Closing First Direct Accounts?

Nine_Lives

I opened with First Direct for their Regular Saver last year which has matured today. I also have a current account with them & to stop the charge on this (£10 was it?) i have an eSaver with credit.

So that's £1 in each of those & £3,600 in the regular saver + interest.

I now want to close the whole lot & have the money transferred to another savings account (not with first direct). I'm not too fussy if this is received via cheque or not.

How do i go about closing with these as there's no First Direct in my town for me to walk into.

noh

Transfer all the money to your other current account via FP.
Then telephone them and request account closure.

Is it not worthwhile keeping the current account open and starting another regular saver? Where else can you get 8% on your savings?

Nine_Lives

noh wrote: »

Is it not worthwhile keeping the current account open and starting another regular saver? Where else can you get 8% on your savings?

Are they STILL doing that offer? I thought they'd shut it down??

I need to look into that then. What happens there, do i just apply as new?

Gromitt

Yup, just transfer the funds, close the account, and open another. Easy as that.

Their ISAs work in the same way, 0.1% after a year, but if you close and open another it changes to 2.7%. Not market leading, but not that bad.

Rosso

K_P83 wrote: »

Are they STILL doing that offer? I thought they'd shut it down??

I need to look into that then. What happens there, do i just apply as new?

I did exactly the same on Monday, last years' account matured and everything was automatically moved across to the everydaysaver, next day opened another one for the next 12 months. Still by far the best account out there 12 months on! :rotfl:

Nine_Lives

Very true. Nothing touches 8%.

When did they move your account over? Mine matured today - 24th Nov, but the account (regular saver) is still listed. I know the funds are to be transferred to my first account (or eSaver, can't remember which) - but how long does it take for them to transfer the funds? Should i be expecting it tomorrow or does it take a few days?

tellmeitsfriday

Re the ISA - when I rang to whinge about the new rate (from 2.65 to 0.1), they just extended it for another year (at 2.7%).

EarthBoy

K_P83 wrote: »

.. how long does it take for them to transfer the funds? Should i be expecting it tomorrow or does it take a few days?

It can take up to five working days, I believe.

Nine_Lives

Ah i see. In that case i'm going to have to speed things along with the forced transfer then aren't i.

With us being at the end of November ---- am i going to be able to open a regular saver AND deposit £300 in time to get Novembers payment in?

I don't want to open in November then deposit in December & only get 11 deposits in.

Nine_Lives

Hmm, it seems i can't transfer from the Regular Saver account at all. There's seemingly no option. I can transfer from the current account & the eSaver account, but not the Regular Saver account.

Leaves me a bit stuck.

Gromitt

You can do by ringing them up, BUT, you wouldn't want to. Doing so would cause your interest to drop to the SVR of there 'Standard Savings Account' for the entire duration that the account has been opened.

To get the full interest and no penalty, you have to wait for the account to convert to a 'Standard Savings Account', or for the funds to transfer automatically if you already have a SSA.

Also, you need to make a deposit the same day the account is opened. You can't delay the deposit.