Switching from Lloyds to First Direct: Lloyds retention offer

BaconandEggs

Hi,

Decided to switch from Lloyds TSB to First Direct.

Lloyds have offered me £100 worth of vouchers to keep my direct debits and standing orders with them.

To qualify for the First Direct £100 incentive you need to have £1500 paid into the account per month and at least 2 direct debits and standing orders transferred.

Thought I would make people aware of the Lloyds offer (although in my opinion cash trumps vouchers (M&S or John Lewis)).

Once I put the phone down, it occured to me that it might be possible to manually transfer a couple of direct debits or standing orders and therefore be elligible for the retention from Lloyds and the incentive from First Direct. In my case I told Lloyds I was going to switch before thinking about this possibility and the number for the phonecall from Lloyds was withheld so I couldn't call back to test this possibility. I'm more than content if I get the incentive from First Direct but it may be something others could try though when they get the call???

HTH

niksyg

Hi,

After looking at the First Direct account you only qualify for the £100 if you use their switching service to move your direct debits over so doing it manually would not entitle you to the reward.

ses6jwg

Lloyds are offering customers £200 in John Lewis or M&S vouchers to stop them switching.

michaels

ses6jwg wrote: »

Lloyds are offering customers £200 in John Lewis or M&S vouchers to stop them switching.

what do you do to trigger this offer?

heloid

Collect the LLoyds 100, wait a while, then switch using FD's service for their 100?

Chadsman

BaconandEggs wrote: »

Decided to switch from Lloyds TSB to First Direct.

Lloyds have offered me £100 worth of vouchers to keep my direct debits and standing orders with them.

What number did you call to get this offer?

MoneySaverLog

Probably used first directs easyswitch service and when lloyds got the forms from first direct they probably contacted their customer to try to retain them with an offer.

Bugster13

I’m actually tempted to go ahead and switch away from Lloyds and as some have suggested take up the offer (when Lloyds ring) and then do a manual switch to collect the additional £100 from FD. Being a natural sceptic, I imagine Lloyds will have built in some T&Cs or perhaps even a time lag before sending out the vouchers. I also imagine that Lloyds could also be somewhat selective in who they’d keep or happy to see go.

Has anyone gone ahead with the offer? Some feedback would be great!! Many thanks…

Mmm, come to think of it, FD also has an offer should a customer switch away within the first 3 months… Now that might be an option…

Gromitt

A manual switch won't get you the FD £100 offer. You have to use their switching service, and I'd expect Lloyds to have something in the T&Cs saying they can claim back the £100 if you switch after receiving the incentive to stay. Tesco do similar with their credit cards - I joined for the 1000 points (£40 in meal tokens), but can't close the account for 3 months else I have to pay it back. No biggee, I just won't use it

BaconandEggs

Hi all - sorry for the delay in replying.

I was offered £100 pounds (not £200). If I was offered £200 at the time - I might have stayed with Lloyds. However, since using FD I have been so happy with them, that I would switch to FD even if offered £200 from Lloyds. FD's efficiency on the phone alone makes it worth it in my opinion.

This offer was given to me via a phonecall. The phonecall came after Lloyds received my switching forms from FD. The phonecall did not come directly from Lloyds. It came for a call centre company working on behalf of Lloyds.

You do need to use the Easy Switch service from FD to be entitled to their incentive. Therefore, I'm not sure manual switching would work.

Even if Lloyds don't stipulate that you need to stay with them for a certain period of time before making a switch to be elligible for the bonus, I don't think it would work. This is because the switch at First Direct needs to happen within 28 days of opening the account.

You could try switching to an intermediary account provider - seeing if you get the Lloyds offer, staying with them for the required period, then switching to First Direct. Is it worth it? It probably equals a lot of hassle and alot of gubbins to sort out as it comes through the door.