in for the full year. I THINK the total interest on the £3600 would thus be £156 not £288.

YorkshireBoy

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

I think?

I ThINK

You think correctly.

First deposit is in for 12/12 of a year
Second for 11/12 of a year
....
....
Last deposit is in for 1/12 of a year

12/12 + 11/12 + .... 2/12 + 1/12 = 78/12 = 6.5

So your interest (assuming £300 per month) is...

£3,600 x 8% / 12 x 6.5 = £156 gross

ed123_2

....I've just rang First Direct and they say the £1500 has to come from a salary/pension via a bacs payment and could not come from another savings/current account....ed

Gromitt

Apart from when you get paid, the money will still be coming from a savings/current account, even if its a business one. How are they going to tell if the funding is from a personal or business account as they only have the sort code, reference and account number?

YorkshireBoy

Gromitt wrote: »

How are they going to tell if the funding is from a personal or business account as they only have the sort code, reference and account number?

One could be tagged 'BACS Transfer', or FPI, etc, whereas the other could be tagged 'BACS Direct Credit'.

When I exploited this offer a few years ago FD told me it had to be BACS Direct Credit (so I switched my salary for 7 months...because I also wanted the £100 leaving present ), but as others have successfully argued...that stipulation would preclude the self-employed/sole traders amongst us.

Jennifer_Jane

I've just done this switch and did not change my pension payments to First (no 'salary') and I definitely did the £1500 in stages. Anyway, when I opened the account, I also did the savings thing and have £1 in that, and that, apparently, removes the need for the ongoing £1500 (although I did do that until I got the £100).

Also, my total income is WELL below the £1500, so no way could it be from salary or pension.