Anyone left First Direct for exit Bonus? (£100)

sho_me_da_money

Signed up and got my £125 promptly without chasing anyone down. I was wondering, if anyone bothered to leave within 12 months to get the extra £100?

The problem is that these guys are actually pretty flipping good - fast service, decent online portal, no messing about. But are they good enough for me to close the account and get a sexy £100 exit bonus? Well im a greedy monkey so I guess the answer is no.

Just curious, anyone ever left them?

I was trying to think of a reason to leave but you know what, I might just call up and say, I'd like to leave and if asked why, I might just have to be blatantly honest and say "Because I want a free £100". I doubt I need a valid reason to leave.

JournalGirl

Nope, it's worth more than £100 to me to have had an amazing bank for the last 10 years.

Now on the other hand' I would pay to leave Natwest ( if I had been daft enough to give them a second chance)

MoneySaverLog

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

decent online portal

It's not the best internet banking site, just my bugbear. I much prefer Lloyds for this. It can be improved in my opinion if you had to give a reason why you wanted to leave it would be that.

I am quite impressed with calling them up, no phone menus to navigate press 4 for this, and then 3 for that and finally press 1 for something else and nornally the call can be delt with by whoever picks it up, though I have been transferred on a few occassions to other teams in first direct.

Calls to their number are generally answered quite quickly by a human being in the UK within 30 seconds usually. There was this one occassion when it went over a minute on hold before someone answered the phone though.

Just my little review on them as a returning customer I'm not eligiable for any joining or leaving bonus, but do get their nice 8% account though they refused me a OD or credit facilities so main banking staying at Lloyds.

sho_me_da_money

I totally see where you stand. However, the bottom line for me is:

1. I need a bank to accept my salary
2. I need a card and online payment system to manage my transactions
3. I rarely need good customer service (telephone) as I am very net-dependant

Taking the above into consideration, I probably wouldnt be too fussed with who I bank with providing they are big enough in the UK.

Of course, your comment regarding NatWest has been noted!

sho_me_da_money

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

It's not the best internet banking site, just my bugbear. I much prefer Lloyds for this. It can be improved in my opinion if you had to give a reason why you wanted to leave it would be that.

I am quite impressed with calling them up, no phone menus to navigate press 4 for this, and then 3 for that and finally press 1 for something else and nornally the call can be delt with by whoever picks it up, though I have been transferred on a few occassions to other teams in first direct.

Calls to their number are generally answered quite quickly by a human being in the UK within 30 seconds usually. There was this one occassion when it went over a minute on hold before someone answered the phone though.

Just my little review on them as a returning customer I'm not eligiable for any joining or leaving bonus, but do get their nice 8% account though they refused me a OD or credit facilities so main banking staying at Lloyds.

Thanks for the review and the comments regarding Lloyds online system. Chances are, if I was to leave, it'd be to someone offering an incentive.

This could be very well be the easiest way to potentially make £325 for moving around.

michaels

Try and delete an online payee or pay a second invoice to an online payee requiring a change of reference...can't be done, pretty carp for an online and phone only bank. Apparently customers have been complaining about this for ages but hey can't be ars*d to do anything.

Also whilst it is great they don't have a stupid security token it would be great if they used something like lloyds phone authentication when setting up a new payee to increase security.

MoneySaverLog

michaels wrote: »

Also whilst it is great they don't have a stupid security token it would be great if they used something like lloyds phone authentication when setting up a new payee to increase security.

Neither do Lloyds use these silly security tokens, First Direct can learn a lot from them when it comes to online banking.

Toxic_Lemon

I've been with First Direct for exactly one week. Their service so far has been simply outstanding. In this time, I have a new credit card with 0% for 20 months, a new debit card, 2 savings accounts and all my direct debits from my old Co-op account are being transferred. I've also moved my Home Insurance and set up Internet Banking Plus. Looking forward to getting my £100 shortly.

Each time I've had a question, the person I've spoken to has been pleasant and known the answer. I don't like their Internet banking interface much but will get used to it. You couldn't pay me to move to another bank now. :T