We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Qualifying for free banking from First Direct & getting the 8% regular saver account
Options
MoneySaverLog
Posts: 3,232 Forumite
Am I right in saying in order to get free banking from First Direct they normally charge £10 a month all I have to do is
Open a "First Account" and pay in £1
Open a "Savings Account" and pay in £1
Set up a standing order from Lloyds to the First Account for £300 on pay day.
Set up a standing order for £300 to go from the First Account to the Regular Savings Account a few days later to cover weekends and bank holidays to ensure money is in the account before they debit the standing order.
I don't need or want a overdaft facility on the First Account hence funding it with a pound to start with, I'm also NOT transferring my direct debits, standing orders or salary to First Direct either and keeping all that at Lloyds TSB. I won't qualify for the £100 bonus as banked with them previously so not worried about that.
Doing all that do I still qualify for free banking and the 8% regular saver which is all I really want to use first direct for as they pay very low rates of interest on their ordinary savings account at the time of opening I was told it was 0.05% and no interest on their First Account at all compared to Lloyds at upto 3%.
Open a "First Account" and pay in £1
Open a "Savings Account" and pay in £1
Set up a standing order from Lloyds to the First Account for £300 on pay day.
Set up a standing order for £300 to go from the First Account to the Regular Savings Account a few days later to cover weekends and bank holidays to ensure money is in the account before they debit the standing order.
I don't need or want a overdaft facility on the First Account hence funding it with a pound to start with, I'm also NOT transferring my direct debits, standing orders or salary to First Direct either and keeping all that at Lloyds TSB. I won't qualify for the £100 bonus as banked with them previously so not worried about that.
Doing all that do I still qualify for free banking and the 8% regular saver which is all I really want to use first direct for as they pay very low rates of interest on their ordinary savings account at the time of opening I was told it was 0.05% and no interest on their First Account at all compared to Lloyds at upto 3%.
0
Comments
-
MoneySaverLog wrote: »Am I right in saying in order to get free banking from First Direct they normally charge £10 a month all I have to do is
Open a "First Account" and pay in £1
Open a "Savings Account" and pay in £1
Set up a standing order from Lloyds to the First Account for £300 on pay day.
Set up a standing order for £300 to go from the First Account to the Regular Savings Account a few days later to cover weekends and bank holidays to ensure money is in the account before they debit the standing order...
...Doing all that do I still qualify for free banking and the 8% regular saver which is all I really want to use first direct for as they pay very low rates of interest on their ordinary savings account at the time of opening I was told it was 0.5% and no interest on their First Account at all compared to Lloyds at upto 3%.
Yes - well this is exactly what I did some years' ago to get the free current account with them (I had their "1st Account"). I don't know whether or not their t&cs have changed since though.
I also did exactly the same as you're planning for the regular savings account last year. When the regular savings account matures, they sweep the funds into the esavings account (if that's the savings account you'll be opening), and then you can transfer that into your current account to transfer it out. Also, on one particular month, the standing order from Lloyds to firstdirect failed and I should have incurred £25 charge as the funds weren't there to cover the so to the regular savings account, however, as this was the first "offence", they automatically waived the charge, which I was really impressed with.
............0 -
It's one of the reasons for allowing a couple of days between the SO from Lloyds to First Direct before allowing the money to move across to the regular saver from the First Account. Just in case anything goes wrong like this, gives me a bit of time to rectify it. The loss of a couple of days interest on £300 is neither here nor there considering they're giving 8%Also, on one particular month, the standing order from Lloyds to firstdirect failed and I should have incurred £25 charge as the funds weren't there to cover the so to the regular savings account, however, as this was the first "offence", they automatically waived the charge, which I was really impressed with.
0 -
MoneySaverLog wrote: »Am I right in saying in order to get free banking from First Direct they normally charge £10 a month all I have to do is
Open a "First Account" and pay in £1
Open a "Savings Account" and pay in £1
Set up a standing order from Lloyds to the First Account for £300 on pay day.
Set up a standing order for £300 to go from the First Account to the Regular Savings Account a few days later to cover weekends and bank holidays to ensure money is in the account before they debit the standing order.
I don't need or want a overdaft facility on the First Account hence funding it with a pound to start with, I'm also NOT transferring my direct debits, standing orders or salary to First Direct either and keeping all that at Lloyds TSB. I won't qualify for the £100 bonus as banked with them previously so not worried about that.
Doing all that do I still qualify for free banking and the 8% regular saver which is all I really want to use first direct for as they pay very low rates of interest on their ordinary savings account at the time of opening I was told it was 0.05% and no interest on their First Account at all compared to Lloyds at upto 3%.
Did it last month, really quick and easy. Def recommend it.0 -
MoneySaverLog wrote: »Set up a standing order for £300 to go from the First Account to the Regular Savings Account a few days later to cover weekends and bank holidays to ensure money is in the account before they debit the standing order..
This all sounds fine, but don't forget that you cannot choose the date for the standing order into the Regular Savings Account. Whatever date you set it up becomes the regular monthly date, and FD don't allow you to change this, so make sure you set it up on a date that will be convenient each month.0 -
Yes, I set it up today with £25 to start it off as today is the new tax year. I will top it up next month with a payment of £575 to cover the 2 months which I did not realise you could do.
My thinking is that they will then mature on the 6th ready for the new tax year ISA date and can then shift the money from this account to a ISA then.
I've just topped up this years ISA now so I get the full 3.7% at Lloyds TSB but I still have room for another £1,000 in there over the next few months.0 -
This all sounds fine, but don't forget that you cannot choose the date for the standing order into the Regular Savings Account. Whatever date you set it up becomes the regular monthly date, and FD don't allow you to change this, so make sure you set it up on a date that will be convenient each month.
Yes I'm going to have to leave money in the Vantage account to cover this payment going forward. I was told I could not change the date but feel the benefits of having it mature on the 6th April outweigh the pitfalls of not having the money taken straight after payday.0 -
I don't get how you qualify for a FD account these days.
I qualified no problem, as did my g/f.
My brother earns an amount that is probably only marginally less than my gf's (which is 16.2k pa) and he's been refused twice. None of us earn the £1,500 pm they state.
I just wonder why you still have a Vantage account? I shut mine down when their interest rate dropped & put the money elsewhere earning more.0 -
I've always banked with Lloyds and although their Vantage interest rates have dropped it's still more than the 0% I'd get leaving money over in the first account.
Though I qualified for a first account, my profile with them is very limited I have no borrowing facilities with them and unlikely to ever get them. So any future mortgage with be through Lloyds TSB, hence they have my main account. My earnings are over the £1,500 pm they state though.
I'm only using first direct for their 8% savings account but you have to have a first account in order to get their regular saver account.0 -
MoneySaverLog wrote: »Yes, I set it up today with £25 to start it off as today is the new tax year. I will top it up next month with a payment of £575 to cover the 2 months which I did not realise you could do.
They don't allow top-up payments as such; it's just the one standing order per month and nothing else. You can change the standing order to £575 for next month, but then you'll have to remember to change it back to £300 (or less) for the following month.0 -
You can specify when you call them up, I said I'd like to change it to £100 for this payment and then continue with £30 a month after that and they said that's fine and it was all sorted in the one phone call.They don't allow top-up payments as such; it's just the one standing order per month and nothing else. You can change the standing order to £575 for next month, but then you'll have to remember to change it back to £300 (or less) for the following month.
I didn't dare edit it online as I didn't want to break any of the account T&Cs.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177K Life & Family
- 257.6K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards