First Direct Reward - what to do to get bonus....?

superman909

Hi there, having opened a First Direct 1st account online and sent off the account transfer form to switch my 2 standing orders, and deposited just £1.00 at the moment to keep it open, how do I go about meeting the conditions to get the reward? Simply deposit £1,500 once the account transfer has taken place? Then for how many months do I need to keep depositing this amount, before I can then close the account and keep the bonus, etc.? What exactly are the bare minimum conditions to get this bonus?

YorkshireBoy

Whilst others have reported getting the £100 after making manual transfers in, as opposed to salary credit, when I exploited this offer a couple of years ago I switched my salary, ie a BACS Direct Credit.

If they do accept a manual transfer as a qualifying credit, my reading of the incentive T&Cs would be that, so long as this was done within 3 months of account opening, you'd get the £100 as soon as the first credit arrived. I probably wouldn't close down the account at that stage though...maybe keep it ticking over for another few months before closing. Does that concur with your own reading of the T&Cs?

superman909

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Whilst others have reported getting the £100 after making manual transfers in, as opposed to salary credit, when I exploited this offer a couple of years ago I switched my salary, ie a BACS Direct Credit.

If they do accept a manual transfer as a qualifying credit, my reading of the incentive T&Cs would be that, so long as this was done within 3 months of account opening, you'd get the £100 as soon as the first credit arrived. I probably wouldn't close down the account at that stage though...maybe keep it ticking over for another few months before closing. Does that concur with your own reading of the T&Cs?

Hi thanks for the help YorkshireBoy.... Yes, the thing I was a bit unsure about after reading the T&C's was how long I should keep depositing the monthly £1500 for? So yeah, it may be credited after one month, some people say 28 days after the third month.... To cut a long story short, I plan on depositing £1500 for this month, then withdrawing it within a day, then doing this for February and March.....And if the payment has gone in by then, could I just withdraw/transfer that £100, and then close down my account?

steve1980

If you don't pay £1500 in each month then FD will charge you

superman909

steve1980 wrote: »

If you don't pay £1500 in each month then FD will charge you

I do realise that.... My question is..... When can I stop paying in that amount and therefore close down the account? As soon as I receive the payment (some people receive the payment after 1st payment) or as soon as I have paid in for 3 months (and recieved payment)?

Nine_Lives

As has been described MANY times (including recently). The answers will probably be in many threads on the first page as everyone is asking the same questions on Halifax & First Direct lately.....

* Transfer your 2 D/Ds or S/Os
* Open an eSaver - put £1 in it. This will stop you being charged £10 a month for the 1st account or whatever the charge is.
* Cycle £1500 through your first account. Some say for 3 months, but does it really hurt to do it until you get your joining payment?
* You don't need to switch your salary
* Collect your payment, then close. Simple.


I'm sure this will have been covered more than twice on the first 2 pages.

samwsmith1

That is what happened with mine, but mine's still open and being used 10 months on.
I just don't get why anyone would close an account with them?

Nine_Lives

samwsmith1 wrote: »

I just don't get why anyone would close an account with them?

1) The fact that you don't necessarily "NEED" an account with them. People can bleat on about great customer service all day long, but if the account is running fine, then it should be very rare you need to get in touch with customer service.
I have a first direct account, solely for my regular saver with them, but First Direct don't provide me with anything (other than the regular saver) that i can't get elsewhere. If the 8% saver hadn't been available this time round then i'd have been closing my accounts with them.
2) The exit figure of £100 can be appealing.

superman909

K_P83 wrote: »

1) The fact that you don't necessarily "NEED" an account with them. People can bleat on about great customer service all day long, but if the account is running fine, then it should be very rare you need to get in touch with customer service.
I have a first direct account, solely for my regular saver with them, but First Direct don't provide me with anything (other than the regular saver) that i can't get elsewhere. If the 8% saver hadn't been available this time round then i'd have been closing my accounts with them.
2) The exit figure of £100 can be appealing.

Thanks very much :T I did actually have a look through some old threads, but didn't see a clear cut answer to be honest. There does need to be a specific thread made targeted simply at these bank account reward offers though so that the banking section doesn't get so cluttered with hundreds of threads like mine..... Anyway, what's done is done.

One last thing, at what point would I be eligible for the
"closing reward" (the other £100 or whatever it is)? Again, some people say they had their account open for a month or two, got the opening reward, then closed it after this period by complaining about no branch access, the hassle of doing banking simply over the phone/online without speaking to someone in person, etc.... And then they got their their £100.

Am I right to think that to get this second sum of money, the "proper thing to do" would be to basically pay in £1500 a month, obviously just depositing it in and withdrawing it every month for 6 months? I think I read that you had to keep the account open for 6 months, then complain between and 12 months to get the second sum of money?

YorkshireBoy

samwsmith1 wrote: »

I just don't get why anyone would close an account with them?

I agree with the earlier poster who said, to paraphrase, "a bank is a bank".

For me, having had £100 for joining, £150 for referring 3 other people, and the fact I had about 12 other current accounts at the time, the lure of another £100 was too much to resist!

YorkshireBoy

superman909 wrote: »

Again, some people say they had their account open for a month or two, got the opening reward, then closed it after this period by complaining about no branch access, the hassle of doing banking simply over the phone/online without speaking to someone in person, etc.... And then they got their their £100.

Those people will be few and far between. These days you need some 'service' issue as grounds for wanting out.

No branches, telephone call costs, no decent (lump sum) savings accounts, etc are all things you knew about (or should have known about) before applying.

I got my leaving present due to a false promise. They put a £10K limit guaranteed credit card offer in my secure area and when I applied for it I was declined. The £100 leaving present was probably more than I could have made by stoozing the card anyway, and certainly required a lot less admin on my part.